Brumlow v. Brumlow

209 So. 2d 849, 282 Ala. 170, 1968 Ala. LEXIS 1104
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedApril 11, 1968
Docket8 Div. 203
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 209 So. 2d 849 (Brumlow v. Brumlow) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brumlow v. Brumlow, 209 So. 2d 849, 282 Ala. 170, 1968 Ala. LEXIS 1104 (Ala. 1968).

Opinion

COLEMAN, Justice.

The husband appeals from a decree rendered April 8, 1965, wherein the court denied the husband’s cross-petition in which he asked to be relieved from making further monthly payments for support of his former wife.

In the original divorce decree of March 18, 1960, the court had ordered the husband to pay $300.00 per month for support of his former wife and their daughter.

By decree of May 26, 1960, the court reduced the monthly payments to $225.00 per month beginning February 1, 1961.

The record contains four decrees prior to the instant decree, rendered, respectively, on May 26, 1960; January 20, 1961; September 5, 1962; and February 26, 1964. In each of these four decrees, the court held [173]*173the husband in contempt for failing to make the payments as ordered.

On September 18, 1964, the former wife filed petition to require the husband to show 'cause why he should not be held in contempt. She alleged that he was in arrears $2,600.00.

The husband filed answer and cross-petition in which he asked to be relieved from making further payments.

The evidence was heard ore tenus. In the decree of April 8, 1965, here complained of, the court reduced the payments to $150.00 per month.1

The husband makes nine.assignments'of error. In his brief, he undertake? to. argue in bulk Assignments 1 through 6. In these six assignments, :he;'asserts'that'th’e court erred in overruling,.his<objections to certain questions propounded; to the... husband on cross-examination.

In support of these assignments, the. husband appears to argue that the court erred in overruling his objections because a corporation is regarded as an entity separate from the stockholders, and the questions called for evidence “ * * * concerning obligations which were clearly shown by the testimony to have been obligations and payments not his, but actually obligations and payments made by the corporation for which he worked.”

Assignment 1 recites:

“1. The trial court erred in overruling Respondent, Cross-Petitioner’s objection to the. following question propounded to the. witness, Robert W. Brumlow, the Respondent, Cross-Petitioner, transcript page 171: ‘Does this include electricity —what about your telephone ?’ ”

The husband, on direct examination, had 'testified that, during the previous year, he had been paid- a commission -of $1,008.00, by E & B Barber Shop, Incorporated; that he owned four shares of the corporation’s stock and his second wife owned the other ninety-six shares. On cross-examination, the husband had testified with respect to an automobile he had been driving'; that he had bought a house for $17,500.00; and that he was paying approximately $119.00 per month on the house. At" this point'the following occurred:' .

“Q Mr. Brumlow,. what is the . a-verage amount of your heat bill per,.month?
“A It .runs; anywhere; from, nineteen to . around, twenty-fiye; .dollars a month.
“Q" What is the average, if you can say?
. “A I would say it-would averag,e. arpqnd twenty-four or'twenty-five dollars a month.
“Q Does this include electricity — -what about your telephone ?
“MR. CULVER: We object to this unless he can show he paid it. Immaterial; irrelevant.
“THE COURT: Overruled.
“MR. CULVER: We except.
“Q What is your telephone bill?
[174]*174“MR. CULVER: We object unless he shows he paid it; immaterial; irrelevant.
“THE COURT: Overruled.
“MR. CULVER: We except.
“A I believe it is around either seven or nine dollars. Per month.”

In deciding whether to reduce or terminate the monthly payments, it seems elementary that the court should know what amounts the husband did pay, or .was obligated to pay, each month for living expenses, including heat, electricity, and telephone. We think the former wife was entitled to show the amounts paid, although actual payment may have been made by the corporation for the benefit of the husband.

Proposition of Law II set out in appellant’s brief is:

' “But the legal fiction of separate corporate entity should not be so extended ‘as to enable the corporation to become a vehicle to evade a just responsibility’.”;

citing Forest Hill Corporation v. Latter & Blum, 249 Ala. 23, 27, 29 So.2d 298.

The husband had already testified on direct examination that he had, on April 1, 1964, paid to the. court for support of his former wife and daughter the sum of $2,550.00, and that he had obtained the money by increasing the mortgage on the E & B Barber Shop, Parkway City.

Later, on cross-examination, the husband testified as follows:

“Q Do you live out of the corporation ?
“A Well, I guess some part of it; I guess. * * * ”

The husband testified that he is secretary of the corporation. In view of the husband’s connection with the corporation, the mortgaging of its assets to obtain funds to pay his support payments, and -the use of its assets to pay his living expenses, we are not persuaded that the court erred in overruling objections to the questions propounded to him in Assignments 1 through 6. The ground of objection now urged by appellant, that the questions called for evidence showing payments for appellant’s living expenses which the corporation may have made, is not well taken.

2.

Assignment 4 recites:

“4. The trial court erred in overruling Respondent, Cross-Petitioner’s obj ection to the following question propounded to the witness, Robert W. Brumlow Respondent, Cross-Petitioner, transcript page 179: ‘Did you pay any money for a fine? Did you pay any fine — 1964P’”

The following appears on transcript pages 179 and 180:

“Q Were you arrested in 1964 any?
“MR. CULVER: Objection; immaterial and irrelevant.
“THE COURT: Sustained.
“Q Did you pay any money for a fine? Did you pay any fines — 1964 ?
“MR. CULVER: Objection; immaterial and irrelevant.
“MR. CLOUD: You have
shown, supposedly, what he makes; we want to find what he paid out this money for.
“THE COURT: Overruled.
“MR. CULVER: We except. “A No, sir.”

Appellant asserts that the court erred because a witness may not be cross-examined as to specific acts of misconduct by him which have no relevancy except to show that the witness is a person of bad character, citing The Law of Evidence in Alabama, McElroy, Vol. 1, page 331, Sec. 140.01(8).

The court did not err for two reasons. . First, the evidence sought was rele[175]

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Bluebook (online)
209 So. 2d 849, 282 Ala. 170, 1968 Ala. LEXIS 1104, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brumlow-v-brumlow-ala-1968.