Burns v. Burns

15 N.W.2d 753, 145 Neb. 213, 1944 Neb. LEXIS 132
Nebraska Supreme Court·Decided October 6, 1944·No. No. 31748·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Paine, J.

Plaintiff was decreed a divorce from bed and board, with custody of minor son, with $40 a month for support of [214]*214child and $35 a month for support of wife, and attorney’s fees of $300, from which defendant appeals.

On July 16, 1943, plaintiff filed petition for separate maintenance, alleging that the parties were married in Broken Bow, Nebraska, on October 2, 1941; that defendant is a resident of Alliance, Box Butte county, Nebraska, and plaintiff is a resident of Broken Bow, Custer county, Nebraska; that as a result of said marriage a child, John Patrick Burns, was born to said parties on August 11,1942, said child being in the custody and possession of defendant in Alliance.

Plaintiff alleges that she has at all times conducted herself toward defendant as a chaste, obedient and dutiful wife; that defendant has been guilty of extreme cruelty"toward plaintiff; that he required her to live in an apartment above the apartment occupied by two of his sisters, and that said sisters have attempted to dominate her every act and interfered with her care and treatment of her child, and that defendant, by subterfuge and conniving with his sisters, had her taken to Omaha and examined by a psychiatrist, and caused plaintiff to .be locked up in Clarkson Hospital and restrained of her liberty for several days, and then defendant took her to the State Hospital for the Insane at Ingleside, near Hastings, and procured her commitment by false testimony, where she was confined for 16 days until she was able to communicate with her foster father, P. J. Kelly, of Broken Bow, who had a habeas cor-, pus action brought in the district court for Adams county, and on July 15, 1943, plaintiff was released from the hospital by the superintendent, and she immediately returned to the home of her foster father, P. J. Kelly, at Broken Bow, where she established her residence and intends to live in the future.

The plaintiff- further alleges that she has been publicly humiliated and branded with the stigma of insanity, when in truth plaintiff has at all times been sane and of sound mind and possessed of usual and ordinary intelligence, all of which was well known to defendant; that the conduct of [215]*215defendant has created a great fear in the mind of plaintiff, and she is afraid he may do her bodily harm and injury, and that such cruel and inhuman treatment has utterly destroyed all the legitimate objects and purposes of matrimony and she is no longer able to live with defendant as his wife.

Plaintiff states that defendant is 22 years of age, able-bodied, healthy and strong, and earns a salary in excess of $200 a month, and that plaintiff and defendant have accumulated assets, and defendant is able to provide for plaintiff and for the care and maintenance of their child; that plaintiff is a fit and proper person to have the care and custody of the child, but is entirely without means to support herself or said child, and without means to prosecute this action. Wherefore, plaintiff prays that she may be divorced from the bed and board of defendant, that he be required to pay suit money and attorney’s fees, that she be given custody of the son, with support for him, and recover suitable alimony from defendant, and for such other and further relief as justice and equity may require.

On August 14, 1943, the defendant filed answer, admitting the marriage, his residence in Alliance, and the birth of the child on August 11, 1942, that from Ingleside plaintiff went to the home of P. J. Kelly at Broken Bow, and denying the other allegations Of the petition.

For further answer defendant alleges that shortly after their marriage the parties established their home in an apartment in Alliance; that after plaintiff left Hastings she went to the home of said Kelly and on the following day, without having acquired a residence in Broken Bow, filed her petition.

Defendant further alleges that several months after their marriage plaintiff became physically and mentally ill, and of her own volition consulted Dr. G. F. Johnston, who cared for her during her pregnancy and childbirth; that after her release from the hospital plaintiff showed mental disturbances and was unable to properly care for her baby, and defendant placed the baby in St. Joseph’s Hospital in [216]*216Alliance, and as a result the child immediately gained in strength and is now well-nourished, strong and healthy.

The answer further alleges that on June 29, 1943, upon the suggestion of Dr. Johnston, defendant took plaintiff to Omaha, where she was examined and was admitted to Clarkson Hospital for observance and treatment; that thereafter, upon the doctor’s advice, defendant took plaintiff to the state institution at Hastings, where she was examined and left for observation and treatment, and that the treatment was progressing nicely when interrupted by the malicious move.of P. J. Kelly, who procured a writ of habeas corpus against the state institution and its officers, who released the plaintiff without a hearing and without notifying defendant.

Defendant also alleges that during plaintiff’s stay in the Clarkson Hospital and in the state institution she wrote defendant friendly letters, and showed no desire to leave either the Clarkson Hospital or the hospital at Hastings, and defendant charges that P. J. Kelly has caused this family disruption, and alleges that the petition is not the voluntary act and deed of plaintiff, but was induced and caused to be filed by the aforementioned P. J. Kelly, and defendant prays that the action be dismissed. No reply was filed.

The decree states that trial occurred October 11 to 13, 1943, both parties appearing personally and by counsel. The court finds that defendant has been guilty of extreme cruelty, as alleged, that plaintiff was unlawfully deprived of her liberty and incarcerated in the State Hospital for the Insane at Ingleside, and that upon being released from such institution she immediately returned to Broken Bow and there established residence, and at the time this action was commenced she was a bona fide resident of Custer county, and intended to reside therein.

The court further finds that, in truth and in fact, plaintiff was perfectly sane and normal, but that defendant, by false statements and misrepresentations, induced plaintiff to accompany him from the Clarkson Hospital to the State Hospital for the Insane in Adams county, and there by de[217]*217ceit, subterfuge and misrepresentations caused plaintiff to be committed and confined in said insane hospital at a time when plaintiff was perfectly sane and normal, and that such willful and malicious misconduct on the part of defendant amounted to extreme cruelty.

The court further finds that plaintiff is a fit and proper person to have the care and custody of the child; that defendant earns an annual income of $2,340, and that plaintiff is without any means of support and entirely dependent upon defendant for maintenance.

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Burns v. Burns, 15 N.W.2d 753, 145 Neb. 213, 1944 Neb. LEXIS 132 (Neb. 1944).

15 N.W.2d 753 (Burns v. Burns) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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