Commonwealth v. Kaplan

9 Pa. D. & C. 613
CourtPennylvania Municipal Court, Philadelphia County
DecidedOctober 14, 1927
DocketNo. 55963
StatusPublished

This text of 9 Pa. D. & C. 613 (Commonwealth v. Kaplan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennylvania Municipal Court, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Kaplan, 9 Pa. D. & C. 613 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1927).

Opinion

Bonniwell, J.,

This is an application by Elizabeth Kaplan to restore an order of Dee. 16, 1924, for support made by this court against Jack Kaplan, her husband, for the payment of $9 per week. On Nov. 23, 1926, this order was suspended after a hearing on an attachment to compel the defendant to pay arrears. At this hearing the defendant offered in evidence a certified copy of a decree of the Second Judicial District of the State of Nevada, dated Nov. 16, 1925, by which said Jack Kaplan was granted an absolute divorce from the said Elizabeth Kaplan. At the hearing in the Municipal Court it was agreed by counsel for the respective parties that with the copy of this decree there should go in evidence a copy of the appearance entered by Mrs. Kaplan’s attorney in the Nevada court. The order entered by the Municipal Court was “an order of Dec. 16, 1924, suspended as of Nov. 16, 1925, without prejudice to the status of the divorce decree.”

On Peb. 7, 1927, there was a petition to restore the order of Dec. 16, 1924. On March 9, 1927, this petition was dismissed on the ground that the proceedings were merely to collect a debt due by an ex-husband to the petitioner.

On April 4, 1927, Mrs. Kaplan again applied for the revocation of the order of Nov. 23, 1926, and for a restoration of the order of Dec. 16, 1924.

At the hearing of this petition on May 12, 1927, the defendant again relied upon the Nevada decree to relieve him of all obligations to support the petitioner since the date thereof. The petitioner again contended that the decree was invalid in Pennsylvania because the Nevada court had no jurisdiction over the person of Mrs. Kaplan, the defendant in the Nevada pro[614]*614ceedings. No evidence was offered by the parties at this hearing; counsel for both parties treated the matter as a rehearing on the testimony already offered, and ignored the order of March 9, 1927, which dismissed the petition.

As the validity of the Nevada decree must be determined before the rights of the petitioner and her husband in this State can be determined, and as this question has never been formally decided, this court will now take up this question without considering any informalities in the manner in which this question is brought before the court.

The Nevada decree in question is in the following terms:

“This cause having heretofore, on the 16th day of November, 1925, come on regularly to be heard before the above entitled court, the undersigned Judge of the Second Judicial District Court presiding, the plaintiff appearing in person and by his counsel, Harlan L. Howard, the defendant having been personally served with summons, according to law, on the 3rd day of October, 1923, and having, by her counsel, Messrs. Pointer & Withars, filed her motion to dismiss the ease for want of jurisdiction, and said motion having been by the court overruled and denied, and the defendant not having asked for any further time or relief, and not otherwise appearing, and her default having been duly entered according to law, and the court having heretofore signed its findings of fact and conclusions of law, determining that the above named plaintiff is entitled to a decree of divorce from the defendant on the ground of extreme cruelty.”

The petitioner’s rule or motion to dismiss, or rather the notice of the same as it appears in the notes of testimony in the Municipal Court, is in these terms:

“To Jacob Kaplan and his attorney of record, Harland Howard:
“You and each of you will please take notice: That on Monday, the 23rd day of November, A. D. 1925, before George A. Bartlett, one of the Judges of the above entitled Court, at the Court House, Reno, Nevada, defendant will and hereby does, for the sole, only and exclusive purpose and condition move said Court for an order to dismiss the above entitled case for want of jurisdiction on the grounds that defendant is not now and never has been a citizen of the State of Nevada or a resident therein, and has not been within the confines of said State at the time of the commencement of the proceedings herein, or prior thereto, or since said date.”

Taking the facts set forth in the decree and notice, together with the records in our own court, we have the case where a man subject to a support order from this court goes to Nevada, where the wife has not been during the marriage, and after service either by publication or notice outside the State of Nevada, and, without the wife’s submission to the jurisdiction of the court, obtains a decree of divorce.

The terms of the decree exclude the notion that the Nevada court assumed jurisdiction after a hearing on any issue of fact raised by the plea to the jurisdiction. The motion or plea to the jurisdiction denies every ground on which a court in divorce may assume jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant and give a decree binding in other states. By the terms of the motion to dismiss, Nevada was not the domicile of the marriage, the state where the matrimonial offence could have been committed, nor was the petitioner personally served while in that state.

The facts thus to be inferred from the record resemble very closely the facts in Duncan v. Duncan, 265 Pa. 464, where the Supreme Court said: “There was, however, no competent evidence to prove a divorce. There was evidence [615]*615he alleged he went to Reno, Nevada, established a residence there, for some unstated reason began proceedings in divorce there, attempted to serve her with process in Johnstown in this State by causing to be read to her some papers, the contents of which are not shown, obtained a divorce in Reno, and later sent her a copy of the decree. It is neither averred nor proved they ever lived together in Nevada, or that she ever recognized the alleged decree. Under such circumstances, even if granted, it would be of no validity in this State: Colvin v. Reed, 55 Pa. 375; Reel v. Elder, 62 Pa. 308; Haddock v. Haddock, 201 U. S. 562.”

The Haddock case, supra, decides that, in the facts above stated, the courts of another state, under the full faith and credit clause of the Federal Constitution, are not bound to recognize a decree in divorce so obtained. The Duncan case, supra, decides that a decree in divorce so obtained in another state will not be recognized in Pennsylvania.

The rule of law settled by these cases is not questioned by counsel for the defendant. It is, however, contended for the defendant that the recitals in the decree leave a doubt as to whether the petitioner ever entered a general appearance, in addition to the special appearance, and also as to whether petitioner ever participated in the Nevada case upon the merits. It is further contended that the petitioner should have denied specifically that she ever had subjected herself to the jurisdiction of the court in the manner referred to, and if this appears from the parts of the record not offered by the defendant, the petitioner should have produced the entire record.

To sustain these contentions would be to shift the burden of having a judicial record complete from the party who offers it to the party against whom it is offered. It is not necessary to decide in this case whether the petitioner could have opposed the admission of the Nevada decree on the ground that as a judicial record it ought to be offered in its entirety. See 4 Wigmore on Evidence, § 2110.

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Related

York v. Texas
137 U.S. 15 (Supreme Court, 1890)
Haddock v. Haddock
201 U.S. 562 (Supreme Court, 1906)
Colvin v. Reed
55 Pa. 375 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1867)
Reel v. Elder
62 Pa. 308 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1869)
McCullough v. Railway Mail Ass'n
73 A. 1007 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1909)
Duncan v. Duncan
109 A. 220 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1920)
State ex rel. Curtis v. McCullough
3 Nev. 202 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1867)

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Bluebook (online)
9 Pa. D. & C. 613, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-kaplan-pamunictphila-1927.