Dickinson v. Dickinson

102 N.E. 389, 54 Ind. App. 53, 1913 Ind. App. LEXIS 73
Indiana Supreme Court·Decided June 26, 1913·No. No. 8,033·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

Ibach, J.

Appellee brought this action against appellant, for a divorce on the grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment. The court granted her a divorce and a judgment for $2,200 alimony and $300 attorney’s fees.

In brief, the complaint alleges that plaintiff and defendant were married on February 12, 1907, and lived together as husband and wife until October 27, 1910, upon which latter date plaintiff, on account of the conduct of defendant toward her, was forced to leave him, and they then separated and have not lived together and will not live together as husband and wife again; that almost immediately after their marriage defendant commenced to treat plaintiff in a cruel and inhuman manner and continued such treatment until the date of their separation; that he was quarrelsome toward her and constantly nagged at her and found fault with her and everything she did, that he taunted her on account of her hair and her physical make up; that he became angry with her and abused her about almost everything she did; that she did the housework during the time she lived with defendant, and from the dairy and produce kept up the household expenses and thereby expended all of the proceeds, but defendant charged her continually with keeping and secreting money, and would falsely charge her with stealing his money, and told her she ought to be in the penitentiary; that defendant knew that it took all the proceeds of the produce to keep up the household, yet when she asked him for money to buy some necessity for herself, he would refuse to give it to her and accuse her of keeping his money, and fly into a rage, and tell her that she had plenty of money or ought to have; that he would become and remain angry with her for weeks at a time and refuse to speak to her except to quarrel with her and abuse her; that he would demand an accurate account of every bit of money she expended, and when she would tell him, he would say to her, “You are tell[56] ing a lie;” that he told her many times to leave him and that he would be the happiest man in the world if she would do so; that when she married him she had $40 of her own money, and he compelled her to spend it for her own necessities; that he was extremely jealous of her and by insinuation falsely charged her with being unduly intimate with his own son and with her brother-in-law; that the day she left him he quarreled with her and abused her almost the entire day because she had her spectacles repaired; that defendant’s said conduct toward and treatment of the plaintiff was continuous from about three weeks after their marriage to the date of their separation; that said conduct and treatment on the part of defendant caused plaintiff great mental anguish and destroyed her peace of mind and made her nervous and sick, and finally she was unable to longer endure it and left him as aforesaid; that plaintiff was at all times a good and dutiful wife to defendant and never gave him any cause, reason or excuse whatever for his said conduct, treatment and accusations. Then follows the prayer and the affidavit of residence.

1. 2. [57]*573. [56] Appellant has questioned for the first time in this court the sufficiency of the complaint to state a cause of action. To this it may be said that where a complaint is first attacked on appeal it will be held sufficient if each essential element of a right of recovery is stated, even if defectively, all intendments are made in favor of the pleading, and defects which might be removed by evidence, are held to have been supplied by the verdict. If in a divorce- case the complaint is attacked for the first time on appeal, the decree will not be set aside if the averments are sufficient to admit evidence showing treatment which would entitle the plaintiff to a divorce upon the ground of cruel and inhuman treatment. Spitzmesser v. Spitzmesser (1901), 26 Ind. App. 532, 60 N. E. 315; Massey v. Massey (1907), 40 Ind. App. 407, 80 N. E. 977, 81 N. E. 732; Sweig v. Sweig (1910), 46 Ind. App. 594, 93 N. E. 234. [57] However, we think that the present complaint would even he sufficient against demurrer, under the rule of construction as announced in the case of Domestic Bloch Coal Co. v. DeArmey (1913), 179 Ind. 592, 100 N. E. 675, 102 N. E. 99. The complaint alleges a separation, and that the parties have not lived together as husband or wife since, it states the facts constituting cruel and inhuman treatment, it shows the plaintiff to be without fault, and shows cruel and inhuman treatment culminating in facts which occurred at the time of the separation, and caused her to leave.

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Dickinson v. Dickinson, 102 N.E. 389, 54 Ind. App. 53, 1913 Ind. App. LEXIS 73 (Ind. 1913).

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