Ex Parte Mosier

1926 OK 242, 245 P. 992, 114 Okla. 234, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 1002
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 16, 1926
Docket17150
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1926 OK 242 (Ex Parte Mosier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ex Parte Mosier, 1926 OK 242, 245 P. 992, 114 Okla. 234, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 1002 (Okla. 1926).

Opinion

LESTER, J.

This is an original action brought by Walter L. Mosier, in which he prays that this court issue a writ of habeas corpus and release him from the county jail of Oklahoma county. His imprisonment in the county jail was caused by the district court of Oklahoma county confining the petitioner to jail for his refusal to obey the orders of the district court decreeing that the petitioner pay into the court certain moneys which the court had theretofore adjudged that the petitioner should pay on account of a certain divorce proceeding then pending between the petitioner as plain", iff and the wife of the petitioner as detendant.

An examination of the record in this case shows that the petitioner and his wife, Ida Mosier, were married on the 8th day of March, 1924, at Little Rock, Ark.; that the petitioner at the lime of his marriage was 19 years of age, and) that his wife, Ida Mosier, was 16 years of age; that shortly after their marriage they removed to Oklahoma. and thereafter separated. On the 17th day of October. 1924, the petitioner filed a suit in the district court of Oklahoma county for absolute divorce from his wife, Ida Mosier. The petition set out various causes of action for divorce from his wife. On the 20th day of January, 1925, the petitioner’s wife'filed her answer to the petition of the petitioner herein, in which she denied each and every material allegation set forth in the said petition. On December 6, 1924, in the action pending in the district court of Oklahoma county between the petitioner and his wife, Ida Mosier, the said Ida Mosier filed an application for suit money, temporary alimony, and attorneys’ fees. She set forth in the said application that she was penniless and wholly without means to prepare an adequate defense in the said cause then pending and was unable to employ attorneys to represent her; that she was then an invalid, suffering from a loathsome disease contracted from the petitioner and in- need of funds for medical treatment, and in her application she alleged that the petitioner had ample funds and an estate of the approximate value of $150,000. The district court, on the 8th day of December, 1924, heard said application and made an order allowing the wife of said petitioner a sum of $100 per month as temporary alimony, the first payment to be paid on or before the 20th of December, 1924, and on each 30 days thereafter until the final hearing and determination of said cause. The court also allowed the sum of $250 suit money, and temporary attorneys’ fees in the sum of $1,000.

It appears that the petitioner wholly ignored said order of the court and failed and refused to comply with any of the terms of *235 tlie same. On May 19, 1925, there was filed in the district court of Oklahoma county an application for citation, in which said application set forth the failure of the petitioner to comply with the order of-the court of December 8, 1924, and praying that the respondent be cited for contempt. The court thereupon issued- an order of citation to the petitioner, which was by the sheriff of Tulsa county duly served upon said petitioner. On May 28, 1925, said citation commanded the petitioner to appear in the district court of Oklahoma county, on the 30th day of May, 1925, at 9 o'clock of s.aid day, and show cause why he should not be punished for contempt. On the 18th day of June, 1925, the petitioner appeared by H. C. Har-gis, his attorney of record, and Ida Mosier, wife of the petitioner, appeared in person and by her attorneys. The petitioner introduced evidence upon his behalf, and thereafter evidence was introduced upon the part of Ida Mosier, wife of said petitioner. After the close of the testimony upon the part of Mrs. Mosier, wife of the petitioner, the attorney of record for' the petitioner moved the court to render judgment in the case dismissing the petition and the cross-petition for the reason and upon the ground that the court had no' jurisdiction of the subject-matter, because neither party was a resident of Oklahoma county at the time of the filing of the petition. This motion was by the court overruled, to which the petitioner duly excepted. Thereupon the court made the following statement (C-M. 143) :

“The Court: The court is of the opinion that at the time this suit was filed by the plaintiff that he was an actual resident of Oklahoma county, - and that the court acquired jurisdiction of this ease, and the parties to it.”

A motion for new trial was filed by the petitioner, which was by the court overruled, and the court thereupon entered its journal .entry. The court as part of its decree rendered the following findings- (C.- M. 159) :

“The court further finds that heretofore and upon hearing, at which time both parties w.ere represented, this court had ordered .the plaintiff to pay alimony pendente lite at the rate of $100 per month, $250 suit money and $1,000 temporary attorneys’ fees’ for and oh behalf of the defendant and her attorneys; that no part of the same has been paid; that heretofore citation for contempt for failure to obey said order had been issued and duly served upon the plaintiff prior to the return .day thereof, and that the plaintiff had failed to make appearance, answer or response to said citation to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt, and had to this day failed to obey the order of the court, or any part thereof. The court therefore finds that the plaintiff is in-deliberate contempt of this court) and of its orders heretofore made in this action.”

Thereafter the petitioner took an' appeal from the district court of Oklahoma county to the Supreme Court, but did not supersede the judgment of the district court. Thereafter an attachment was issued for the body of Walter L. Mosier for contempt of the orders made by the district court of) Oklahoma county, and by virtue of the said attachment and confinement thereon, the petitioner claims that he is illegally restrained of his liberty.

The record in this case shows that the petitioner is 19 years of age; that his wife, Ida Mosier, at the time of her marriage to the petitioner was 16 years of age, and while attending the. high school at Hot Springs, Ark., and without knowledge of her parents, she was induced by the petitioner to marry said petitioner; that at the time of his marriage to 'Ida Mosier he was affected with syphilis in an advanced stage; that he communicated this disease to his wife; that they thereafter removed to Osage county, Okla., where they resided for a while; that while living in Oklahoma he assaulted his wife and that his mistreatment of her was such that the petitioner and his wife separated and the wife returned to her parents in Hot ■ Springs, Ark. That the petitioner subsequently came to Oklahoma • City, where he employed attorneys to bring an action for divorce from the petitioner’s wife; that the petition was prepared by his attorneys; that said petition set forth that the petitioner was a resident of Oklahoma county, Okla., and the petitioner verified the said petition before a notary public and the same was filed in the district court of Oklahoma county. That after. the defendant filed her answer, in which she alleged gross mistreatment upon the part of-the petitioner and asked for alimony in a-large sum, together with suit money and attorneys’ fees, the petitioner then attempted to dismiss his action against his wife for • and on account of the fact that he was not a, resident of Oklahoma county at the time he - filed his petition. This motion was by ■ the court duly overruled.

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Related

Daubert Ex Rel. Daubert v. Mosley
487 P.2d 353 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1926 OK 242, 245 P. 992, 114 Okla. 234, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 1002, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-mosier-okla-1926.