Greenberg v. Greenberg

218 A.D. 104, 218 N.Y.S. 87, 1926 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5868
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided November 5, 1926·Published·Cited by 32 cases

Opinion

Dowling, J.

The action was commenced to obtain a decree permanently and perpetually restraining and enjoining the defendant and any one acting on his behalf from the further prosecution of an action for absolute divorce commenced by him against the plaintiff herein in the Civil Court of First Instance, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.

The complaint herein sets forth that the parties were married on July 3, 1914, at Bayonne, N. J., and that at the time of the commencement of the present action both the plaintiff and defendant were and now are residents and actual inhabitants of the city and State of New York; and that defendant was for twenty years last past a resident of the city, county and State of New York, and now resides at 599 West End avenue in said city. It is then alleged that about May, 1915, the defendant herein, without just cause, reason or provocation, deserted, abandoned and left the plaintiff and since said time has refused and neglected to reside with her and has kept himself away and apart from her, and has resided since said abandonment in the city, county and State of New York as aforesaid.

It is further alleged that at the time of said abandonment and on many occasions prior and subsequent thereto the defendant endeavored to induce the plaintiff herein to depart from her domicile in the State of New York and establish a residence in a different and foreign State for the express purpose of bringing an action for an absolute divorce; that said defendant on such occasions would and did state to the plaintiff that he desired to be free from the bonds of this marital relation, live his own life and do as he pleased; that the defendant in order to induce this plaintiff to bring such an action for absolute divorce in a foreign jurisdiction offered to arrange for and facilitate the procuring of such divorce and as an inducement therefor offered to provide handsomely for the plaintiff and to turn over to her for her own use a vast part of his fortune; that the plaintiff refused to become a party to any such arrangement.

The complaint further sets forth that on June 28, 1922, the defendant herein instituted an action for separation against the plaintiff herein in the county and State of New York, which action is pending and undetermined, though marked off the calendar at the request of the defendant.

[106]*106It is then averred that on or about August 24, 1926, the plaintiff herein was served in the city of New York with a complaint in an action instituted by this defendant, Davis Greenberg, against the plaintiff herein, in the Civil Court of First Instance of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, praying for a divorce with a dissolution of the marriage link. The complaint in that action is attached to the complaint herein and contains allegations that the parties had separated in January, 1915, and had sustained no marital relations to each other since that date, and that plaintiff herein molested the defendant, calling him frequently to the telephone, at least twelve times a day, insulting him at home as well as at defendant’s office, calling him “ with denigrate epithets ” and full of hate towards defendant, proposed to ruin his life and health, and had in fact destroyed his health and ruined his business, “as on account of her persecuting conduct, constant injuries and grave threatments,” she had weakened his nervous system and required him to be constantly under medical attendance, abandoning the care of his business. In that complaint, defendant also sets forth that the issue born to plaintiff and defendant is illegitimate. He also cited the portions of the Civil Code of Mexico upon which he based his claim to relief. Article 227, fraction VII, sets forth as grounds for divorce “ the menaces, injuries or bad treatments of either husband or wife to the other, if these actions are made to such an extent that would make common life impossible.” The same article, fraction XII, provides that “ it is also ground for divorce the separation in fact of husband and wife without any marital relations for over six months.” The order of the judge in said Mexican court directed that the defendant herein pay to his wife and daughter for their support “ the monthly allowance for their alimentariness, which he assures he is actually paying, and which will be not less than one hundred pesos a month or its equivalent in legal money of the place where they reside.” In his complaint in the Mexican action the defendant gave as his residence the city of New York and that of his wife as 3530 Thirty-fourth street, Elmhurst, L. I., State of New York. There was no claim made that either of the parties had ever resided in Mexico, though the complaint imports to be dated at Hermosillo and defendant says: “ I do authorize Lawyer Ernesto Camou with Office at number 5 Serdan Street of this City, to hear in my name all the notifications made, designating the same residence to receive such notifications, as I have to leave the City on business and I have given Special Power of Attorney to said Lawyer to represent me in the present divorce suit.”

The complaint in the present action then proceeds to set forth:

“Fourteenth. That the plaintiff herein is financially unable to [107]*107bear the expense of defending the action brought against her in the Court of First Instance of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, nor can she bear the expense of maintaining herself in the employment of counsel of high standing and prominence as would be able to cope with counsel employed by the defendant herein, who is a man of vast income and fortune, and all additional expenses to prosecute the action on her behalf including the expense of bringing witnesses from New York and necessarily maintaining them while in Mexico. That all the witnesses for the plaintiff and the defendant herein and the plaintiff and defendant are residents of the State of New York. That all the acts alleged by the defendant herein are alleged to have happened in the State of New York.

“Fifteenth. That plaintiff will be irreparably' damaged and will be apparently deposed of her status as the wife of the defendant herein and of her property rights if the defendant be permitted the action for divorce instituted by him in Mexico, and in addition thereto the infant daughter’s rights will be irreparably damaged.

“Sixteenth. That the plaintiff has no adequate remedy at law for the grievances herein set forth and is relievable only in a Court of Equity where matters of this sort and kind are properly cognizable and returnable.”

The plaintiff herein obtained a temporary injunction “ that the defendant, Davis Greenberg, and his agents, attorneys, solicitors, counsels and all other persons acting for or in his behalf, be, and they and each of them hereby are enjoined and restrained, until the further order of this Court, from prosecuting, going fqrward, seeking to serve by publication or otherwise taking or procuring to be taken, any judgment, decree or relief by default, taking testimony in or taking any further step or procuring any act to be done or accomplished in, or in furtherance of the aforesaid original bill in the nature of an action for divorce, filed by the defendant herein, as plaintiff, against the plaintiff herein as defendant, for a divorce in the Civil Court of the First Instance in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.”

An order was also granted directing defendant to show cause why this injunction should not be continued during the pendency of the action. This relief was denied, and from the order refusing it, the present appeal is taken.

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Greenberg v. Greenberg, 218 A.D. 104, 218 N.Y.S. 87, 1926 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5868 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1926).

218 A.D. 104 (Greenberg v. Greenberg) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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