Hall v. Hall

772 S.W.2d 432, 1989 Tenn. App. LEXIS 11
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 11, 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 772 S.W.2d 432 (Hall v. Hall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hall v. Hall, 772 S.W.2d 432, 1989 Tenn. App. LEXIS 11 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

TODD, Presiding Judge.

This is a divorce case in which the husband has appealed. More than this cannot be said with certainty because of the unusual procedure in the Trial Court and on appeal, the records before this Court and the nature of the issues presented by appellant.

The relevant aspects of the proceedings and records are as follows.

On May 8, 1987, this cause was heard on its merits by the Trial Judge.

*434 On May 13, 1987, the Trial Judge signed, and on May 14, 1987, the Trial Clerk entered an order purporting to be a final judgment.

On June 12, 1987, by separate counsel, defendant filed separate pleadings entitled “Motion to Amend or New Trial” and “Petition to Modify Judgment”.

On June 24, 1987, the Trial Court denied the petition to modify judgment.

On July 3, 1987, the wife moved to dispose of the “Motion to Amend or New Trial”. There was no disposition of this motion or the “Motion to Amend or New Trial” until August 18,1988, more than one year later.

On July 22, 1987, the husband filed a notice of appeal from “the final judgment entered on May 13, 1987”, (evidently referring to the order entered on May 14, 1987).

On August 5, 1987, the wife filed a petition for contempt for failure to pay alimony and to require payment to her of $6,775.25 in the hands of the Trial Clerk.

On October 7, 1987, the Trial Court held a hearing and on October 9, 1987, entered an order disposing of the petition filed on August 5, 1987.

On October 20, 1987, the husband filed a statement of the evidence “at trial relating to property division and alimony”.

On the same date, the husband filed a designation of record including:

The transcript of the hearing on plaintiffs petition for contempt heard on October 7, 1987. (This transcript was not received with the first record, but did accompany a subsequent record.)

On November 5, 1987, the wife filed objections to the husband’s statement of the evidence at the May hearing and filed her own statement of the evidence at the May hearing.

On November 23, 1987, the husband objected to the wife’s statement of the evidence.

On December 18, the Trial Clerk certified a record to this Court as follows:

I,Nancy Miller, Clerk and Master of the Chancery Court for Dickson County, Tennessee, do hereby certify that the foregoing Transcript and Deposition of Earl Don Hall and Exhibits one through seven, in separate folder, are true and exact of all matters appearing in my office at Charlotte, Tennessee, (emphasis supplied)

(It should be noted that the words “foregoing Transcript” in the certificate refer to the technical record, preceding the certificate and the cover of the Technical Record bears in bold print the word, “Transcript”. No transcript of evidence accompanied the technical record.)

On January 4, 1988, this Court remanded the cause for settlement of the statement of the evidence.

On May 16, 1988, the record was again received by the Clerk of this Court. The technical record contained the following additional documents:

1. Order of the Trial Judge striking the husband’s statement of the evidence as inaccurate, and finding that the plaintiff’s statement of the evidence “presented the more accurate account of the evidence presented herein”.

2. A 9 page statement of the evidence and finding of fact signed by the Trial Judge and marked entered upon the minute book of the Trial Court.

3. A further certificate of the Trial Clerk as follows:

I, Nancy Miller, Clerk and Master fo (sic) the Chancery Court of Dickson County, Tennessee, do hereby certify that the following items herewith transmitted to the Chancery Court are originals or true and correct copies of all or the designated papers on file in my office in teh (sic) captioned case.
1. Technical record attached to this certificate and consisting of three pages.

Received with the retransmitted technical record but not included in the Trial Clerk’s certificate were a transcript of the October 7,1987, hearing, filed on March 16, 1988, a deposition of the husband and 7 exhibits filed on May 8, 1987.

Briefs were filed and oral argument was heard on July 7, 1988.

*435 On August 15, 1988, the appeal was dismissed as premature for failure to dispose of the “Motion to Amend or New Trial”.

On August 31, 1988, the Trial Court entered an order overruling the “Motion to Amend or New Trial”.

On September 14,1988, the husband filed a notice of appeal:

from the alimony, support, and property divisions of the final judgment of this Court entered May 13, 1987, and from the denial of defendant’s “Motion to Amend or New Trial”, signed on or about August 30, 1988. (There is no reference in this or the former notice of appeal to the order entered on October 9, 1987)

By agreement, the record and briefs in the former, dismissed, appeal and the oral argument presented on July 6, 1988, are to be considered in the disposition of the present appeal.

It is reasonably apparent from the foregoing that the avowed purpose of this appeal is to obtain review of the judgment entered on May 14, 1987, as finalized by the order entered on August 31,1988, overruling the “Motion to Amend or New Trial.”

It is also reasonably apparent that the statement of the evidence signed by the Trial Judge and entered on the minutes was intended to and did supersede the statements of the evidence filed by the parties which should not be considered.

It is also apparent that the transcript of the October 7, 1987, hearing, filed on March 16, 1988, cannot be considered in the review of a judgment entered on May 14, 1987, there being no motion or order to consider post judgment facts.

The husband has presented seven issues for review, of which the seventh is:

Whether the Trial Court erred in striking defendant’s own statement of the evidence from the record.

Any question as to the accuracy of a transcript or statement of the evidence is to be submitted to and settled by the Trial Court, whose determination is conclusive absent extraordinary circumstances. T.R. A.P. Rule 24(c) and (e). The only resources of a trial judge for resolving such questions are (1) the memory of the trial judge, (2) memoranda of the trial judge, and (3) an evidentiary hearing to establish what evidence was presented during the trial. The third resource is seldom used, but, if used, and the evidence at such hearing is preserved on appeal, the appellate court might find some support therein for revision of the evidentiary record. There is no indication that any such hearing was held, and no record of the evidence adduced at such a hearing if held.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
772 S.W.2d 432, 1989 Tenn. App. LEXIS 11, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hall-v-hall-tennctapp-1989.