Klasner v. Klasner

170 P. 745, 23 N.M. 627
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 21, 1918
DocketNo. 2068
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 170 P. 745 (Klasner v. Klasner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Klasner v. Klasner, 170 P. 745, 23 N.M. 627 (N.M. 1918).

Opinion

OPINION OP THE COURT.

ROBERTS, J.

Appellee was granted a divorce from appellant by decree of the district court of Curry county, which decree required appellee to pay appellant a stated sum of money as alimony. The court found that all thé property owned by either of said parties was community property, and directed that the same should be divided equally. From the judgment and decree appellant, Lillie C. Klasner, appealed and has assignedl6 grounds of alleged error.

[1] The first, fifth, sixth, eighth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth assignments need not be discussed, for one or the other of the following reasons: First. A portion of the assignments are not discussed in appellant’s brief; the points raised by the assignments simply being stated without any attempt at discussion or citation of authorities, and it has frequently been held by both the state and territorial Supreme Courts that assignments of error, not argued by counsel in their brief, will not be considered and passed upon by this court; that when such assignments are not argued they are deemed to have been waived. Brobst v. El Paso & S. W. Co., 19 N. M. 609, 145 Pac. 258; Riverside S. & C. Co. v. Hardwick, 16 N. M. 479, 120 Pac. 323; A. & C. R. R. Co. v. D. & R. G. R. R. Co., 16 N. M. 281, 117 Pac. 730; McRae & Gregory v. Cassan, 15 N. M. 496, 110 Pac. 574. Second. The points raised by some of the assignments of error are disposed of by what is hereafter said under assignments discussed.

[2] The first point requiring consideration is directed to the allegation of residence of the plaintiff in his first amended complaint. He alleged:

“That he is now, and has been for more than one year prior to the filing of this amended complaint, a resident of Curry county, state of New Mexico.”

The objection to the complaint was not taken by demurrer, but was raised, for the first time, upon the trial by objection to the introduction of testimony. Appellant then contended that this allegation was insufficient upon two grounds: (1) That it did not allege that the residence was “in good faith;” and (2) that it did not show that appellee had resided in the state of New Mexico for more than one year prior to the filing of his original complaint.

As to the first objection, it is sufficient to say that appellee alleged that he was and had been for the required time “a resident of Curry county, state of New Mexico.” If the residence was not in good faith, clearly he would not have been, for such time, a resident, and the allegation that he was such a resident for the period stated necessarily implied residence in good faith, and measured up to the requirements of the statute. Flynn v. Flynn, 171 Cal. 746, 154 Pac. 837.

[3] As to the second objection, the statute (section 2776, Code 1915) requires that the plaintiff in any action for a dissolution of the bonds of matrimony must have been an actual resident, in good faith, of the state for one year next preceding the filing of his or her complaint. The amended complaint alleged that appellee had been a resident of the state for the required length of time preceding the filing of the amended complaint. The original complaint is not incorporated in the record. The statute (section 4171, Code 1915) requires the plaintiff to set forth in his amended complaint his entire cause of action, and we held in Albright v Albright, 21 N. M. 606, 157 Pac. 662, that all matters set forth in the original pleading, not carried forward into the amended pleading, were abandoned. In other words, the amended complaint must state plaintiff’s entire cause of action, and it necessarily supersedes and supplants the original complaint. This being true, the allegation that the plaintiff was, and had been for one year next preceding the filing of the amended complaint, a resident, etc., of the state, was sufficient, and was the proper allegation. A similar question was raised in the case of Dunlop, v. Dunlop, 60 Tex. Civ. App. 389, 130 S. W. 715. The court said:

“In other words, for the purpose now under consideration, we are of the opinion that the filing of the amended petition should be considered as ‘the filing of the suit,’ within the purview of the statute. The plaintiff could have dismissed the case, and on the same day filed and maintained another suit containing the same averment as to residence that was contained in his amended petition. As he had the right to pursue that course, we do not think the spirit of the statute was contravened by permitting him to reach the same result by filing an amended original petition in the suit then pending.”

See, also, to the same effect Michael v. Michael, 34 Tex. Civ. App. 630, 79 S. W. 74; Rosniakowski v. Rosniakowski, 34 Ind. App. 128, 72 N. E. 485.

What has been said disposes of appellant’s contention that tke proof of plaintiff’s established residence was not sufficient. He testified that at the time of the trial he "was residing in Clovis, Curry county, N. M., and that he had been so residing there for more than a year prior to the filing of his amended complaint. Counsel for appellant did not elect to cross-examine appellee relative to his residence, but remained silent in regard thereto until the conclusion of the trial, when, for the first time, he suggested the insufficiency of the proof in this regard.

The evidence in the record shows that appellant and appellee were married in the state of Texas and came to New Mexico many years ago and settled in Lincoln county, where they had a ranch and some cattle and horses. For the past few years appellee had been engaged in railroading. Proofof his residence, we think, was sufficient to warrant the finding by the court that he had been a resident of this state for the required time.

[4] Assignments of error 3 and 4 are directed to the action of the court in refusing to permit counsel for appellant to interrogate appellee on cross-examination as to the amount of cash he had on hand at the time of the trial, and to the action of the court in refusing to permit appellant to amend her answer so as to allege that appellee had on hand a large amount of cash. The court was justified in sustaining the objection to the question, because no such issue was presented by the pleadings. Hence the only question is as to whether the court was in error in refusing to permit appellant to amend her answer. The issues in the ease had been made up fully six months before the trial of the cause, and appellant offered no excuse for her failure to raise the issue in her original answer. So far as appears from the record, she had full knowledge at that time of the facts which she desired to incorporate in the trial amendment. The allowance of trial amendments are within the diseretion of the court below, and, where such discretion is not abused, the refusal to allow such amendments will not warrant a reversal of the judgment of the lower court. 31 Cyc. 368; Savings Bank v. Woodruff, 14 N. M. 502, 94 Pac. 957; First National Bank v. Speed, 15 N. M. 1, 99 Pac. 696, 27 L. R. A. (N. S.) 420.

In appellee’s complaint he set out in detail the community property.

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Bluebook (online)
170 P. 745, 23 N.M. 627, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/klasner-v-klasner-nm-1918.