Morris v. Morris

804 So. 2d 1025, 2002 WL 24616
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 10, 2002
Docket2000-CA-01461-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 804 So. 2d 1025 (Morris v. Morris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morris v. Morris, 804 So. 2d 1025, 2002 WL 24616 (Mich. 2002).

Opinion

804 So.2d 1025 (2002)

Tammy Dean MORRIS
v.
Robert Timothy MORRIS.

No. 2000-CA-01461-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

January 10, 2002.

*1026 Landman Teller, Jr., Vicksburg, Attorney for Appellant.

J. Mack Varner, Vicksburg, Lee Davis Thames, Jr., Jackson, Attorneys for Appellee.

Before SMITH, P.J., COBB and DIAZ, JJ.

SMITH, P.J., for the Court.

¶ 1. After nine years of marriage, Tammy Dean Morris ("Tammy") sought a divorce from her husband, Robert Timothy Morris ("Tim"), in the Warren County Chancery Court on grounds of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment, or, in the alternative, irreconcilable differences. In his answer, Tim denied that the divorce should be granted and counterclaimed for custody of the couple's minor child. Chancellor Vicki R. Barnes denied Tammy's complaint for divorce. Tammy appeals to this Court from the chancellor's decree, assigning as error the chancellor's finding that the evidence presented was insufficient to prove habitual cruel and inhuman treatment.

FACTS

¶ 2. Tim and Tammy were married on October 19, 1988. Dean Logan Morris, the one child produced by this marriage, was born in 1990. Tammy was employed as a medical lab technician until Dean's birth and then worked outside the home, intermittently, after Dean began school. Tim is a physician. The marital home is located in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

¶ 3. By all accounts, Tim and Tammy were happily married until 1990. At that time, Tim allegedly became emotionally unsupportive, verbally abusive, and controlling. Tammy was diagnosed in February 1997 with obsessive compulsive disorder and depression, which she attributes to Tim's behavior. The couple separated on June 1, 1997, when Tammy moved out of the marital home. Tammy admits to having a sexual relationship with a third party, Vance Jensen, subsequent to moving out of the marital home, which continued, intermittently, until the time of the hearing.

¶ 4. Tammy claims that she suffered emotional trauma inflicted by Tim. Though she testified to two episodes of violence, one in which Tim pushed her to the ground causing bruises on her arm and leg and another in which Tim struck Vance Jensen, she acknowledged that Tim had never physically abused her. She contends that she became depressed as a result of emotional abuse inflicted by Tim and that she moved out of the marital home in order to save her health.

¶ 5. On April 1, 1998, Tammy filed a complaint for divorce in the Chancery Court of Warren County. Tim filed his answer on May 20, 1998, in which he denied that the divorce should be granted and counterclaimed for custody of Dean. On December 20, 1999, an agreed order bifurcating trial was entered to enable the court to proceed on the issue of whether a divorce should be granted prior to addressing issues of support and custody. The three-day hearing on the issue of divorce began December 16, 1999, and the *1027 chancellor entered her Memorandum Opinion and Order denying the divorce on February 10, 2000. The chancellor subsequently denied Tammy's Motion to Reconsider on April 4, 2000, and Tammy appealed to this Court on April 17, 2000. She raises the following issue for review:

WHETHER THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN FINDING THERE WAS INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO PROVE HABITUAL CRUEL AND INHUMAN TREATMENT.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 6. Our scope of review in domestic relations matters is limited. "This Court will not disturb the findings of a chancellor unless the chancellor was manifestly wrong, clearly erroneous or an erroneous legal standard was applied." Steen v. Steen, 641 So.2d 1167, 1169 (Miss.1994) (quoting Bell v. Parker, 563 So.2d 594, 596-97 (Miss.1990)). Findings of fact supported by credible evidence and not manifestly wrong must be respected on appeal. Newsom v. Newsom, 557 So.2d 511, 514 (Miss.1990). "This is particularly true `in the areas of divorce and child support.'" Steen, 641 So.2d at 1169-70 (quoting Nichols v. Tedder, 547 So.2d 766, 781 (Miss. 1989)).

DISCUSSION

¶ 7. Tammy claims that her proof was sufficient to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that she was entitled to a divorce from Tim on the grounds of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment. Upon thorough examination of the record, this Court finds that there was not sufficient evidence of such treatment, as it has been defined and constrained by this Court's interpretation of the statutory meaning. Therefore, the chancellor's determination is affirmed.

¶ 8. This Court has consistently held that "habitual cruel and inhuman treatment could be established only by a continuing course of conduct on the part of the offending spouse which was so unkind, unfeeling or brutal as to endanger, or put one in reasonable apprehension of danger to life, limb or health, and further, that such course of conduct must be habitual, that is, done so often, or continued so long that it may reasonably be said a permanent condition." Wilson v. Wilson, 547 So.2d 803, 805 (Miss.1989). "Our cases require more than mere unkindness, rudeness, or incompatibility." Brooks v. Brooks, 652 So.2d 1113, 1124 (Miss.1995). "[T]here must be proof of systematic and continuous behavior on the part of the offending spouse which goes beyond mere incompatibility." Parker v. Parker, 519 So.2d 1232, 1234 (Miss.1988). "We have counseled against the awarding of a divorce on the grounds of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment where the lawsuit is based merely `on petty indignities, frivolous quarrels, general incompatibility and the petulant temper of one or both parties.'" Steen. 641 So.2d at 1170 (quoting Howard v. Howard, 243 Miss. 301, 303-04, 138 So.2d 292, 293 (1962)).

¶ 9. The facts alleged by Tammy as constituting habitual cruel and inhuman treatment are as follows. According to Tammy, Tim was emotionally unsupportive when her close friend died of AIDS in 1991 and when her father died of cancer in 1992. Tim testified that he felt he was fully supportive and that Tammy never told him that she felt that he was unsupportive. Tammy testified that Tim made her feel guilty when he told her he felt neglected by her leaving home at one week intervals over a period of a year in order to spend time with her family after her father was diagnosed with cancer. Tim made Tammy feel that it was inconvenient for her family of ten, not to mention their *1028 three dogs, to stay at the house during the Christmas holidays of 1991. Tammy testified Tim attempted to control her life by repeatedly asking her to change her plans at the last minute, and that this made her feel guilty and made it difficult for her "to go and have a good time." It is clear from the record, however, that Tammy had an extensive social life outside and inside the marital home, and that Tim rarely, if ever, curtailed the time she spent with friends or the frequency with which she entertained in the home.

¶ 10. Tammy testified that Tim went to Florida on Valentine's weekend of 1993 to visit a college friend, Tammy Peoples. Tim testified that he never visited Tammy Peoples without Tammy and Dean. Tammy also complained that on two occasions, Tim stayed out all night and did not call home.

¶ 11. When Tammy went back to work as a medical lab technician in 1993, Tim commented on the size of her paycheck and that her working was an inconvenience for the family. Tim testified that he supported Tammy's desire to work, though he would have preferred her not work outside the home.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
804 So. 2d 1025, 2002 WL 24616, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morris-v-morris-miss-2002.