Price v. Price

281 S.W.2d 307, 1955 Mo. App. LEXIS 160
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 21, 1955
Docket7412
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 281 S.W.2d 307 (Price v. Price) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Price v. Price, 281 S.W.2d 307, 1955 Mo. App. LEXIS 160 (Mo. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

STONE, Judge.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment dismissing her amended petition for separate maintenance and granting a divorce to defendant on his cross-bill, and also from orders overruling plaintiff’s pretrial and after-trial motions for allowances pendente lite. After averring in the amended petition that she and defendant , had been married on May 1, 1951, and separated • on April 26, 1953, plaintiff alleged that defendant had “offered such indignities * * * that she became justified in leaving,” specifically stated the six indignities on which she relied, and then averred that defendant had abandoned her "on or about September 23, 1953." Her prayer was for separate maintenance only. In his answer, defendant admitted the marriage and separation, admitted the filing of a suit for divorce in Harrison, Arkansas, during December, 1953 (this being one of six indignities charged by plaintiff), denied other averments of the amended petition, and alleged that the judgment of the Circuit Court of Greene County, Missouri, on September 23, 1953, in a prior divorce suit between the same parties was res judicata as to the other five indignities charged in the instant case. Defendant’s cross-bill, in which he sought a divorce, was predicated solely on the statutory ground of desertion. Section 452.010. (All statutory references are to RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S.)

In the first suit between the same parties instituted in the Circuit Court of. Greene County on May 7,. 1953 -(hereinafter referred to as the first suit),, the husband by. his petition had sought a divorce for alleged indignities .offered by . the -wife, and -she by her cross-bill -had sought a divorce for alleged indignities offered by. him. Following trial, both the petition and the - cross-bill were dismissed by the court. The .four indignities charged in the wife’s cross-bill in the first suit were four of the six indignities charged in her amended petition in the instant case.

Our Supreme Court has pointed out that divorce a vinculo matrimonii, i. e., absolute divorce, and a divorce a mensa et thoro, i. e., divorce from bed and board, now an action for separate maintenance [Pickel v. Pickel, 291 Mo. 180, 236 S.W. 287, 293], “are substantially indivisible portions of the one action for divorce” [Ellis v. Ellis, Mo., 263 S.W.2d 849, 853(3)]; and, every appellate court in this state has held that a wife cannot recover in an action for separate maintenance unless she makes such proof as would entitle her to a divorce if that were the relief sought. 1

The general rule that ordinarily a judgment in a former action between the same parties is conclusive not only as to all issues tried but also as to all issues which, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, might have been litigated therein 2 is applicable in divorce suits. Ackley v. Ackley, Mo.App., 257 S.W.2d 404, 407(5). Thus, the judgment in the first suit, in which each party had sought a divorce on the ground of indignities, was res judicata as to all known indignities prior thereto [Dawson v. Dawson, 235 Mo.App. 736, 145 *310 S.W.2d 436, 438(3); Hess v. Hess, 232 Mo.App. 825, 113 S.W.2d 139, 141(1), 142 (6, 7); Viertel v. Viertel, 99 Mo.App. 710, 75 S.W. 187, 189], and the finding that the wife was not entitled to a divorce in the first suit necessarily was an adjudication that, as of the date of judgment, i. e., September 23, 1953, she likewise had no right to separate maintenance predicated on constructive abandonment. Dallas v. Dallas, Mo.App., 233 S.W.2d 738, 745(10); Brady v. Brady, Mo.App., 71 S.W.2d 42, 47(6).

We have not overlooked the cases on which plaintiff leans heavily [Gillinwaters v. Gillinwaters, 28 Mo. 60, 61; Neff v. Neff, 20 Mo.App. 182, 190(3); Sutermeister v. Sutermeister, Mo.App., 209 S.W. 955, 956—957(2)], nor the recent case of Morgan v. Morgan, Mo.App., 278 S.W.2d 809, 811, in each of which appears a statement such as “(t)he conduct of' a husband toward his-wife may be such as would warrant her in leaving him, although it would not entitle her to a divorce.” 28 Mo. loc. cit. 61. However, in the Sutermeister case, supra, upon .which plaintiff places -primary reliance, the opinion recites that the husband had been guilty of "intolerable treatment, which was itself cause for divorce” [209 S.W. loc. cit. 956(1)]; and, in the Neff case, supra, the wife “had been deceived into ‘bonds of wretchedness and oppression’ instead of justly anticipated happiness.” 20 Mo.App. loc. cit. 188. And, conceding (without agreeing) that the quoted statement might not have been inappropriate under the facts of the cited cases, nevertheless we are of the opinion that nothing-in the instant case should or does exclude it from operation of the firmly-established and controlling principle that a wife cannot obtain separate maintenance if she fails to make proof which would entitle her to a divorce,

To recover in a statutory action for separate maintenance [Section 452.130], the wife must show, by a clear preponderance of the evidence [Glick v. Glick, 226 Mo.App. 271, 41 S.W.2d 624, 626(3)], that her husband has abandoned her without good cause and that he has refused or neglected to maintain and provide for her; Luckett v. Luckett, Mo.App., 263 S.W.2d 41, 42(2); Herbig v. Herbig, Mo.App., 245 S.W.2d 455, 456(1); Knese v. Knese, Mo.App., 217 S.W.2d 394, 398(1), Since defendant admittedly failed to provide for plaintiff after their separation on April 26, 1953, only the element of abandonment is in issue here. Although it is said in cases tried on the theory, of constructive abandonment (as the instant case was) that, when the husband’s conduct has rendered his wife’s condition unendurable, she may live apart from him without forfeiting her right .to separate maintenance [Forbis v. Forbis, Mo.App., 274 S.W.2d 800, 807(29), and cases there cited], it should ever be borne in mind that the wife must establish such indignities as would entitle her to a divorce in a suit seeking that relief. Kendrick v. Kendrick, Mo.App., 251 S.W.2d 329, 333(4). See also, cases cited in footnote 1.

Passing the obvious incongruity of' plaintiff’s position in charging abandonment "on or about September 23, 1953,” 3 the-date of judgment in the first suit, when the parties admittedly separated on April 26,. 1953, the constructive abandonment is, in any event, dependent upon proof of indignities subsequent to September 23, 1953, for, as we have seen, there was on that date a binding adjudication in the first suit that plaintiff was not entitled to a divorce on the ground of indignities, and thus necessarily not to separate maintenance for constructive abandonment prior to that date. The only two indignities charged in plaintiff’s. *311

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Bluebook (online)
281 S.W.2d 307, 1955 Mo. App. LEXIS 160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/price-v-price-moctapp-1955.