Shipp v. Shipp

165 So. 189, 183 La. 1025, 1935 La. LEXIS 1799
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided December 2, 1935·No. No. 33426.·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

HIGGINS, Justice.

Plaintiff instituted this action against her husband for a divorce on the grounds of adultery, alleged to have been committed on three different occasions, seeking the permanent custody of her two minor children, permanent alimony for herself and the children, an injunction, the dissolution and liquidation of the community of acquets and gains, and a reasonable attorneys’ fee.

The defendant denied the charges of unfaithfulness, and in reconvention sought a divorce from his wife on the grounds of adultery, alleged to have been committed on several occasions, and for the custody of his minor children.

There was judgment in favor of the plaintiff, as prayed for, the alimony .being fixed at the rate of $150 per month, and the attorneys’ fee at the sum of $750, and the reconventional demand was dismissed.

Defendant appealed, and plaintiff has answered the appeal, asking that the court consider the other charges of adultery, in the event it disagrees with the conclusions of the trial judge, and that the judgment be amended by increasing the attorneys’ fee from the sum of $750 to $1,-000.

This case was considered by this court on an appeal from the judgment fixing alimony pendente lite at $150 per month. Shipp v. Shipp, 180 La. 881, 158 So. 5. The matter was also considered on a motion to dismiss the appeal, which was denied. Shipp v. Shipp, 182 La. 1019, 162 So. 760.

The record shows that the parties were married on August 23, 1926, at Baton Rouge, La., and established the matrimonial domicile at Wisner, in the parish of Franklin; that there were two children born of the marriage, William Carl Shipp, oil August 9, 1930, and Reginald Lee Shipp, on October 18, 1933; that the couple lived with the husband’s parents; and that about the time the difficulty arose between them, during April, 1934, plaintiff’s parents moved from California to Baton Rouge, and she went to live with them, taking the two children.

In the original petition filed on June 25, 1934, plaintiff charged the defendant with infidelity with a certain named young woman on June 11 and 12, 1934, at certain designated places, and in a supplemental petition filed on December 29, 1934, with having committed adultery in the city of New Orleans, in an immoral house on Iberville street, on the night following the football game between Louisiana State and Tulane Universities, in the year 1932, with a woman whose name was unknown to petitioner, but who was an inmate of the house. The petition also alleges that defendant was unfaithful on May 8, 1931, at 15 China street,, in the city of Vicksburg, 'Miss., where he had illicit relations with a scarlet woman in an assigna *1029 tion house; the name of the woman being unknown to petitioner.

Defendant objected to the filing of the supplemental petition on the ground that it changed the issue and came after issue was joined. The objection was overruled by the trial court.

We are of the opinion that the ruling of the district judge is correct, because the supplementary petition did not change the issue, i. e., the question of whether or not the defendant was unfaithful, but simply alleged two additional charges of unfaithfulness.

Defendant also complained that the supplemental petition was vague and indefinite and that the plaintiff should be compelled to name the alleged co-respondents. The law is clear that where the plaintiff knows the name of the partner in the illicit relations, plaintiff is required to allege it. Succession of Hernandez, 46 La. Ann. 962, 986, 15 So. 461, 24 L.R.A. 831; Jenkins v. Maier, 118 La. 130, 42 So. 722; Succession of Gabisso, 119 La. 704, 710, 44 So. 438, 11 L.R.A. (N.S.) 1082, 121 Am.St.Rep. 529, 12 Ann.Cas. 574; Higgins v. Dobard, 165 La. 923, 925, 116 So. 385; Succession of Knupfer, 174 La. 1048, 142 So. 609, 610.

The law does not require the plaintiff to do the impossible thing, and if the plaintiff alleges that the name of the corespondent, an inmate of a house of prostitution, is unknown, that is sufficient, and she is entitled to prove the alleged unfaithfulness of her husband. 9 R.C.L. 419; 19 C.J. 110; Irby v. Irby, 146 La. 747, 84 So. 41.

On the merits of the case, the trial court concluded that the plaintiff had adequately proved the charges contained in the supplemental petition, and found it unnecessary to decide the case with reference to the evidence in support of the charges in the original petition.

The plaintiff, to prove the charges of adultery in the immoral houses, offered the testimony of several parties who were with the defendant on those occasions. Their testimony, in substance, is that defendant was " seen dancing and drinking with an inmate of the place, in the living room, where she also sat on his lap, and thereafter retired with her to another part of the house remaining away about 25 minutes, and then returning with her to the living room. It is our opinion that the charges were proved by a preponderance of the evidence.

Defendant counsel argue, in the alternative, that the plaintiff condoned the offenses. We are convinced that the plaintiff did not condone her husband’s conduct and left him, after- having been apprised of his behavior, as soon as she was in a position to do so. Smith v. Smith, 155 La. 647, 99 So. 492; Mischler v. Duchman, 159 La. 478, 105 So. 559; Vicknair v. Terracina, 164 La. 117, 113 So. 787.

The testimony in support of the recon-

ventional demand is of such a character that the trial judge states he was unfavorably impressed and rejected it. The record shows that the plaintiff is a refined lady *1031 of excellent character. In order to give any credence to the testimony of the defendant’s witnesses, with reference to her alleged immoral conduct, one would have to conclude that she was a very loose and common person. This view is entirely inconsistent with tiffe convincing evidence in the record. The learned trial judge properly declined to give any effect to it.

From what we have already said, it is evident that the judgment is correct, in awarding the permanent custody and possession of the children to the mother. However, we feel that the judgment should be modified, in order to allow the father to see or visit the children, if, upon a rule taken by the defendant in the district court, it is shown that the safety, welfare, and well-being of the children will not be jeopardized. Jacquet v. Disimone, 175 La. 617, 143 So. 710, 711.

The judgment of divorce necessarily carries with it a dissolution of the community of acquets and gains, but the liquidation thereof must be effected through a proper proceeding in the district court. It is, therefore, a matter for the future attention of the parties and the trial judge.

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Shipp v. Shipp, 165 So. 189, 183 La. 1025, 1935 La. LEXIS 1799 (La. 1935).

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