Subacz v. Subacz

198 N.W. 372, 183 Wis. 427, 1924 Wisc. LEXIS 189
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedApril 8, 1924
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 198 N.W. 372 (Subacz v. Subacz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Subacz v. Subacz, 198 N.W. 372, 183 Wis. 427, 1924 Wisc. LEXIS 189 (Wis. 1924).

Opinion

Doerfler, J.

The action is one for divorce, and the complaint alleges cruel and inhuman treatment. The summons and complaint, together with an order to show cause for temporary alimony, were served upon the defendant personally on January 5, 1922. Upon the hearing of the order to show cause-the court awarded temporary alimony. An affidavit of default having been duly made and filed and the cause having duly come on for trial before the court, the court On the 18th day of April, 1922, signed findings of [429]*429fact, in which, among other things, it found that a prior action for divorce between the same parties was commenced in the municipal court of Kenosha county on September 29, 1921, and that upon the trial of such action such municipal court denied plaintiff’s application for a divorce, and that thereupon judgment dismissing the complaint was entered on the 28th day of December, 1921.

The court in the present action found, among other things, as follows:

“That since the dismissal of said action for divorce the defendant has used of and towards the plaintiff vile and abusive language, and has brutally assaulted the plaintiff, and has been convicted and is now confined in the house of correction of Milwaukee county, on a charge of transporting and selling, etc., intoxicating liquors; that the said ill treatment of the plaintiff by the defendant has caused the plaintiff much anxiety and worry, even to the extent of undermining her health, and that it would be dangerous and unsafe for plaintiff to live with defendant as his wife.”

The court also found that the estate of the parties consists of an equity in a homestead of the reasonable value of $1,700, an equity in a land contract of the value of about $800, and a small amount of household furniture and effects of the value of about $200. As conclusions of law the court ordered an absolute divorce, awarded the custody of the three minor children, aged respectively ten, eight, and two years, to the plaintiff, and for the support of such children awarded alimony, and then, by way of final division of the property rights of the parties, awarded the homestead and the household effects to the plaintiff and the equity in the land contract to the defendant, but charged such equity with the payment of the alimony. Judgment was thereupon entered on the 29th day of April, 1922, in accordance with such findings.

In December, 1922, the defendant moved the court to vacate said judgment of divorce, and, in his affidavit in sup[430]*430port of such motion, generally denied the acts of cruel and inhuman treatment charged; and alleged that at the time of the service of the summons and complaint a criminal prosecution was pending against him for a violation of the Severson Act, and that such prosecution prevented him from defending the complaint in the divorce action; that he is not conversant with the English language, and that he had no opportunity to confer with an interpreter or hire counsel, and that shortly after he was served with the summons and complaint he was convicted on a criminal charge and sentenced to imprisonment until on of about the 10th day of October; 1922, when, upon his release, he heard for the first time of the entry of the judgment.

There was also filed in support of said motion the affidavit of one Schultz, setting forth that on or about January 9, 1922, the defendant brought to him the papers in the divorce action and that the defendant requested him to accompany him to an attorney so1 that the cause might be defended, but that before proper arrangements could be made defendant was committed to prison on the sentence above referred to. Further, defendant’s counsel served a proposed answer, in which, among other things, he denied generally the allegations of cruel and inhuman treatment.

On April 13, 1922, after the hearing of such motion to vacate the judgment, the court entered an order denying the same. Defendant’s counsel in his oral argument and in his brief contends that the order refusing to vacate the judgment constitutes error, and it is the sole error assigned.

In White v. White, 167 Wis. 615, 168 N. W. 704, this court held that an order like the one in question is appeal-able under sub. (2), sec. 3069, Stats., as a final order affecting a substantial right, upon summary application after judgment, and that it cannot be reviewed on appeal from the judgment.

The provisions of sec. 3042 not having been complied with, the time for appeal is governed by sec. 3039, Stats., [431]*431and, the defendant coming under the exceptions of said last named section, the year within which he could appeal from the order began to run upon his release from imprisonment, being on or about the 10th of October, 1922.

The order is discretionary. Lessig v. Lessig, 136 Wis. 403, 117 N. W. 792. The defendant at the time of the commencement of this action was not a novice in divorce actions. Plaintiff had begun a prior action for divorce in September., 1921, in which action the defendant appeared and submitted his defense, and the court denied plaintiff a divorce and dismissed her complaint. In the present action the court found that since the trial of the first divorce action the defendant has been guilty of cruel and inhuman treatment of the plaintiff; was guilty of committing a brutal assault upon the plaintiff, used vile language towards her, and was committed, Rpon a criminal charge for violating the Severson Act, to serve a term in prison. It was also found that the cruelty of the defendant undermined plaintiff’s health, and that the defendant is not a fit or proper person to have the care and custody of the children. No transcript of the evidence on either trial is before us on any of the appeals. The defendant, although not conversant with the English language, before being committed to jail, as appears from the supporting affidavit of Schultz, was apprised of the nature of the action and realized the necessity of hiring counsel and of interposing a defense. The judgment of divorce was not entered until about three months after the commencement of the action. It does not appear from defendant’s motion papers or from his answer that he had made an effort tO' hire counsbl or to defend the action or that he was prevented from doing so, excepting only that he alleges the fact, which is undisputed, that he was confined for a time in prison. The defendant being in default, the divorce counsel appeared on the trial, represented the interests of the public and of the parties, and in writing approved both the findings and the judgment.

[432]*432Defendant’s counsel cites a number of cases of foreign jurisdictions holding that a default divorce judgment should be vacated upon slight showing, because, in addition to' the parties, a third party is interested, viz. the state; that the state is interested in maintaining the marriage relation; that by the granting of a divorce the obligations of support of .wife and children may result in a burden upon the public. A reading of the decisions relied upon, however, is persuasive that at the time the same were rendered the states in which these actions arose and were tried had made no provision similar to the statutes of this state providing for the appointment and the functions of a divorce counsel.

Sec. 2360h,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
198 N.W. 372, 183 Wis. 427, 1924 Wisc. LEXIS 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/subacz-v-subacz-wis-1924.