Mackie v. Mackie
Mackie v. Mackie
Opinion of the Court
After 20 years of marriage, plaintiff wife, now 80 years old, sued defendant for divorce in 1959 alleging a course of grievous physical and mental cruelty. Upon charges and proof—that defendant strangled her to unconsciousness in 1957 and repeatedly beat her, on four occasions resulting in blackened eyes (1958), that she lived with defendant in a state of terror and since 1958 has avoided him whenever possible, that several times defendant has been in jail, and that defendant has failed and refused to work and support her (amended complaint for divorce, par. V)—an interlocutory decree of divorce was entered on October 8, 1959, awarding her a divorce and the family home. From this judgment defendant appealed; it was affirmed November 28, 1960. (Mackie v. Mackie, 186 Cal.App.2d 825 [9 Cal.Rptr. 173].) On February 9, 1961, plaintiff executed a proper affidavit and filed her application for final decree of divorce; final judgment was entered February 21, 1961. Thereafter, defendant moved to vacate the same upon the ground that plaintiff committed a fraud on the court, in that her affidavit had failed to disclose that the parties “lived together as husband and wife and cohabited” during the interlocutory period. Defendant appeals from the order denying the motion. Appellant’s sole contention is that inasmuch as “the parties lived together after the entry of the Interlocutory Decree” (A.O.B., p. 6), the lower court erred in refusing to vacate the final judgment.
Assuming all matters set up in defendant’s affidavit supporting his motion to vacate to be true, he has failed to make out a ease of fraud which would justify vacation of the final judgment; indeed, had the motion based thereon been granted, the showing would have been insufficient to thereafter support a denial of entry of the final decree.
Under the law of this state, whatever their conduct
Ignoring the rules on appeal, appellant asks us to review the facts and determine, contrary to the lower court’s implied finding, that the “parties have lived together so as to nullify the judgment of divorce” (A.O.B., p. 7); he does not contend that the evidence is insufficient to support the finding of the court below but improperly argues that the evidence would support a finding that “the parties had lived together.” (A.O.B., p. 7.) However, were we empowered to revaluate the evidence and find that “the parties had lived together” during the interlocutory period, such a finding still would not justify a holding contrary to that of the lower court; as authority therefor, we refer to the principles hereinabove set forth. But considering the sufficiency of the evidence, a review of the record convinces us that the implied findings of the court below are amply supported.
Like oral testimony, it is the province of the trial
In their briefs both parties allude to considerable facts which are not disclosed by the record, including those contained in an affidavit filed by plaintiff in opposition to defendant’s motion. Plaintiff, in her brief, refers at length to her counteraffidavit and its contents (R.R.B., p. 2, p. 6); defendant in his opening brief concedes that such an affidavit was filed by plaintiff and before the lower court, in his reference to the hearing on the motion and plaintiff’s affidavit-—-that she "introduced nothing to controvert” defendant’s affidavit and her "affidavit is evasive and insecure on its face.” (A.O.B., p. 14.) While plaintiff’s counteraffidavit was not included in the record before us, we do not doubt one was filed controverting defendant’s assertions that the parties cohabited subsequent to the entry of the interlocutory decree; and defendant has not replied denying that one was filed or that it did not contain allegations opposed to his claim. However, defendant based his motion, as well, on all records, papers and files in the action, which, we may assume, the lower court had before it when deciding the matter; and from reference to it in her brief, the allegations of plaintiff’s affidavit appear to be little different than those made under oath in her amended complaint for divorce under which she
Plaintiff’s outright unwillingness to have defendant in her home at any time, which could hardly show cohabitation let alone reconciliation, is reflected not only in the record before us and the prior opinion of this court (186 Cal.App.2d 825 [9 Cal.Rptr. 173]), but in defendant’s own brief. They reveal plaintiff’s continuous unsuccessful struggle to evict defendant from her home and avoid contact with him—the obtaining of an order to show cause and restraining order for his removal from the premises and her efforts to evict him, including his arrest and contempt proceedings for his failure to comply with the court’s order. Defendant’s own brief, as well, concedes this struggle and plaintiff’s efforts to keep him out of her home, including his arrest for a violation of the court’s order for his removal from the premises (A.O.B., pp. 4, 5), and her desire to evict him for reasons of her health and safety (A.O.B., p. 9).
The record shows a bitterly contested divorce case with numerous appearances and court proceedings, a recent and repeated course of physical violence that placed plaintiff in a state of fear and terror, a constant and continuous struggle to remove defendant from her home, an elderly woman, obviously without strength to forcibly evict defendant (approximately 10 years younger) and her permanent intention to avoid any contact with defendant. This showing is hardly compatible with any alleged fact of defendant’s stay on the premises with plaintiff’s consent, cohabitation, or cohabitation on a voluntary basis, let alone reconciliation with the necessary intent to forgive defendant’s past conduct and restore him to full marital rights.
For the foregoing reasons the order is affirmed.
Wood, P. J., and Fourt, J., concurred.
Now California Buies of Court, rule 233.
Reference
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- ELEANORA MACKIE, and v. MALCOLM MACKIE, and
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