Biewend v. Biewend
Biewend v. Biewend
Dissenting Opinion
I dissent.
I concur in that portion of the majority opinion which holds that the judgment should be affirmed as to those alimony payments which had accrued under the Missouri decree within five years immediately preceding the commencement of this action, but I dissent from that portion of said opinion which purports to affirm that portion of the judgment of the trial court establishing the Missouri decree as a California judgment requiring payments henceforth of $25 per week by the husband to the wife although the Missouri award was for the support of both the children and the wife, and the children have now reached majority, and the wife, since the Missouri decree, has remarried. It is true that the second marriage has been dissolved, but when we consider that the wife has done nothing to enforce the Missouri decree from the time of its entry until 1938, and during that time has lived with the husband for four years and has been married and divorced a second time, considerations of good morals, social principles, natural justice, and fair play require a determination that it is against the public policy of this state to establish the Missouri decree as a California judgment requiring the husband in the future to pay $25 per week to the wife. It must be conceded that whether or not future payments under the Missouri decree shall be so established, lies entirely in the discretion of the trial court, unaffected by the full faith and credit clause of the federal Constitution; but it is contended that such establishment is not against the public policy of this state as expressed by the legislature in section 139 of the Civil Code, which provides that alimony payments shall cease upon remarriage of the wife. The term “public policy” as used in connection with the enforcement by one state of another state’s laws is at best vague and impossible of precise definition, and it is true that a state’s public policy ordinarily is not violated merely because there is a variance in the laws of the states involved, and that before there is such a violation of the law
Here the children are of age, and it certainly would do violence to the policy of our state founded on natural justice and basic social principles to permit the establishment of the Missouri decree requiring appellant to make payments to the wife in the future. The portion of the judgment of the trial court so declaring should be reversed.
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff secured a decree of divorce in Missouri on May 10, 1918, which provided that defendant pay her $25 per week for the support of herself and their four minor children. Both parties were before the court and subject to its jurisdiction. Subsequently they came to California. Between the date of the original divorce decree in Missouri and the time of bringing this action all the minor children reached their majority. Meanwhile plaintiff married and divorced a second time after which she again lived with defendant for a period of four years. In 1938, the plaintiff brought suit upon the decree in the Superior Court of San Joaquin County, and recovered a judgment ordering not only the payment of those installments which had accrued within five years prior to the beginning of the action but also payment to her of $25 per week from the date of the judgment. Defendant has appealed from this judgment.
An order for the payment of money as alimony rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction in one state must be recognized by all other states under the full faith and credit clause of the United States Constitution as to all accrued installments not subject to modification by the court rendering the original order. (Sistare v. Sistare, 218 U. S. 1 [30 Sup. Ct. 682, 54 L. Ed. 905]; Lynde v. Lynde, 181 U. S. 183 [21 Sup. Ct. 555, 45 L. Ed. 810]; Barber v. Barber, 62 U. S. (21 How.) 582 [16 L. Ed. 226]; Goodrich, Conflict
Only if such accrued payments are still subject to modification may recovery be denied. “ (Bentley v. Calabrese, 155 Misc. 843 [280 N. Y. Supp. 454]; Weston v. Weston, 177 La. 305 [148 So. 241]; Page v. Page, 189 Mass. 85 [75 N. E. 92, 4 Ann. Cas. 296]; Bleuer v. Bleuer, 27 Okl. 25 [110 Pac. 736]; Levine v. Levine, 95 Or. 94 [187 Pac. 609]; Hunt v. Monroe, 32 Utah, 428 [91 Pac. 269, 11 L. R. A. (N. S.) 249]; Henry v. Henry, 74 W. Va. 563 [82 S. E. 522, L. R. A. 1916D, 1024].)
Under the law of Missouri courts of that state will make no modification of the right to accrued installments. The wife thus has a vested right to them enforceable in other states on the basis of full faith and credit. (Nelson v. Nelson, 282 Mo. 412 [221 S. W. 1066].) Neither the subsequent marriage of the divorced wife to another nor her subsequent resumption of marital relations with the defendant nor the coming of age of the children automatically releases the defendant from his obligations to pay alimony. They merely afford grounds for the court in its discretion to modify or vacate the order as to future installments upon proper application. (Niedt v. Niedt, (Mo. App.) 95 S. W. (2d) 868.) Section 1355 of Revised Missouri Statutes [1929], volume I, page 567, provides that the court may modify the order for payment of alimony but only upon application of either of the parties.
It is well settled that once a valid judgment has been rendered it must be accorded full faith and credit by every other court within the United States even though the cause
The full faith and credit clause, however, does not obligate the courts of one state to enforce an alimony decree rendered in another state with regard to future payments, particularly when such future installments are subject to modification by the court of original jurisdiction. (Sistare v. Bistare, supra; Lynde v. Lynde, supra; Barber v. Barber, supra; Cummings v. Cummings, 97 Cal. App. 144 [275 Pac. 245] ; Creager v. Superior Court, supra; Rinkenberg v. Rinkenberger, supra; Barns v. Barns, supra; McCullough v. McCullough, 203 Mich. 288 [168 N. W. 929] ; Levy v. Dockendorff, 177 App. Div. 249 [163 N. Y. Supp. 435] ; Richards v. Richards, 87 Misc. 134 [149 N. Y. Supp. 1028] ; Campbell v. Campbell, 28 Okl. 838 [115 Pac. 1111] ; Armstrong v. Armstrong, 117 Ohio, 558 [160 N. E. 34, 57 A. L. R 1108]; Rosenberg v. Rosenberg, 152 Md. 49 [135 Atl. 840] ; McWilliams v. McWilliams, 216 Ala. 16 [112 So. 318]; Freund v. Freund, 71 N. J. Eq. 524 [63 Atl. 756] ; Reik v. Reik, 101 N. J. Eq. 523 [139 Atl. 385]; A. L. I., Rest. Conflicts of Laws, sec. 464.) In the present case the Missouri court clearly retains authority to modify the amount of future installments
Upon the basis of comity, however, as distinguished from the requirements of full faith and credit, the California courts have in numerous cases ordered that a foreign decree for future payments of alimony be established as the decree of the California court with the same force and effect as if it had been entered in this state, including punishment for contempt if the defendant fails to comply. (Palen v. Palen, 12 Cal. App. (2d) 357 [55 Pac. (2d) 228]; Creager v. Superior Court, supra; Straus v. Straus, 4 Cal. App. (2d) 461 [41 Pac. (2d) 218, 42 Pac. (2d) 378]; Cummings v. Cummings, supra; Bruton v. Tearle, 7 Cal. (2d) 48 [59 Pac. (2d) 953, 106 A. L. R. 580]; see, also, Morrow v. Morrow, supra.)
Such a rule of comity is subject to the principle that foreign laws will not be given effect when contrary to the settled public policy of the forum. (Estate of Lathrop, 165 Cal. 243 [131 Pac. 752]; Whitney v. Dodge, 105 Cal. 192 [38 Pac. 636]; Blythe v. Ayres, 96 Cal. 532 [31 Pac. 915, 19 L. R. A. 40]; Pearson v. Pearson, 51 Cal. 120; Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U. S. 714 [24 L. Ed. 565]; Green v. Van Buskirk, 72 U. S. (5 Wall.) 307 [18 L. Ed. 599]; Smith v. Union Bank, 30 U. S. (5 Pet.) 518 [8 L. Ed. 212]; 5 Cal. Jur. 422; 12 C. J. 439.) It must be clear, however, that the enforcement of the right obtained under the laws of another state would be prejudicial to recognized standards of morality and to the general interests of the citizens in the state of the forum. (Dennick v. Central R. R. Co. of N. J., 103 U. S. 11 [26 L. Ed. 439]; Herrick v. Minneapolis & St. L. Ry. Co., 31 Minn. 11 [16 N. W. 413, 47 Am. Rep. 771]; Powell v. Great Northern Ry. Co., 102 Minn. 448 [113 N. W. 1017]; Loucks v. Standard Oil Co. of N. Y., 224 N. Y. 99 [120 N. E. 198]; International Harvester Co. v. McAdam, 142 Wis. 114 [124 N. W. 1042, 20 Ann. Cas. 614, 26 L. R. A. (N. S.) 774]; Whitney v. Dodge, 105 Cal. 192 [38 Pac. 636]; 5 Cal. Jur. 423; 12 C. J. 439.) Actually as set forth in the Restatement: “There is a strong public policy favoring the enforcement of duties validly created by the law governing their creation. Denial of enforcement of the foreign claim will result in an undeserved benefit to the defendant.” . (A. L. I. Rest, of Conflicts of Laws, sec. 612, comment c; see
In the present case the Missouri law differs from that of California in permitting alimony payments to continue after the remarriage of the divorced wife. (Gunderson v. Gunderson, 4 Cal. App. (2d) 257 [40 Pac. (2d) 956].) Such a right to receive future installments of alimony, however, even though at variance with Civil Code, section 139, is not perforce inharmonious with local public policy. It offers no threat to either the moral standards or the general interests of the citizens of this state. To hold that the right created in Missouri is so immoral as to be unenforceable here would involve a complacent attribution of moral superiority to this state. The remarriage and the coming of age of the minor children offer grounds for modification of the original decree for which the defendant can make application in the court of original jurisdiction in Missouri, and it is not incumbent upon the California court to refuse to give prospective effect to the decree upon these grounds. (Handschy v. Handschy, 32 Cal. App. (2d) 504 [90 Pac. (2d) 123].) Therefore, the judgment of the trial court ordering the defendant to pay to the plaintiff $25 per week in the future from the date of the judgment is valid and enforceable until such time as the Missouri court modifies its decree.
It is a principle of conflict of laws recognized in California that the barring of a claim by the statute of limitations is a procedural matter governed by the law of the forum, regardless of where the cause of action arose. (McElmoyle v. Cohen, 38 U. S. [13 Pet.] 312 [10 L. Ed. 177]; Townsend v. Jemison, 50 U. S. [9 How.] 407 [13 L. Ed. 194]; Royal Trust Co. v. MacBean, 168 Cal. 642 [144 Pac. 139]; Miller v. Lane, 160 Cal. 90 [116 Pac. 58].) It is a corollary that an action brought upon a judgment of a sister state is subject to the limitations prescribed by the law of
Section 336 of the California Code of Civil Procedure provides that an action upon a judgment or decree of any court of the United States or of any state within the United States must be brought within five years. A decree for future payments of alimony is a continuing judgment. The trial court in this case therefore gave judgment for those installments of alimony which had accrued within five years prior to the bringing of the action, the California statute of limitations having run on all installments accruing prior to that time.
Section 361 of the California Code of Civil Procedure, however, provides: “When a cause of action has arisen in another state, or in a foreign country, and by the laws thereof an action thereon cannot there be maintained against a person by reason of the lapse of time, an action thereon shall not be maintained against him in this state, except in favor of one who has been a citizen of this state, and who held the cause of action from the time it accrued.” This section applies only to causes of action barred by the law of the state of creation, but not by the law of this state. (Littlepage v. Morck, 120 Cal. App. 88 [7 Pac. (2d) 716].) Since the plaintiff has not been a citizen of this state from the time the cause of action accrued, this section has the effect of applying the Missouri statute of limitations to those installments accruing within five years, upon which the California statute of limitations has not run. (Stewart v. Spaulding, 72 Cal. 264 [13 Pac. 661]; Van Buskirk v. Kuhns, 164 Cal. 472 [129 Pac. 587, Ann. Cas. 1914B, 932, 44 L. R. A. (N. S.) 710].)
Defendant therefore sets up as a bar to this action section 886 of the Revised Missouri Statutes of 1929, in force at the time the original alimony decree was secured by plaintiff, which provides: “Every judgment, order or decree of any court of record of the United States, or of this or any other state, territory or county, shall be presumed to be paid and satisfied after the expiration of ten years from the date of the original rendition thereof, or if the same has been revived upon personal service duly had upon the defendant or defendants therein, then after ten years from and after such revival, or in case a payment has been made on such judgment, order or decree, and duly entered upon
This section has been held effective to cut off the right to continuing alimony installments if no payment is made or action taken upon the original decree within ten years after rendition. (Mayes v. Mayes, 342 Mo. 401 [116 S. W. (2d) 1].) It has been interpreted, however, by the Missouri courts as constituting a statute of limitations which must be specially pleaded to be available in defense to an action on a judgment. (Excelsior Steel Furnace Co. v. Smith, (Mo. App.) 17 S. W. (2d) 378; Flink v. Parcell, 344 Mo. 49 [124 S. W. (2d) 1189].)
Defendant properly pleaded his contention under California law when he alleged by answer that plaintiff’s cause of action “is barred by the provisions of Section 361 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the State of California.” (Code Civ. Proc., sec. 458; Lilly-Brackett Co. v. Sonnemann, 157 Cal. 192, 193, 198 [106 Pac. 715, 21 Ann. Cas. 1279].) The trial court, however, expressly found that “it is not true that said judgment is barred by Section 361 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the State of California.” Defendant has appealed upon the judgment roll alone. He has made no showing on appeal that any evidence was introduced below to sustain Ms burden of proving that the cause of action was barred by the statute of limitations. (Code Civ. Proc., sec. 458; First National Bank v. Armstrong, 110 Cal. App. 408 [294 Pac. 25]; 16 Cal. Jur. 626.) He has not shown that plaintiff failed to take some action upon the original decree within ten years after its rendition. Every intendment favors the validity of the judgment as rendered, and if no evidence is presented in the record on appeal, it must be assumed that sufficient evidence was presented to the trial court to sustain its finding of fact. (Morris v. Board of Education, 119 Cal. App. 750 [7 Pac. (2d) 364, 8 Pac. (2d) 502]; Archer v. Harvey, 164 Cal. 274 [128 Pac. 410].) Defendant’s contention that the action is barred by
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Shenk, J., Edmonds, J., Peters, J., pro tem., Ward, J., pro tem., and Gibson, C. J., concurred.
Reference
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- LOTTIE C. BIEWEND, Respondent, v. ADOLPH C. BIEWEND, Appellant
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