Laughlin v. Laughlin
Laughlin v. Laughlin
Opinion of the Court
This appeal seeks reversal of a judgment of the Superior Court denying a divorce decree sought on the ground of cruelty. That denial was based upon the failure to prove extreme cruelty within the meaning of the Delaware Statute. T. 13 Sec. 1522.
The only corroboration of any feature of the case was the testimony of the girl friend, who agreed that plaintiff came to her home about one or two o’clock in the morning with her suitcase and stayed the rest of the night. She also stated that plaintiff looked like a “wreck”, she was “shaky and white” and her face, neck and arm were red “from when he had grabbed her”.
Aside from the question of whether the statutory ground was proven, the record is deficient in certain other respects. There was no proof whatever of residence of either party — a jurisdictional requirement under T. 13 Sec. 1525. There was no corroboration of the marriage or the continued separation of the parties since December, 1963. The trial Judge did not discuss these matters, obviously because of his finding that extreme cruelty had not been proven.
Even though defendant did not appear and interpose a defense, plaintiff nevertheless had the burden of proving her right to divorce. Street v. Street, 9 Terry 272, 101 A.2d 803. She was obliged to show that the cruelty was such act or acts as to create a reasonable apprehension of danger to the life or health or to render cohabitation unsafe. Jackson v. Jackson, Del., 178 A.2d 455. This statutory requirement may or may not be satisfied by proof of a single act of cruelty, depending upon its nature, the surrounding circumstances, its effect upon the injured party and various other factors. Stutz v. Stutz, 139 N.J.Eq. 385, 51 A.2d 432.
In the present case, only one act is described, and few of its
The trial Judge attempted to make clear to counsel the deficiencies in the evidence. Only two possible explanations of counsel’s failure to supply those deficiencies come to mind. The reason may be that there was no sufficient additional evidence to present; in that event, plaintiff is not entitled to a decree on the ground of cruelty. The other explanation may be that counsel did not grasp the meaning of the Judge’s comments or, having rested his case, felt that he could not get additional evidence into the record; if the case was not fully presented for this reason, it may be that plaintiff is entitled to a decree. As the matter now stands, we do not know whether the judgment should be affirmed or reversed. We are reluctant to affirm on the basis of the record before us, because the defects therein may be the result of mistake or inadvertence of counsel for which plaintiff should not be penalized. We, therefore, are of the opinion that the appropriate course, under the peculiar situation presented, is to remand the case for further hearing in order to give plaintiff the opportunity to have all the facts of
The case will be remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BERNICE MARIE LAUGHLIN v. ROBERT GERALD LAUGHLIN
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published