Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1979

Mullen v. Mullen

Massachusetts Appeals Court · Decided April 6, 1979

7 Mass. App. Ct. 899; 387 N.E.2d 1161; 1979 Mass. App. LEXIS 1289

Cases that cite this one

3 later published cases cite this decision.

Barron Chevrolet, Inc. v. Barron (Mass. App. Ct. 2018)
Murphy v. National Union Fire Insurance (Mass. 2003)
Katz v. Katz (Mass. App. Ct. 2002)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

The defendant appeals from a judgment of civil contempt for failure to make support payments for the plaintiff and their minor children as provided in a judgment of divorce. While this appeal was pending, a house which the parties owned was sold and a part of the proceeds was taken by a *900receiver to satisfy arrearages in the defendant’s payments. The receiver had previously been appointed for this purpose. Since (as indicated in the receiver’s "Motion to Discharge Lis Pendens”) that sum satisfied the arrearages, the defendant is purged of contempt. Ainslie v. Ainslie, 6 Mass. App. Ct. 692,693 (1978), citing Sodones v. Sodones, 366 Mass. 121, 130 (1974). Therefore, the judgment of contempt is reversed, not on the merits, but because the issue has become moot. The case is remanded to the Probate Court with instructions to dismiss the complaint. Nilsson v. Pearson, 301 Mass. 228, 229 (1938). Bettigole v. City Council of Springfield, 1 Mass. App. Ct. 816, 817 (1973).

John R. Mullen, pro se, submitted a brief.

So ordered.

Case-law data current through September 30, 2026. Source: CourtListener bulk data.