Minnesota Supreme Court, 1973

O'Neil v. O'Neil

Minnesota Supreme Court · Decided August 31, 1973 · Kelly

210 N.W.2d 237; 297 Minn. 516; 1973 Minn. LEXIS 1138 (North Western Reporter, Second Series)

Counsel

Albert Thomas O’Neil, pro se, for appellant., Dolores Margaret O’Neil, pro se, for respondent.

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Citation treatment has not been reviewed for this case. The notes below come from the citation graph and the Minnesota Revisor's amendment records, not from a review of how later courts treated this decision.

(as of 9/30/2026)

Last cited by a Minnesota appellate court in 1988, among the opinions in this site’s citation index.

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Cases that cite this one

4 later published cases cite this decision.

Marriage of Rundell v. Rundell (Minn. Ct. App. 1988)
Epstein v. Epstein (Minn. 1978)
McCarthy v. McCarthy (Minn. 1974)
Marriage of Randall v. Steward (Minn. Ct. App. 1988)

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

Per Curiam.

Plaintiff and defendant were divorced on May 18, 1967, by a decree filed in the Wabasha County District Court. Defendant has appealed from an order of that court granting in part plaintiff’s subsequent motion for certain relief. Because of plaintiff’s death during the pendency of the appeal, some of the provisions in the order are of no effect and need not be considered.

Defendant’s appeal from the part of the court order denying plaintiff’s motion to hold defendant in contempt must be denied. As to him, this question is moot.

Defendant also appealed from the part of the court order awarding plaintiff $150 attorneys’ fees. The award of attorneys’ fees is discretionary and is not predicated on the recipient being the prevailing party. See, Visneski v. Visneski, 219 Minn. 217, 17 N. W. 2d 313 (1945). On appeal, the award will not be disturbed absent a clear abuse of discretion. Borchert v. Borchert, 279 Minn. 16, 154 N. W. 2d 902 (1967). A careful review of the record discloses no such abuse.

No attorneys’ fees or costs are allowed to either of the parties for this appeal.

Affirmed.

Mr. Justice Kelly took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.

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