Bryant v. . Bryant

Supreme Court of North Carolina
Bryant v. . Bryant, 192 S.E. 864 (N.C. 1937)
212 N.C. 6; 1937 N.C. LEXIS 218
BaeNhill

Bryant v. . Bryant

Opinion of the Court

BaeNhill, J.

The former suit was dismissed for defective service of summons and this action was instituted.

While the plaintiffs, in their complaint, seek to recover for future support, as well as for past support, an examination of the record discloses that the jury attempted to award compensation for support up to the date of the trial only. The court, in its charge, called the attention of the jury to the fact that the plaintiffs were seeking to recover $750.00 compensation for support up to the date of the institution of the action, and in that connection instructed them that a computation upon the basis of the evidence would exceed $750.00, but that the jury was restricted to the amount plaintiffs prayed for in their complaint. He further instructed the jury that the plaintiffs were seeking to recover $5.00 per month each for the two then living with their mother, since the filing of the complaint. This would make $10.00 per month, and the cause was tried approximately five months after the institution of the action. Thus, it is apparent the jury allowed $750.00 for support to the .date of the institution of the action and $50.00 for support from the date of the institution of the action to the date of trial, making the total of $800.00, which was the answer to the fourth issue.

The complaint as filed was not sufficient to bring the action within the terms of C. S., 1005. During the trial plaintiffs were permitted to amend the complaint so as to incorporate sufficient allegations to bring the action within the terms of that statute. During the progress of the *9 trial,' in bis charge to the jury, the trial judge instructed the jury, in effect, that the plaintiffs had failed to bring their cause of action within the terms of C. S., 1005, and the issues were submitted to the jury upon the theory that the plaintiffs were required to show actual fraud as contemplated by the original complaint.

Treating this cause as if it was, or should have been, submitted to the jury under the terms of C. S., 1005, giving the plaintiffs the benefit of such presumption of fraud as might arise upon the evidence that the defendant Perry Bryant had conveyed the land in controversy to a near relative, plaintiffs’ action must fail for the reason that they have not established the fact that they were creditors of the defendant Perry Bryant at the time of the institution of the action. Such support as they had received had come from their mother and members of her family. Their personal estates had not been invaded to pay any part of the. cost of their maintenance. The cause of action, if any, arising upon these facts, rested in the mother and not in the children.

The one determinative question presented to us upon the appeal of Arthur J. Bryant is: Was there sufficient evidence of fraud in the execution of the deed from Perry Bryant to Arthur J. Bryant to be submitted to the jury? We are constrained to answer this question in the negative. Under no view of the testimony is a finding that said conveyance was fraudulent, or that the defendant Arthur J. Bryant knew and participated therein, warranted.

This Court has heretofore held that children abandoned by their father may institute an action to compel future support. Green v. Green, 210 N. C., 147; Pickelsimer v. Critcher, 210 N. C., 779. These cases are not in point and are not authoritative in this action. In neither of those cases was past support furnished by another the subject matter of the action.

While the defendant Perry Bryant was served with summons by publication, he filed an answer and is now in court. In their complaint the plaintiffs prayed that the said defendant be compelled to provide them with future support under the authority of Green v. Green, supra, and Pickelsimer v. Critcher, supra. The judgment below, entered in accordance with this opinion, should provide that the cause be retained upon the docket to determine the rights of the plaintiffs under said prayer for relief upon proper issues to be submitted to a jury.

The motion of A. J. Bryant for judgment as of nonsuit should have been allowed.

Reversed as to A. J. Bryant.

New trial as to Perry Bryant.

Reference

Full Case Name
Sybal Bryant, Martha Bryant, Fannie Bryant, and Perry Bryant, Jr., by Their Next Friend, C. H. Leggett v. Perry Bryant and Arthur J. Bryant.
Cited By
2 cases
Status
Published