Sharon v. Hill

• Decision Date: 26 December 1885
• Citation: 26 F. 337
• Parties: SHARON v. HILL.
• Court: United States Circuit Court, District of California

26 F. 337

SHARON v. HILL.

United States Circuit Court, D. California.

December 26, 1885

W. H L. Barnes, William M. Stewart, Oliver P. Evans, and H. I Kowalsky, for plaintiff.

George W. Tyler, W. B. Tyler, and David S. Terry, for defendant.

Before SAWYER and DEADY, JJ.

DEADY J.

This suit was commenced on October 3, 1883, to have a certain alleged declaration of marriage between the plaintiff and defendant declared to be false and fraudulent, and delivered up to be canceled and annulled, and to enjoin the defendant from the use thereof. It is alleged in the bill that the plaintiff is a citizen of Nevada, and the defendant a citizen of California; that the plaintiff has never been the husband of any woman but one, who died in 1875 leaving three children, the issue of said marriage, and that he is possessed of a large fortune, and has a large business and social connection; that the defendant is an unmarried woman, of about 30 years of age, who has resided in the city of San Francisco for some years, and within two months past has publicly claimed and pretended to be the wife of the plaintiff, to whom she alleges she was duly married on August 25, 1880, in San Francisco, by means of a joint declaration of marriage, made in conformity to section 75 of the Civil Code of California; that said claim and pretense are wholly false and untrue, and are made by the defendant for the purpose of obtaining credit and support at the expense of the plaintiff, and to obtain money from him, or, in case of his death, from his heirs, to quiet the same; that the defendant now claims to have said declaration in her possession, but the plaintiff never saw or heard of it until within a month past, and is informed that it is substantially as herein set forth; and that the same is false and forged, and null and void, and ought, as against the plaintiff, to be so declared and delivered up to be canceled and annulled. On December 3, 1883, the defendant demurred to the bill for want of equity, and on March 3, 1884, the court (SAWYER and SABIN, JJ.) gave judgment overruling the demurrer, on the ground that the instrument, if false or forged, might be hereafter used to maintain a false claim to an interest in the plaintiff's property at a distance of time when the proof of its fraudulent character was unattainable. 10 Sawy. 48, and 20 F. 1.

On April 24, 1884, the defendant pleaded in abatement of the suit: (1) Another suit pending in the superior court of the state, between the same parties, commenced on November 1, 1883, by the defendant fora divorce from a marriage with the plaintiff, by means of said declaration, and the subsequent cohabitation of the parties thereto, until November, 1881, on the ground of adultery and desertion by the plaintiff, which suit was, on November 20, 1883, removed to this court on the petition of the plaintiff, and afterwards, on December 31, 1883, in pursuance of the stipulation of the parties, was remanded to said state court, and that said suit was then on trial therein on the question of whether the plaintiff and defendant are husband and wife, by reason of said declaration and cohabitation; and (2) the court has no jurisdiction of the matters set forth in the bill herein, because the plaintiff is a resident and citizen of California. To this the plaintiff, on May 5, 1884, replied that he ought not to be 'barred' from the relief prayed for, by reason of the matters set forth in the plea, and that it is not true that he is a citizen of California. On October 16, 1884, the three months allowed by equity rule 69 for taking evidence on the issue made on the plea having expired, the cause was regularly brought on for hearing on the bill, plea, and replication, when the court (SAWYER, J.) gave judgment for the plaintiff, overruling the plea, with leave to the defendant to answer to the merits within 30 days. The court, after calling attention to the fact that the plea was bad for duplicity, said, in substance, admitting the allegations concerning the pendency of the suit in the state court, it did not appear that they were for the same purpose or relief; and, if they were, the plea was so far insufficient, because the two suits were pending in courts of different jurisdictions; and, there being no proof in support of any allegation in the plea, it was overruled. 10 Sawy. 394, and 22 F. 28.

On December 30, 1884, the defendant answered the bill, denying that she is an unmarried woman; that the plaintiff is a citizen of Nevada, and averring that he is a citizen of California; that plaintiff never was the husband of any person but his deceased wife, and that he was unmarried at the filing of the bill; that defendant's claim to be the wife of the plaintiff is false, or made for any purpose but to obtain recognition and support as his wife, and admitting that she had made such claim for the past 15 months; that defendant was never the wife of the plaintiff, or that said declaration is null and void or false and forged; and avers that the parties were married on August 25, 1880, and that said declaration is valid and genuine. The answer also contains what is styled therein 'a further and separate answer and defense,' to the effect that 'the plaintiff ought not to be permitted to prosecute this suit, ' because on August 25, 1880, the parties, by agreement, became husband and wife, and 'assumed towards each other that relation,' but said marriage not being solemnized as provided in section 70 of the Civil Code of California, the plaintiff and defendant on said day jointly made a declaration of marriage, as set forth in the bill, and thereafter, until November, 1881, cohabited together as husband and wife, when the plaintiff refused to recognize said marriage, and deserted the defendant; that on November 1, 1883, the defendant, as Sarah Althea Sharon, commenced an action against the plaintiff, in the superior court of San Francisco, for divorce, and that 'the allegations of marriage in the complaint' therein 'were principally founded upon said declaration of marriage. ' The answer then sets forth in extenso the removal of such action to this court, and the remanding of the same, in pursuance of the stipulation as aforesaid, and then proceeds: That by the stipulation of the parties such action was assigned to department 2 of said superior court for trial before a judge thereof, without a jury, and the same was so tried between March 10 and September 17, 1884; that thereafter, on December 24, 1884, said judge found and decided (1) that the parties to such action were, and had been since August 25, 1880, husband and wife; (2) that said declaration of marriage is 'true and genuine,' and was signed by the defendant therein, and that said parties had cohabited together as husband and wife; and (3) that the defendant had deserted the plaintiff, and the latter was entitled to a divorce and a division of the common property. Wherefore, it is averred that the question of the 'genuineness' of said declaration, which is now sought to be tried in this suit, is the same question that was adjudged and determined in said superior court, and has therefore 'become res adjudicata as between' the parties hereto.

On January 2, 1885, the general replication was filed to this answer, and on February 5th the defendant filed a supplemental answer, alleging that since the filing of the former answer said superior court had filed its findings and decree, wherein it is adjudged that said declaration is a genuine contract of marriage between the parties hereto, and said parties thereby became husband and wife. Subsequently the defendant in Sharon v. Sharon duly took an appeal from the judgment therein, and gave notice of a motion for a new trial, both of which proceedings are still pending and undetermined.

The evidence was taken orally before an examiner of the court during the period between February 5 and August 11, 1885, and covers 1,731 pages of legal-cap, written with a type-writer. Besides this, there are a large number of exhibits, consisting of enlarged drawings or tracings of the disputed writings, and particular parts and peculiarities of them, and of the admitted writings of the parties, together with a large number of bank-checks containing the plaintiff's signature; and photographic copies of the declaration; five letters alleged to have been written by the plaintiff to the defendant, and known as the 'Dear Wife' letters; a letter from the plaintiff to S. F. Thorn, dated October 16, 1880; four letters written by the defendant to the plaintiff during the years 1881 and 1882; and a letter to the plaintiff written in 1882, and signed 'Miss Brackett,' besides tracings and other writings of third persons.

The plaintiff having testified on the first day of the examination that the declaration was false and forged, an effort was then made by the plaintiff to have the defendant produce the same before the examiner for inspection by the expert witnesses of the plaintiff, which she evaded doing until February 25th, when she was compelled to do so by the order of the court; and on March 16th, in pursuance of a like order, she produced three of the five 'Dear Wife' letters, known as Exhibits 11, 13, and 37, which declaration and letters were examined by Dr. Piper for the plaintiff, and drawings made of the same with the aid of a microscope, from time to time thereafter, in the presence of the examiner until March 19th, when the defendant, in disregard of the order of the court, and on contumacious, frivolous, and contradictory pretexts, refused to allow a particle of ink to be taken from either of them for examination by the expert under the microscope, so as to ascertain the character and kind of the same, and particularly that used in...