Bates v. Bodie

• Decision Date: 21 January 1918
• Docket Number: No. 120,120
• Parties: BATES v. BODIE
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

245 U.S. 520

38 S.Ct. 182

62 L.Ed. 444

BATES

v BODIE.

No. 120.

Argued Jan. 4, 1918.

Decided Jan. 21, 1918.

Plaintiff in error, Bates, filed a complaint in divorce against defendant in error in the chancery court of Benton county, state of Arkansas, alleging cruelty and praying for an absolute divorce.

Defendant in error filed an answer denying the charge against her and a cross-complaint accusing him of cruelty.

In the cross-complaint she alleged that Bates was the owner of real and personal property of the fair value of $75,000, consisting of 320 acres of land in York county, Neb., which she described, and alleged further that she was the owner in her own right of $3,000, $2,500 of which she loaned to Bates, taking his note therefor bearing interest at 8 per cent. per annum.

She prayed for an absolute divorce, for the restoration of the money borrowed from her, and 'that the court award her such alimony as the facts and law warrant, and all other proper and necessary relief.' The court, after hearing, dismissed Bates' complaint for want of equity and granted her a divorce, and alimony was decreed her as follows:

'It is ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that the defendant Lucie Bates have and recover of and from the defendant [plaintiff] Edward Bates the sum of $5,111.00 in full of alimony and all other demands set forth in cross-bill which judgment is rendered by the consent of the plaintiff on condition that no appeal be taken by the defendant from the judgment and decree herein rendered.'

Certain personal property, consisting of silverware and household furniture, was adjudged to her and a lien was declared on a lot in the city of Siloam Springs, state of Arkansas, and certain notes and mortgages amounting to the sum of $2,801.06 were required to be deposited with the clerk of the court as additional security. He, however, was given the power to sell the same, but required to deposit the proceeds of the sale with the clerk until the sum awarded her be paid, for which no execution was to issue for six months. It was also decreed:

'That she be restored to her maiden name, * * * and that the bonds of matrimony entered into' between her and Bates 'be dissolved, set aside, and held for naught.'

She subsequently brought this suit against him in a Nebraska state court repeating the charges of cruelty against him and the proceedings in Arkansas resulting in a decree for divorce and alimony as stated above, and—'that the court of chancery did not have any jurisdiction of or over the property of complainant which was situated outside of the state of Arkansas, and that in consequence of that fact in determining the amount of alimony to be granted the defendant in that suit, he was limited and prohibited from taking into account the above-mentioned property situated in York county, Neb. Said court was limited by the laws of Arkansas from taking into consideration said property lying in York county, Neb., in determining the amount of alimony that should be granted to defendant in that suit, who is plaintiff herein.'

The laws of the state of Arkansas further provide, she alleged, that:

'Where the divorce is granted to the wife each party is restored to all property not disposed of at the commencement of the action, which either party obtains from or through the other during the marriage, and in consideration or by reason thereof; and the wife so granted a divorce from the husband shall be entitled to one-third of all lands of which her husband is seised of an estate of inheritance, at any time during the marriage, for her life, unless the same shall have been released by her in legal form.'

She further alleged that the land in Nebraska was worth the sum of $48,000; that the amount of alimony allowed her by the Arkansas decree was largely inadequate for her support and was not such a fair proportion of the property of Bates owned by him at the date of the decree as she then was and is entitled to in view of the circumstances. She prayed that a reasonable sum be adjudged her out of the York county property in addition to the amount allowed her by the Arkansas decree. A copy of the decree was attached to the complaint.

Bates demurred to the complaint on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, and, she declining to plead further, the cause was dismissed for want of equity. The judgment was reversed by the Supreme Court.

On the return of the case to the trial court Bates answered. He set up the proceedings in Arkansas, and pleaded the decree and alleged that it was made upon full consideration of the evidence and the issues, and that the court took into consideration the value of the land in York county, Neb., in determining the amount of alimony to be awarded to plaintiff; that the decree remained 'in full force and effect, except that the amount of alimony awarded therein has been fully paid' by him; that the Arkansas court in awarding the alimony 'took into consideration all of the property owned by' him, 'which decree, so far as it relates to alimony, having been fully satisfied, has become a full and complete bar to further proceedings on the part of the plaintiff in this suit, defendant in that, to recover additional alimony under the laws of Arkansas'; and that, further, under the Constitution of the United States, the findings and decree are entitled to full faith and credit in the courts of Nebraska, and constitute a full and complete bar to plaintiff's right to recover additional alimony under the laws of the state of Nebraska.

It was adjudged and decreed that plaintiff (defendant in error here) have and recover from the defendant (plaintiff in error here) the 'sum of $10,000, being the amount found due her as alimony.' The judgment was affirmed by the Supreme Court, to review which this writ of error was prosecuted.

Messrs. A. C. Ricketts and A. W. Field, both of Lincoln, Neb., for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Samuel P. Davids n, of Tecumseh, Neb., for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice McKENNA, after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

A motion is made to dismiss on the ground, as contended, that the decision of the Supreme Court of Nebraska was based upon a construction of the statutes of Arkansas and concluded therefrom that the District Court of Arkansas 'had no jurisdiction to take the Nebraska lands of this plaintiff in error into consideration in fixing the amount of allowance to this defendant in error, and as a matter of fact did not do so'; that his conclusion was reached 'by reason of the peculiar statute of Arkansas which governs and controls the courts of that state in fixing the allowance of alimony to a wife, in all cases in which the divorce is granted on her petition' (italics counsel's) and the court 'was limited and controlled by that statute.' It is hence contended that the full faith and credit which the Constitution of the United States requires to be given to the judicial proceedings of another state was not denied to the Arkansas decree, but that the Supreme Court of Nebraska, considering the statutes of Arkansas, gave to the decree the value those statutes gave to it.

But this is the question in controversy. The decision of the Supreme Court of Nebraska is challenged for not according to the decree the credit it is entitled to and it is no answer to the challenge to say that the Supreme Court committed no error in responding to it, and that, therefore, there is no federal question for review. Andrews v. Andrews, 188 U. S. 14, 23 Sup. Ct. 237, 47 L. Ed. 366. The motion to dismiss is denied.

The decision of the Supreme Court affirming the subsequent judgment of the District Court on the merits was by a divided court and the opinion and dissenting opinion were well-reasoned and elaborate. The ultimate propositions decided were that the courts of Nebraska would entertain a suit for alimony out of real estate situated in that state after a decree for absolute divorce in another state, the latter state having no jurisdiction of the land, notwithstanding the decree awarding alimony, the decree not appearing to have been rendered by consent or not having taken such land into account; and that besides the Arkansas court had no jurisdiction to render a money judgment for alimony.

The propositions were supported and opposed by able discussion, some of which was occupied in reconciling a conflict of decision in Nebraska, a later decision made to give away to an earlier one. We are not called upon to trace or consider the reasoning of the opinion further than to determine the correctness of its elements, and this determination can be made by reference to the divorce proceedings in Arkansas and the decree of the court rendered therein.

The case is not in broad compass and depends upon the application of the quite familiar principle that determines the estoppel of judgments, and the principle would seem to have special application to a judgment for divorce and alimony. They are usually concomitants in the same suit—some cases say must be or, rather, that as alimony is an incident of divorce, it must be awarded by the same decree...