Bell v. Tennessee Coal, Iron & R. Co., 6 Div. 699.

• Decision Date: 16 January 1941
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 699.
• Citation: 199 So. 813,240 Ala. 422
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court
• Parties: BELL v. TENNESSEE COAL, IRON & R. CO.

199 So. 813

240 Ala. 422

BELL v. TENNESSEE COAL, IRON & R. CO.

6 Div. 699.

Supreme Court of Alabama

January 16, 1941

Certiorari to Circuit Court, Jefferson County; J. F. Thompson, Judge.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Mary Alice Jenkins Bell against the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company to recover compensation for the death of Hardy Bell defendant's employee. Judgment denying compensation, and petitioner brings certiorari.

Affirmed.

Dan Trawick, Jr., of Birmingham, for petitioner.

Benners Burr, McKamy & Forman, of Birmingham, for respondent.

LIVINGSTON Justice.

Suit by petitioner, Mary Alice Jenkins Bell against the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, under the Workmen's Compensation Act, Code 1923, § 7534 et seq., for the death of her alleged husband, Hardy Bell, in the course of his employment. Judgment was rendered in favor of defendant Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, hence this petition.

The record shows that the deceased employee, Hardy Bell, was lawfully married to Eugenia Roberts on March 26, 1924, under a license issued by the Probate Court of Jefferson County,--the ceremony being performed the same day by a duly authorized minister; and that such marriage has never been dissolved by divorce, notwithstanding the said Eugenia Roberts Bell has since married, under license issued by the Probate Court of Jefferson County, one Roosevelt Brown, with whom she lives. It is shown that divorce proceedings were instituted in August, 1936, in the Jefferson Chancery Court by Eugenia Roberts Bell against Hardy Bell, but dismissed for want of prosecution.

It appears that petitioner Mary Alice Jenkins Bell and the deceased Hardy Bell lived together from March 1, 1937, until his death, and it is insisted that such cohabitation constitutes a common-law marriage.

The sole question, therefore, here for consideration is whether or not Hardy Bell was legally capacitated to contract marriage with Mary Alice Jenkins in view of his previous legal ceremonial marriage to Eugenia Roberts Bell Brown?

"Though a man marries ever so often, he can have but one lawful wife living. So long as she is living, and the marriage bond remains in full force, all his subsequent marriages, whether meretricious, or founded in mistake and at the time supposed to be lawful, are utterly null and void." Martin's Heirs v. Martin, 22 Ala. 86; 14 Alabama Digest, Marriage, + 11, page 128; United States v. Barker, 5 Cir., 70 F.2d 1002. See, also, Hines v. Hines, 203 Ala. 633, 84 So. 712; Woodward Iron Co. v. Bradford, 206 Ala. 447, 448, 90 So. 803.

A common-law marriage having been shown, the law presumes its validity, and casts the burden upon him who questions it to establish its invalidity. However, this burden has been fully met by defendant in the court below. And, as found by the trial judge, Mary Alice Jenkins (Bell) would be entitled to compensation as the widow of Hardy Bell except for the fact that said Hardy Bell was legally incapacitated to contract marriage by reason of his undissolved marriage to Eugenia.

The said Eugenia Roberts Bell Brown testified: "I knew he had lived in Ensley from one place to another, since we separated. I lived there and he lived there. I did not miss a week seeing him, and he would give me money. * * * We never got a divorce." It appears from the evidence that Hardy Bell lived in Jefferson County, Alabama, from March 26, 1924 (the date of his...