Berman v. Berman, 28751
| Decision Date | 21 May 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 28751,28751 |
| Citation | 206 S.E.2d 447,232 Ga. 342 |
| Parties | Merrill BERMAN v. Donna Blank BERMAN. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Manning, Read & Richardson, Curtis R. Richardson, Decatur, for appellant.
Kaler, Karesh & Frankel, Glenville Haldi, Atlanta, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
Dr. Berman, appellant here, brings to this court the fifth appeal in this divorce case, alleging error in the order of the superior court holding him in contempt for failure to comply with the divorce decree, and in the order refusing his application for discharge from the contempt adjudication.
Enumerations of error 1 and 3 complain of the court's finding him in contempt with respect to nonpayment of one child's schooling expenses and failure to return to Mrs. Berman certain items of personal property. The question whether a contempt has been committed is for the trial court, and that court's adjudication will not be interfered with unless there has been an abuse of discretion. Code § 24-104; Taylor v. Taylor, 216 Ga. 767(2), 119 S.E.2d 571; Cabot v. Yarborough, 27 Ga. 476; Crudup v. State, 106 Ga.App. 833, 129 S.E.2d 183, affd. 218 Ga. 819, 130 S.E.2d 733, cert. den., 375 U.S. 829, 84 S.Ct. 74, 11 L.Ed.2d 61; see Roberts v. Roberts, 226 Ga. 203, 173 S.E.2d 675. Our review of the record shows there was evidence supporting the trial court's findings of contempt and those findings will not be disturbed.
The second enumeration of error complains of Mrs. Berman's having been allowed to testify over objection that one child of the parties was hyperactive. The record shows that there is no viable contention that the child is other than hyperactive, though Dr. Berman made the point at the hearing that the child had not been officially so diagnosed in 1972, prior to the filing of the contempt citation. Nonetheless, Dr. Berman admitted that prior to the date of the hearing, to his knowledge the child had been diagnosed as requiring special schooling. No reversible error occurred from the admission of Mrs. Berman's testimony.
The fourth and last enumeration alleges error in the superior court's order awarding $1,800 attorney fees to Mrs. Berman's attorney in the contempt proceedings. At the hearing, that attorney itemized his activities during the proceedings in the original contempt citation, including the grant of a new trial to Mrs. Berman, an appeal to this court, this court's affirmance of the new trial order, and a new trial of the matter in the superior court. He totalled some 45 hours.
In contempt proceedings, the award of...
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