Granger v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 14 January 1977
• Docket Number: No. 75-18-A,75-18-A
• Citation: 117 R.I. 440,367 A.2d 1062
• Parties: William GRANGER et al. v. Walter JOHNSON. ppeal.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 1062

367 A.2d 1062

117 R.I. 440

William GRANGER et al. v. Walter JOHNSON.

No. 75-18-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Jan. 14, 1977.

[117 R.I. 454] Blais, Cunningham, Thayer, Gagnon & Ross, Ronald R. Gagnon, Pawtucket, for plaintiffs.

Francis J. O'Brien, Providence, for defendant.

OPINION

JOSLIN, Justice.

This proceeding was commenced on November 27, 1974, with a pleading labeled 'Complaint for Writ of Habeas Corpus.' The complaint was signed by William Granger, his wife and their children. William Granger is a son of Doris Johnson by her first husband. The defendant, Walter Johnson, is Doris Johnson's present husband, having married her in 1966 after the death of William Granger's father. The case was heard by a Superior Court justice sitting without a jury and resulted in a judgment which enjoined Walter Johnson from preventing his wife from visiting, if she so desires, with William Granger and his family at the Granger home on two weekends each month, the visits to be conditional upon William Granger's having a licensed practical nurse in attendance.

The essential facts are undisputed. On February 29, 1968, Doris Johnson was involved in a serious automobile accident which deprived her of the use of her right arm and leg. She has since been confined either to bed or to a wheelchair, and her husband has provided her with the manifold attentions that a person so invalided requires.

Notwithstanding her disabilities, Doris Johnson has been able to leave her home from time to time, but only with assistance which customarily was provided by her husband. On some of those occasions she visited with her son and his family at their home, and they in turn came to see her at her home. This exchange of visits continued until the fall of 1974, when Walter Johnson learned that his wife had deeded certain residential property owned by her to William Granger and his brother. He accused William of having obtained that conveyance by fraud and told him that he would not allow the Grangers to visit his wife again until the property was reconveyed.

Unwilling to comply with that ultimatum, plaintiffs, acting on their own behalf as well as on Doris Johnson's, commenced this action by applying for a writ of habeas corpus. The writ issued, commanding defendant to produce his wife in court on December 9, 1974 and then and there to show cause for having taken and detained her. Prior to that date, however, Doris Johnson's physician advised the trial justice that her attendance at court would be detrimental to her health. Consequently, on December 9 court was convened at Doris Johnson's home, where she was sworn as a witness and testified that she wanted to visit with William and his family but was being prevented from doing so by her husband. The trial justice considered that evidence as determinative of the issues in the case and accoringly enjoined defendant from interfering with his wife's right to visit with William and his family. The defendant appealed.

In this court, plaintiffs' motion to dismiss on the ground that an appeal does not lie in a habeas corpus proceeding was denied without prejudice to their right to renew it at the hearing on the merits. Granger v. Johnson, 114 R.I. 934, 333 A.2d 154 (1975). After this court had affirmed the Superior Court judgment by an equally divided vote, we granted defendant's motion for reargument. Granger v. Johnson, R.I., 352 A.2d 398 (1976). The case was again argued at this session of the court and is now in order for disposition.

At the threshold, plaintiffs renew their motion for a dismissal of the appeal on the ground that a judgment in habeas corpus is not appealable. The rule invoked by plaintiffs and prevailing at the common law is found in our statutes ¹ and, except perhaps in child custody cases, ² has been adhered to in our decisions. State v. Palmigiano, 115 R.I. 166, 169, 341 A.2d 742, 743-44 (1975); Andrews v. Howard, 111 R.I. 727, 727-28, 306 A.2d 835, 836 (1973); Lee v. Gough, 84 R.I. 358, 124 A.2d 549 (1956).

The rule of nonappealability applies, however, only if this is truly a habeas corpus proceeding, rather than one which, though denominated habeas corpus, is in essence a civil action seeking equitable relief. Which it is hinges on its substance, not its label, and, if the two do not conform, the label should be ignored and the proceeding treated according to its true nature. Sarni v. Meloccaro, 113 R.I. 630, 635-36, 324 A.2d 648, 651-52 (1974). ³

An examination of the essential characteristics of this proceeding makes apparent that the complaint, notwithstanding its caption, basically seeks a determination of whether defendant is improperly interfering with his wife's right to visit with her son and his family, rather than an inquiry into whether he is illegally restraining her. The distinction between the two, though perhaps not sharply defined, is certainly for our purposes more than semantical. This is demonstrated not only by the nature of the evidence upon which the trial justice relied, but also by the relief he granted. Had that relief been couched in traditional habeas corpus language, it would have directed Walter Johnson to release his wife from an illegal detention. It does not, however, take that form, but instead in familiar equitable language enjoins defendant from interfering with visits by his wife to her son and his family. That is the kind of relief granted in an action following the course of equity. It is alien to a habeas corpus proceeding. We conclude, therefore, that this is in reality a civil action seeking equitable relief rather than a habeas corpus proceeding and, accordingly, once again deny plaintiffs' motion to dismiss defendant's appeal.

Turning now to defendant's assignments of error, we consider initially his contention that the trial justice should have dismissed the application for a writ of habeas corpus because it was not signed, as required by G.L.1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 10-9-3, '* * * by the party for whose relief it is intended, or by some person in his behalf * * *.' As construed by defendant, that enactment requires dismissal of the application in this case because it was signed neither by Doris Johnson, the party for whose relief it was intended, nor by some person specifically authorized or directed by her to sign. ⁴

In our opinion, defendant's reading of the statute is unduly restrictive. Clearly it is contrary to the authorities which say that an application by a 'next friend' is permissible, though executed without the detainee's express direction, knowledge, or consent, provided the applicant is '* * * a friend, a relative, or a person having some interest in the one detained * * *.' Day v. Skinner, 300 S.W.2d 48, 50 (Ky.1957); accord, Smith v. Scott, 216 Ga. 506, 507, 117 S.E.2d 528, 530 (1960) (father); In re Fuller, 334 Mich. 566, 571-72, 55 N.W.2d 96, 99 (1952) (husband); In re Chace, 26 R.I. 351, 358, 58 A. 978, 981 (1904) (wife); Nahl v. Delmore,49 Wash.2d 318, 321, 301 P.2d 161, 163-64 (1956) (mother); Pukas v. Pukas,129 W.Va. 765, 768, 42 S.E.2d 11, 13 (1947) (grandmother). Indeed, to require an express direction for the filing of an application would be anomalous because the very exigencies requiring an application by a next friend often make procuring the detained person's authorization impossible. Illustrative of this principle are United States ex rel. Toth v. Quarles,350 U.S. 11, 13 n. 3, 76 S.Ct. 1, 3 n. 3, 100 L.Ed. 8, 12 n. 3 (1955), in which the applicant brought habeas corpus proceedings on behalf of her brother, an exserviceman who had been arrested and transported to Korea to stand trial before a courtmartial, and United States ex rel. Bryant v. Houston, 273 F. 915, 916 (2d Cir. 1921), wherein the court said:

'The practice of a next friend applying for a writ is ancient and fully accepted. There are many instances and circumstances under which it may not be possible nor feasible that the detained person shall sign and verify the complaint. Inability to understand the English language or the situation, particularly in the case of aliens, impossibility of access to the person, or mental incapacity are all illustrations of a proper use of the 'next friend' application.' (Emphasis added.)

That prosecution of a next friend application may be permitted without insistence upon a showing that the detained person specifically authorized the filing does not mean that the writ of habeas corpus is available as a matter of course to intruders or uninvited meddlers styling themselves next friends. Id.; State ex rel. Deeb v. Fabisinski, 111 Fla. 454, 461, 152 So. 207, 209 (1933). It does mean, however, that courts need not be reluctant to hear next friend applications so long as the applicant has a legitimate interest in the matter and satisfactorily explains why the intended beneficiary has not himself applied for the writ. Wilson v. Dixon, 256 F.2d 536, 537-38 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 358 U.S. 856, 79 S.Ct. 89, 3 L.Ed.2d 90 (1958); In re Harrell, 2 Cal.3d 675, 689, 470 P.2d 640, 648, 87 Cal.Rptr. 504, 512 (1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 914, 91 S.Ct. 890, 27 L.Ed.2d 814 (1971). In our judgment, both prerequisites are met in this case.

The defendant next argues that this proceeding is nothing more than an action by the Grangers for visitation rights and that such a claim is not cognizable in equity. In our opinion, he both misses the thrust of the proceeding and misreads the record, which clearly establishes that relief was sought and granted more for Doris Johnson's benefit than for the Grangers'. This was recognized by the trial justice, who premised the grant of injunctive relief upon the specific finding that Mrs. Johnson 'wanted to visit with her son and grandchildren.'

The question, then, is not whether the Grangers are entitled to visitation rights, but whether in the peculiar circumstances of this case an injunction is a proper remedy to enable Doris Johnson, over...