Green v. Green
| Decision Date | 03 June 1902 |
| Citation | 41 S.E. 784,130 N.C. 578 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | GREEN v. GREEN. |
DIVORCE—FAILURE TO PAY ALIMONY—CONTEMPT PROCEEDINGS—IMPRISONMENT—FINDINGS—ERROR.
1. The facts found by the judge in contempt proceedings are not reviewable on appeal, except for the purpose of passing upon their sufficiency to warrant the judgment.
2. The judge in a contempt proceeding for failure to pay alimony committed the defendant to jail until an order allowing alimony was complied with, after finding that the defendant could have paid at least a portion of the amount ordered, but that he had willfully failed to do so, and that defendant was a healthy and able-bodied man for his age, — being 59 years old. Held, that the judgment of commitment until the whole amount of the alimony was paid was not supported by the finding.
Appeal from superior court, Jackson county; Jones, Judge.
Action for divorce by Maggie V. Green against John A. Green. From a judgment of imprisonment in a proceeding in contemptagainst defendant for nonpayment of alimony, he appeals. Reversed.
C. C. Cowan, for appellant
Walter E. Moore and R. D. Gilmer, for appellee.
In proceedings in contempt the facts found by the judge are not reviewable by this court, except for the purpose of passing upon their sufficiency to warrant the judgment. Young v. Rollins, 90 N. C. 125. The judgment (one of imprisonment) in this matter (a proceeding in contempt against defendant, who had failed to pay an amount of money to the plaintiff as alimony pendente lite) cannot be sustained on the facts found by his honor. The judge who heard the proceedings in contempt recited the findings of fact made by the judge who granted the order allowing alimony, and added two others, in words as follows: So notwithstanding the finding of the fact that the defendant was able to pay only a part of the amount ordered to be paid, he was to be committed to the common jail until he should comply with the order making the allowance in the nature of alimony; that is, until he should pay the whole amount. Clearly, the judgment cannot be supported on that finding of fact. The finding that the defendant was an able-bodied man is of no consequence in...
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In re Parker
... ... of the facts when there is competent evidence of the their ... existence to warrant the judgment. Green v. Green, ... 130 N.C. 578, 41 S.E. 784. It has been held, though, that ... when the facts are found by an inferior court, they may be ... ...
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County of Durham by and through Durham DSS v. Burnette
...he has the ability to fully comply with any purge conditions imposed upon him.The seminal case on this issue from our Supreme Court is Green v. Green , a civil contempt proceeding for nonpayment of alimony, in which the Court held that the trial court's findings of fact were insufficient to......
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In Re Parker.
...of passing upon the sufficiency of the facts when there is competent evidence of their existence to warrant the judgment. Green v. Green, 130 N. C. 578, 41 S. E. 784. It has been held, though, that when the facts are found by an inferior court, they may be reviewed by the superior court. In......
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In Re Adams.
...C.S. §§ 978, 984; Pain v. Pain, 80 N.C. 322; Childs v. Wiseman, 119 N.C. 497, 26 S.E. 126; Cromartie v. Com'rs, supra; Green v. Green, 130 N.C. 578, 41 S.E. 784; In re Croom, 175 N.C. 455, 95 S.E. 903; Nobles v. Roberson, 212 N.C. 334, 193 S.E. 420; Dyer v. Dyer, 213 N.C. 634, 197 S.E. 157.......