Gullet v. Gullet, 13216.
| Citation | 188 F.2d 719 |
| Decision Date | 08 June 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 13216.,13216. |
| Parties | GULLET v. GULLET. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
J. Harvey Robillard, Miami Beach, Fla., for appellant.
William Phillips, Miami, Fla., for appellee.
Before HOLMES, BORAH, and STRUM, Circuit Judges.
This appeal is from an order "dismissing" appellant's motion to quash the registration in the Southern District of Florida, at Miami, of a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and to also quash an ancillary garnishment proceeding in the Florida district based upon that judgment.
In 1941, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia awarded appellee, Mary M. Gullet, separate maintenance pendente lite from her husband, John Sherman Gullet, appellant here. That court later refused to revoke the order for temporary maintenance, and on November 17, 1947, made the allowance permanent, notwithstanding an intervening decree of a Florida state court entered in April, 1944 purporting to grant appellant an absolute decree of divorce from appellee. Appellant appeared (as defendant) in the District of Columbia suit and defended it through two trials and two appeals, until judgment finally went against him. Gullet v. Gullet, 80 U.S.App.D.C. 73, 149 F. 2d 17; Id., 85 U.S.App.D.C. 12, 174 F.2d 531.
On the second appeal, the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia affirmed the district court in holding the Florida divorce decree ineffectual to defeat the wife's right to separate maintenance, because of appellant's representation to the Florida court that when the divorce action was commenced he was a bona fide resident of Florida, when in fact he was not, so that the Florida court lacked jurisdiction over the subject matter and its decree was therefore void. Williams v. North Carolina, 325 U.S. 226, 65 S.Ct. 1092, 89 L.Ed. 1577, 157 A.L.R. 1366, Id., 317 U.S. 287, 63 S.Ct. 207, 87 L.Ed. 279, 143 A.L.R. 1273.
After the District of Columbia judgment became final on appeal, and when the payments due under it aggregated $4125.00, it was registered in the Southern District of Florida pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. § 1963.1 This registration, and the ancillary garnishment issued thereon, are challenged by the motion to quash.
It was not error to deny the motion. The judgment in question is not in any sense a divorce decree, but one "for the recovery of money", as contemplated by the statute. The district court of the District of Columbia is clothed with jurisdiction over actions for separate maintenance arising in the District of Columbia. Act of March 31, 1901, 31 Stat. at Large 1346, ch. 854, sec. 980. Its judgment for separate maintenance in this instance stands here properly authenticated and unchallenged as to jurisdiction. It therefore qualifies for registration in the Florida district pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. § 1963.
Registration of the District of Columbia judgment in Florida is purely a ministerial step in its enforcement. It confers upon the Florida court no power over the judgment itself. Whether or not the district court for the District of Columbia properly denied full faith and credit to the Florida divorce decree is not the concern of the Florida district court. That question has been determined by the...
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...act in the enforcement of a foreign judgment. It confers upon this court no power to alter the judgment itself. Gullet v. Gullet, 5 Cir., 1951, 188 F.2d 719. Registration is different from a suit upon a judgment which is a new and independent action, not ancillary to the original action. H.......
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...Cir.) (per curiam), affirming 310 F.Supp. 517 (S.D.Fla.1970). See also In re Freiberg, 262 F.Supp. 482 (E.D.La.1967).3 In Gullet v. Gullet, 188 F.2d 719 (5th Cir. 1951), this court heard a suit to collect unpaid alimony under a final divorce decree but did not discuss the domestic relations......
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Covington Industries, Inc. v. Resintex A. G.
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