Hoskins v. Hoskins, No. 2008-CA-01369-COA.

• Court: Court of Appeals of Mississippi
• Writing for the Court: Carlton, J.
• Citation: 21 So.3d 705
• Decision Date: 10 November 2009
• Docket Number: No. 2008-CA-01369-COA.
• Parties: Mary (Smith) HOSKINS, Appellant, v. Ronald HOSKINS, Appellee.

21 So.3d 705 Mary (Smith) HOSKINS, Appellant,
v.
Ronald HOSKINS, Appellee. No. 2008-CA-01369-COA. Court of Appeals of Mississippi. November 10, 2009.

[21 So.3d 706]

Darrin Jay Westfaul, attorney for appellant.

John Stannard Farese, Ashland, attorney for appellee.

Before KING, C.J., IRVING, and CARLTON, JJ.

CARLTON, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Mary Hoskins filed a petition for divorce in the Panola County Chancery Court against her husband, Ronald Hoskins, on the grounds of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment and desertion. The chancellor dismissed Mary's divorce action for failing to meet the burden of proof. Mary appealed the chancellor's decision. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment of the chancery court.

FACTS

¶ 2. Mary and Ronald married in Panola County on August 4, 1979. The couple separated on December 29, 2004, when Mary left the marital home. According to Mary, she left because Ronald told her that he hated and despised her, threatened to kill her, and demanded that she leave the marital home. Mary testified that Ronald had moved out of the couple's bedroom and into a spare bedroom months before the separation.

¶ 3. Upon leaving the marital home, Mary resided with her sisters, Martha Bland and Jackie Smith. She later moved into an apartment in Batesville, Mississippi. Ronald and Mary remained separated, and Mary filed her petition for divorce on

21 So.3d 707

April 30, 2007. After a day of trial on June 30, 2008, the chancellor dismissed Mary's divorce petition, after a motion from Ronald, finding that Mary failed to prove that the marriage ended because of Ronald's cruel and inhuman treatment of her or that Ronald had deserted Mary.

¶ 4. On appeal, Mary argues that the chancellor erred in his application of the law regarding corroboration of cruel and inhuman treatment and "constructive desertion" as well as in his evaluation of the facts in evidence.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 5. This Court will not disturb a chancellor's denial of a divorce unless we determine that the chancery court was "manifestly wrong as to law or fact" or abused its discretion. Dorman v. Dorman, 737 So.2d 426, 429(¶ 6) (Miss.Ct.App.1999). We review questions of law de novo. Kumar v. Kumar, 976 So.2d 957, 961(¶ 13) (Miss.Ct.App.2008).

DISCUSSION

I. Whether the chancellor erred in denying Mary a divorce on the grounds of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment.

¶ 6. Mississippi Code Annotated section 93-5-1 (Supp.2008) provides the grounds for obtaining a divorce in Mississippi and includes the ground of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment. The party seeking a divorce on the ground of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment bears the burden of proving her ground by a preponderance of the evidence. Shavers v. Shavers, 982 So.2d 397, 403(¶ 35) (Miss.2008). This Court has defined habitual cruel and inhuman treatment as follows:

Conduct that evinces habitual cruel and inhuman treatment must be such that it either (1) "endangers life, limb, or health, or creates a reasonable apprehension of such danger, rendering the relationship unsafe for the party seeking relief"[;] or (2) "is so unnatural and infamous" as to make the marriage revolting to the non-offending spouse and render it impossible for that spouse to discharge the duties of marriage, thus destroying the basis for its continuance.

Kumar, 976 So.2d at 961 at (¶ 15) (citing Mitchell v. Mitchell, 767 So.2d 1037, 1041(¶ 14) (Miss.Ct.App.2000)).

¶ 7. The complaining spouse's testimony alone is inadequate to establish habitual cruel and inhuman treatment to obtain a divorce. The supreme court has held that a divorce on the ground of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment "will not be granted on the uncorroborated testimony of the complainant." Anderson v. Anderson, 190 Miss. 508, 512, 200 So. 726, 727 (1941). The testimony presented to support the claim of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment should be sufficient to convince a "prudently cautious mind" that the plaintiff's allegations are true and not exaggerations for the purpose of obtaining a divorce. Id. at 513, 200 So. at 728. Both this Court and the supreme court have upheld cases in which the chancellor denied a divorce for lack of corroborating evidence. See Hassett v. Hassett, 690 So.2d 1140, 1146 (Miss.1997); Chamblee v. Chamblee, 637 So.2d 850, 860 (Miss.1994); Gardner v. Gardner, 618 So.2d 108, 114 (Miss.1993).

¶ 8. In some cases, however, the plaintiff may not need to provide corroborating evidence. The supreme court in Anderson noted an exception to the general rule requiring corroboration "in a case where, in its nature or owing to the isolation of the parties, no corroborating proof is reasonably possible." Cochran v. Cochran, 912 So.2d 1086, 1089(¶ 12) (Miss.Ct.App.

21 So.3d 708

2005) (quoting Anderson, 190 Miss. at 512, 200 So. at 727).

¶ 9. To support her allegations of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment, Mary testified that she left the marital home after Ronald told her that he hated and despised her and demanded that she leave the home. Mary testified that Ronald "touched me to my nose, and he said to me ... I'm going to kill you. No one else can live in this house—if I can't live here, no one else can live here. And he said that he would burn the house down, me in it." Mary further testified that Ronald regularly made accusations that she committed adultery. Mary testified that Ronald once threatened to rape her.

¶ 10. Mary also testified that Ronald exhibited controlling behavior toward her. Ronald put a note on the thermostat of their home prohibiting anyone from turning on the heater or air conditioner in the home. He treated her family differently than his family when they visited in the marital home. Ronald talked down to Mary and belittled her. Further, Mary claims that Ronald controlled the family finances, including her income, forcing her to purchase clothing for her minor children on credit cards. Further, Mary claimed that Ronald expected her to "submit herself as a wife."

¶ 11. Additionally, Mary testified that she experienced health problems while living with Ronald that subsided after the couple's separation. She testified that she had trouble sleeping, nervousness, and high blood pressure, for which she sought medical treatment. Since the separation, Mary testified, her symptoms have greatly improved.

¶ 12. Without addressing the issue of whether Ronald's conduct rose to the level of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment, the chancellor dismissed Mary's complaint. He found that Mary failed to meet...