MacPherson v. MacPherson
| Decision Date | 15 July 1974 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 6543. |
| Citation | 377 F. Supp. 794 |
| Parties | Dorothy I. MacPHERSON v. Charles R. MacPHERSON. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee |
Robert I. Auler, Champaign, Ill., for plaintiff.
Vaden M. Lackey, Jr., Nashville, Tenn., for defendant.
This is a diversity action brought by plaintiff, a citizen of the State of Illinois, against defendant, a citizen of the State of Tennessee, for allegedly delinquent support payments in excess of $10,000, provided for in a property settlement contract entered into by the parties on October 31, 1967.
The case was tried on stipulated facts, the pertinent portion thereof being as follows.
Plaintiff and defendant were married on September 28, 1947, in Illinois, and during subsequent years lived in Missouri, New Jersey, South Carolina, and established their final marital residence in Connecticut in 1962. On December 15, 1966, Charles R. MacPherson moved to New York City, but the plaintiff continued to live in Connecticut with the children of their marriage. On October 13, 1967, the parties entered into a separation and property settlement agreement, which was prepared by the attorneys of both parties. The defendant signed the agreement in New York on the date it bears, and his attorney delivered the agreement to plaintiff's attorney in Connecticut by letter dated October 27, 1967. The plaintiff signed the agreement in Connecticut on October 31, 1967, and it was mailed to the defendant's attorney in New York by letter dated December 15, 1967, to be held in escrow pending the execution of a trust agreement, the payment of certain sums of money, and an agreement to obtain proper endorsements for certain life insurance policies which constitute the corpus of the trust. The trust agreement was also executed by the defendant on October 13, 1967, and forwarded to the trustee in another state for her signature. Apparently her signature was delayed, and the acknowledgment to her signature was dated November __, 1967. On December 29, 1967, the defendant obtained a divorce in Mexico, with the plaintiff making appearance through her attorney. The judgment of the Mexican court incorporated the prior separation agreement by reference without merging it with the decree. The defendant made the monthly payments to the plaintiff as required by the separation agreement until June 1, 1968.
On April 3, 1968, Dorothy I. MacPherson entered into a purported marriage with Frank L. Miles at Folkston, Georgia. They returned to Connecticut and lived there for two months until June 15, 1968, when the plaintiff and Miles moved to Florida. On October 22, 1968, plaintiff discovered that at the time of the purported marriage Miles had a wife still living. Thereafter plaintiff separated from Miles and went to the State of Illinois where she has remained as a resident since that time. On November 2, 1971, the Circuit Court for the Sixth Judicial Circuit, Champaign County, State of Illinois, granted a decree of annulment to the plaintiff, declaring the purported marriage of Dorothy I. MacPherson to Frank L. Miles as void ab initio. Miles entered an appearance at the annulment proceedings.
Plaintiff made a demand upon the defendant to reinitiate the monthly payments as required by the property settlement agreement, and the defendant refused.
The present suit was instituted on March 21, 1972, in order to seek enforcement of various provisions of the separation agreement. At the time of trial, however, the only issue which remained arises under the fifth paragraph of the agreement which is in the following words, to-wit:
The plaintiff alleges that she has never remarried. The defendant asserts that the marriage of plaintiff to Frank L. Miles, even if bigamous, constituted a satisfaction of the marriage escape clause of the fifth paragraph of the separation agreement as hereinbefore quoted. In addition, he asserts that since he was not a party to the alleged annulment proceedings, he is not bound thereby.
The plaintiff asserts that this contract and particularly the word "remarriage" should be construed in accordance with the law of the State of Illinois. On the other hand, the defendant asserts that said contract should be construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New York.
Since this is a diversity case, this court, sitting in the State of Tennessee, is required to follow the Tennessee conflict of laws rule in determining which state's laws apply in the interpretation of this contract. Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Mfg. Co., Inc., 313 U.S. 487, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477 (1941); Griffin v. McCoach, 313 U.S. 498, 61 S.Ct. 1023, 85 L.Ed. 1481 (1941); First American National Bank of Nashville v. Automobile Insurance Company, 252 F. 2d 62 (6th Cir. 1958).
The Tennessee conflict of laws rule has been succinctly stated as follows:
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