McDonald v. McDonald
| Decision Date | 22 March 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 10725.,10725. |
| Citation | 189 F.2d 24 |
| Parties | McDONALD v. McDONALD. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Mr. Henry Lincoln Johnson, Jr., Washington, D. C., with whom Messrs. E. Lewis Ferrell and Curtis P. Mitchell, Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellant.
Mr. Belford V. Lawson, Jr., Washington, D. C., with whom Mrs. Charlotte R. Pinkett, Mr. Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., and Miss Marjorie A. McKenzie, all of Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellee.
Before CLARK, BAZELON, and FAHY, Circuit Judges.
The appellant, Earl H. McDonald, brought an action in the District Court to enjoin Hortense G. McDonald, the defendant in that action and the appellee here, from the prosecution of a declaratory judgment action in the same court against the appellant seeking to have her marital status determined, with particular reference to the effect, if any, on that status of divorce proceedings which appellant had prosecuted against her in Arkansas. The injunction action was founded on an agreement, or stipulation, between Earl H. McDonald and Hortense G. McDonald entered into prior to the Arkansas proceedings. Particularly, it was alleged that the declaratory judgment action constituted a violation of the provisions in said agreement that, "No further litigation, except possibly another action for divorce by Hortense G. McDonald or Earl H. McDonald, shall be commenced by any party to this stipulation against any other party to this stipulation because of any matter whatsoever which has occurred prior to the date of this stipulation; * * *" and "neither shall interfere with any business or social activity of the other."
On appellant's motion for a preliminary injunction and the appellee's motion to dismiss, the District Court concluded that the commencement and prosecution of the declaratory judgment action by the appellee was not a violation of the agreement. We agree with this conclusion. The action sought to be enjoined was not an interference with any social or business activities of appellant; it was designed to obtain judicial determination of the legal status of the relationship between the parties. Furthermore, it was not contrary to the agreement not to engage in further litigation by reason of "any matter whatsoever which has occurred prior to the date of this stipulation," since it grew out of proceedings in Arkansas instituted subsequently to that date.
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Perry v. Perry, 10708.
...contention under the non-molestation agreement. No motion to dismiss was granted below, as was the case in McDonald v. McDonald, 88 U.S. App.D.C. ___, 189 F.2d 24 (March 22, 1951). The preliminary injunction was apparently denied by the trial court on the ground that the written agreement c......