Moss v. Moss
| Decision Date | 20 September 2022 |
| Docket Number | 2021-CA-00452-COA |
| Parties | CLAY JEFFREY MOSS APPELLANT v. VICKY ROGERS MOSS APPELLEE |
| Court | Mississippi Court of Appeals |
BEFORE BARNES, C.J., McDONALD AND McCARTY, JJ.
¶1. Clay and Vicky Moss married on February 14, 1987, and separated on or about July 7, 2018. They had two children. On August 14, 2018, Vicky filed for divorce on the statutory ground of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 93-5-1 (Rev. 2018).
¶2. In her brief and at trial, Vicky stated that Clay habitually belittled and humiliated her throughout their thirty-year relationship. She testified that Clay controlled what she wore, called her a "tramp" or "slut" when he deemed her clothing immodest, and inspected her clothing daily. Multiple times, Clay told Vicky that "you've dressed like a tramp our whole married life." According to Vicky, Clay would tell her to bend over to test if he could see her bra or cleavage before she went to work, and he often told her to change clothes. When he disapproved of her clothing, he stated, "[N]o self-respecting Christian would ever wear that." At one point, Vicky gave Clay a picture of herself in her nurse's uniform, and Clay called the photograph "appalling and insulting." Vicky testified that Clay shamed her for losing her virginity in high school and repeatedly accused her of adultery. In a 2017 note he wrote to Vicky threatening suicide, Clay questioned the paternity of their eldest daughter.
¶3. According to Vicky's trial testimony, Clay also habitually criticized Vicky's completion of basic household tasks, including how she did the laundry, scooped the kitty litter, and changed their daughters' diapers. Vicky testified that Clay regularly called her "small-minded" and "idiotic" and told her that she was not a good role model for her children. Additionally, Vicky testified that Clay forced her to quit a women's softball league and isolated her from her friends.
¶4. Vicky and Clay worked as Christian missionaries in Africa from 1990 to 1991, in Malaysia from 2003 to 2011, and in Indonesia for six months in 2008. In 2011, Vicky and other mission staff grew concerned with the intensity of Clay's relationship with a fifteen-year-old girl at the school. Clay constantly communicated with the child and ignored Vicky's requests for Clay to "leave her alone." Vicky testified that she "warned him . . . [he was] giving this girl too much attention." During this period, Clay "wanted different sexual favors" from Vicky, began looking at pornography, and asked her to shave her pubic hair for the first time in their relationship.
¶5. In 2011, the mission placed Clay on immediate leave due to complaints of an "inappropriate relationship/infatuation with a teenage girl." The mission cited Clay's "lack of boundaries and lack of understanding of the seriousness and inappropriateness of [his] interactions with a young woman." The mission required Vicky and Clay to receive marriage counseling "that leads you to be able to demonstrate commitment to marriage [and] growth in communication" and required "a significant period of stability and growth after counseling is completed" in order to return to international service. Clay and his family were told to make arrangements to leave immediately. The mission instructed Clay that he must refrain from communicating with any student and that he should not transport his children to or from school so as to avoid any student interaction. One day after being placed on leave, Clay flew to Australia without notifying Vicky or his children. As a result of Clay's conduct, the Mosses were forced to move back to the United States, and their children were uprooted from their school mid-year.
¶6. In the years following, Vicky and Clay's relationship further deteriorated. Beginning in 2017, Clay and Vicky discussed separation. Clay sent Vicky a series of emails informing her that he would not agree to a divorce unless she denounced her Christianity or "admitted [she] was never a true Christian." He told her that "no authentic Christian gets a divorce" and called Vicky "a presumptuous sinner." Clay continued sending these emails after Vicky repeatedly asked him to stop. In his emails, Clay admitted that he had "crushed [Vicky's] spirit" and that his conduct constituted "tough love." Vicky testified that during their separation, she observed Clay's car at the family home at night "hundreds of times" and stated that he knocked on her window in the middle of the night.
¶7. Between 2017 and 2018, Clay left Vicky three notes threatening suicide, including one entitled "Finishing the Job." In Clay's May 2017 suicide note, he asked Vicky to "help him decide how he was going to go about committing suicide." In another note, Clay wrote to Vicky, "Let [our children] know just before I pull the trigger, I will pray for your radical transformation to Christ." He suggested Vicky should not remarry after his death and stated that "I know from experience that you're not the wifely type." In his notes, he also told Vicky to make phone calls relating news of his suicide, told her to cancel his appointments, and asked her to explain the suicide to their children, saying he was putting "the ball in [Vicky's] court." After Vicky read one suicide note, Clay returned home later that day, stated that "I guess God doesn't want me to die today," and said he was going to get ready for church. In July 2018, after a suicide threat, Clay checked himself into St. Dominic Hospital and was released after one day.
¶8. In July 2018, Vicky's lawyer referred her to a counselor, Mary Barksdale. In 2018, Vicky's doctor prescribed her medication for depression, which Vicky took for a short period before stopping due to side effects.
¶9. Vicky filed for divorce based on habitual cruel and inhuman treatment on August 14, 2018. Clay filed his answer on September 21, 2018. At trial, Vicky testified that Clay's conduct made her anxious, made her cry uncontrollably, and resulted in her feeling worthless. She also testified that her symptoms of stress led to picking at her eyelashes, as well as loss of sleep, chest pain, and headaches.
¶10. On December 14, 2020, the chancellor granted Vicky a divorce on the ground of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment. The chancellor stated that text communications between Clay and Vicky showed Clay's "incessant, constant humiliation, shame, [and] correction" of Vicky. Clay's behaviors of calling Vicky impure, his "constant, unfounded accusation of Mrs. Moss engaging in adulterous affairs" and questioning the paternity of his daughter were an attempt "to humiliate and shame Mrs. Moss," according to the chancellor. Referring to Clay's suicide notes, the chancellor stated that "the Court does not believe that [Clay's] suicide notes were authentic threats to commit suicide" but "veiled threats of manipulation." Additionally, the chancellor said that Clay's attacking Vicky's Christian faith and calling her "slut" or "tramp" were "mean-spirited and cruel." He also noted the "family humiliation" of Clay's being removed from the mission. The chancellor stated that Clay's leaving mid-meeting and fleeing to Australia showed "all kinds of signs of guilt" and concluded that based on the evidence, "I don't believe anything about . . . his version of what happened in Malaysia."
¶11. On appeal, Clay argues that the chancellor erred in granting Vicky a divorce on the ground of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment. He argues that Vicky failed to produce sufficient evidence to satisfy the standard. Clay also asserts claims concerning expert witness testimony and separate maintenance. Finding no error, we affirm.
¶12. Our scope of review is limited, overturning the "chancellor's determination only when the findings are manifestly wrong and there is no substantial supporting evidence." Rakestraw v. Rakestraw, 717 So.2d 1284, 1287 (¶9) (Miss. Ct. App. 1998); see also Lowrey v. Lowrey, 25 So.3d 274, 285 (¶26) (Miss. 2009) ("A chancellor's findings of fact will not be disturbed unless manifestly wrong or clearly erroneous.").
¶13. Habitual cruel and unusual treatment must be proved by a preponderance of the evidence. Smith v. Smith, 614 So.2d 394, 396 (Miss. 1993). "If that standard is met to the chancellor's satisfaction, the judgment below will not be disturbed unless we find a manifest error of law or fact." Bodne v. King, 835 So.2d 52, 58 (¶19) (Miss. 2003) (citing Chaffin v. Chaffin, 437 So.2d 384, 386 (Miss. 1983)). To prove habitual cruelty, a party must show conduct that 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 nonoffending spouse and render it impossible for that spouse to discharge the duties of marriage, thus destroying the basis for its continuance.
Harmon v. Harmon, 141 So.3d 37, 41 (¶14) (Miss. Ct. App. 2014) (quoting Smith v. Smith, 90 So.3d 1259, 1262 (¶10) (Miss. Ct. App. 2011)).
¶14. "[A] finding of physical violence is not a prerequisite to establishing habitual cruel and inhuman treatment." Jackson v. Jackson, 922 So.2d 53, 56 (¶4) (Miss. Ct. App. 2006) (citing Fisher v. Fisher, 771 So.2d 364, 367 (¶10) (Miss. 2000)). "Mere unkindness, rudeness, petty indignities, frivolous quarrels incompatibility or lack of affection are not sufficient." Bodne, 835 So.2d...
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