Posnick v. Posnick

• Decision Date: 05 May 1960
• Docket Number: No. 2480.,2480.
• Parties: Ethel POSNICK, Appellant, v. David POSNICK, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

Page 804

160 A.2d 804

Ethel POSNICK, Appellant, v. David POSNICK, Appellee.

No. 2480.

Municipal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Argued January 25, 1960.

Decided May 5, 1960.

W. Cameron Burton, Washington, D. C., with whom Ward B. McCarthy, Washington, D. C., was on the brief for appellant. Thomas B. Heffelfinger and John A. Kendrick, Washington, D. C., also entered appearances for appellant.

Jean M. Boardman, Washington, D. C., for appellee.

Before ROVER, Chief Judge, and HOOD and QUINN, Associate Judges.

HOOD, Associate Judge.

Mrs. Posnick, appellant here, sued for an absolute divorce on the ground of desertion. She included in her complaint a claim for certain personal property, consisting of china, silverware, paintings, etc., valued at over $11,000, which she alleged was her property and had been left in a restaurant operated by her husband in 1949 when the alleged desertion occurred. She alleged she had demanded return of the property and he had refused her demand. She asked that upon final hearing the husband be ordered to return the property to her or "its present replacement value."

On motion, the trial court granted summary judgment for the husband on the claim for the personal property. The court ruled that because the wife sued the husband in 1951 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for an accounting and for maintenance and had there obtained an award of maintenance and a judgment for more than $40,000,¹ it was incumbent upon her in that proceeding to have made the claim for personal property here involved and that she was estopped to assert her claim now. The court expressly determined there was no just reason for delay and expressly directed entry of judgment. This appeal followed.

Appellant says that while her claim for personal property could have been asserted in the District Court action, it was not compulsory on her to do so and that no estoppel arose. Appellee agrees that the appeal cannot be sustained on the ground of estoppel, but asserts that summary judgment was proper on either of two grounds asserted in his motion below, namely, lack of jurisdiction and the statute of limitations.

Appellee asserts that the wife's claim to the personal property is based upon her claim of legal title thereto, and since she seeks the return of the specific chattels, or a money judgment for their value, her claim is nothing more than the common-law action of detinue; that the Domestic Relations Branch has no jurisdiction of such a claim, and additionally the claimed value of the property is in excess of the jurisdiction of the Municipal Court in such an action.

The Act of April 11, 1956 (Code 1951, § 11-758 et seq., Supp. VIII), creating the Domestic Relations Branch of the Municipal Court, gave it exclusive jurisdiction over all actions for divorce, and vested it with so much of the power as was then vested in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, whether in law or in equity, as was necessary to effectuate the purposes of the Act. If the property here involved was held by the parties jointly or by entirety, the court upon grant of an absolute divorce would have power, under Code 1951, § 16-409 to award such property to one or the other of the parties, or apportion it. But it is settled that § 16-409 applies only to property in which a tenancy, joint or by entirety, exists and thus it has no application here.

However, prior to the creation of the Domestic Relations Branch in the Municipal Court, and while the United States District Court for the District of Columbia had jurisdiction of divorce cases, it was held in Reilly v. Reilly, 86 U.S.App. D.C. 345, 182 F.2d 108, certiorari denied 340 U.S. 865, 71 S.Ct. 90, 95 L.Ed. 632, that the District Court "had jurisdiction under its general equity powers to adjudicate and settle a dispute between the parties concerning their respective rights in funds and property which had been acquired by them during marriage, or incident thereto." The authorities cited in the Reilly case, including the citation to District of Columbia Code, 1940, § 11-325, make it abundantly clear that the reference to the "general equity powers" of the District Court had no relation to that court's jurisdiction over divorce actions, but instead to the court's power as a court of general equity jurisdiction.

Citing the Reilly case, it was said in Wheeler v. Wheeler, 88 U.S.App.D.C. 193, 194, 188 F.2d 31, 32, that: "* * * it is settled that in a divorce proceeding the court may adjudicate the property rights of the spouses, and award the wife property which belongs to her." But it is made clear in Holcomb v. Holcomb, 93 U. S.App.D.C. 242, 246, 209 F.2d 794, 798, that a wife's claim to property held by her husband does not flow from her right to divorce, but is distinct from and unrelated to her suit for divorce. The two claims may be joined in one action under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C. A., because the District Court had jurisdiction over divorce actions add also possessed general equity jurisdiction.

The Domestic Relations Branch of the Municipal Court is not a court of general equity jurisdiction. In giving that branch jurisdiction over divorce and other domestic relations actions, Congress granted to the branch "so much of the power as is now vested in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, whether in law or in equity, as is necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act."² The question here is did that limited grant of equity power to the Domestic Relations Branch include sufficient general equity power to confer jurisdiction on the branch of claims of a wife against her husband when such claims do not flow from her claimed right to a divorce?

The question is not free from doubt. In Thomason v. Thomason, D.C.Cir., 274 F.2d 89, it was held that the Domestic Relations Branch in a custody case has jurisdiction over a counterclaim seeking a money judgment for arrears under a foreign decree for the support of minor children. It was there pointed out that such a judgment was a means of enforcing support of minor children, and the Domestic Relations Branch is specifically given jurisdiction over civil actions to enforce such support. The claim here asserted to the personal property in no way affects or enforces the claim to a divorce or the alimony incident thereto.

This brings us to consideration of the Act of September 9, 1959,³ which amended the jurisdictional section of the Domestic Relations Branch Act. By this amendment the Domestic Relations Branch was given jurisdiction of "determinations and adjudications of property rights, both real and personal, in any action hereinabove referred to in this section, irrespective of any jurisdictional limitation imposed on the Municipal Court for the District of Columbia." Both the House⁴ and Senate⁵ reports contain the following statements concerning the amendment:

"The purpose of this bill is to clarify and define the authority of the domestic relations branch of the municipal court to adjudicate the interests of husband and wife in personal and real property in the District of Columbia, in all actions coming before the domestic relations branch, other than proceedings in adoption.

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"Since some members of ...