Prall v. Prall

• Decision Date: 11 December 1908
• Citation: 47 So. 916,56 Fla. 521
• Parties: PRALL v. PRALL.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

47 So. 916

56 Fla. 521

PRALL v. PRALL.

Florida Supreme Court, Division B.

December 11, 1908

Headnotes Filed Jan. 20, 1909.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Hillsborough County; Joseph B. Wall Judge.

Bill by John M. Prall against Emma L. Prall for divorce. Decree for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed and remanded.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

A bill for divorce on the ground of violent and ungovernable temper must allege something more than the words of the statute. It must state facts from which the court can judge whether they constitute a case of the existence of such temper. Occasional outbursts of passion, petulance, readiness to anger, or frequent and unreasonable complaints, though made in a loud voice, boisterous manner, if these are only calculated to render the relations between the parties unpleasant and disagreeable, or simply unhappy, do not furnish sufficient cause for divorce.

COUNSEL M. G. Gibbons, for appellant.

F. M Simonton, for appellee.

OPINION

TAYLOR, J.

The appellee, as complainant below, filed his bill for divorce against the appellant, as defendant below, in the circuit court of Hillsborough county, alleging therein as follows:

'That on the 3d day of April, A. D. 1895, at Ft. Dodge, Iowa your orator was united in lawful marriage with Emma L Prall, who is hereby made party respondent, and that the said relation still subsists. That during the course of their married life this complainant has at all times conducted himself as a faithful and dutiful husband, administering to the wants of the said respondent as well as his circumstances and condition in life would permit. That for a number of years after their said marriage complainant lived with the defendant at Ft. Dodge, Iowa, until something over two years ago, when complainant, with the defendant, moved to Ft. Myers, Fla., where they have since resided. That some time before complainant and the defendant removed to Florida the defendant seemed to grow tired of her condition in life and surroundings, having become very irritable, quarrelsome, and otherwise disaffectionate to complainant, continually finding fault with your orator, until upon her suggestion complainant disposed of practically all of his property, consisting of a farm, etc., in the state of Iowa, and removed to Florida, with the hope that the said defendant might become better satisfied with her condition in life; but, on the contrary, matters grew worse, the defendant on divers occasions indulging in outbursts of temper, abusing your orator unmercifully, until on or about the 10th day of October, A. D. 1907, complainant's life became a burden, instead of a pleasure, at which time he left his home and has never returned, all of which actings, doings, and pretense on the part of the said respondent are contrary to equity and tend to the manifest wrong, injury, and oppression of this complainant. Wherefore complainant charges the defendant with having been guilty of an indulgence of a violent and ungovernable temper towards your orator. Wherefore complainant prays that the court will take cognizance of his complaint, and will, in the final adjudication of this cause, grant unto complainant a decree of divorce from the said respondent, forever releasing him from the bonds of matrimony that have heretofore bound him to the said respondent, and that the court will grant unto him such other and further relief in the premises as the nature of the case may require and may be agreeable to equity and good conscience.'

The defendant filed an answer, in which she admitted the marriage and the two years' residence in Florida, but neither admitted nor denied the allegations of the indulgence on her part of a violent and ungovernable temper towards complainant, but...