Reagan v. Reagan

• Decision Date: 10 January 1966
• Docket Number: No. 23265,23265
• Citation: 221 Ga. 656,146 S.E.2d 906
• Parties: William Alfred REAGAN v. Esther Naoma REAGAN.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 906

146 S.E.2d 906

221 Ga. 656

William Alfred REAGAN v. Esther Naoma REAGAN.

No. 23265.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Jan. 10, 1966.

Syllabus by the Court

1. There was sufficient evidence to support the verdict and judgment granting the appellee, wife, a divorce and alimony.

2. The trial court did not err in admitting the testimony of the wife that she intended to leave all her property to her children upon her death since it tended to refute certain testimony by the husband, appellant, and was relevant to the issues of the case.

3, 4. The trial court did not err in re-charging the jury as the re-charge was not misleading or confusing.

Clower & Royal, Robert L. Royal, Rome, for appellant.

Rogers, Magruder & Hoyt, Dudley B. Magruder, Jr., Rome, for appellee.

MOBLEY, Justice.

The appellant, William Alfred Reagan, filed a petition for divorce against his wife, Esther Naoma Reagan, in October, 1963 alleging as ground for divorce that she had wilfully deserted him in December, 1960 and has continued such desertion since that time. The defendant wife, appellee here, filed an answer and cross action which, as amended, denied the desertion of appellant by her and alleged wilful desertion of her on the part of appellant since January, 1961 and prayed for alimony and for a divorce. This action has been tried once before and this is the third appearance of this case before this court. On the first trial the jury returned a verdict granting both parties a divorce and awarding alimony to Mrs Reagan. In Reagan v. Reagan, 220 Ga. 587, 140 S.E.2d 841 this court held that such verdict was inconsistent in view of the pleadings and evidence and ordered a retrial of the case. In Reagan v. Reagan, 221 Ga. 173, 143 S.E.2d 736 this court held that the new trial previously ordered by the court rendered defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict a nullity and ordered the trial court to dismiss the motion.

On the re-trial of the case, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the appellee for divorce and awarded her alimony. The trial court entered judgment and decree on the verdict and also awarded appellee $750 as attorney's fees. The appeal is from that judgment on assignments of error stated hereafter.

1. Appellant's first assignment of error is upon the verdict as being contrary to law and the principles of equity and justice, contrary to the evidence, without supporting evidence, and decidedly and strongly against the weight of the evidence. The established rule as to appellate review of evidence to uphold a verdict is that if there is any evidence to support the verdict this court will not disturb the verdict or the judgment or decree of the court rendered thereon. Kitchin v. Kitchin, 219 Ga. 417, 133 S.E.2d 880; Middleton v. Waters, 205 Ga. 847(5), 55 S.E.2d 359.

'Wilful and continued desertion by either of the parties for the term of one year' constitutes a ground for divorce in this State. Code § 30-102(7). This ground is explained in Cagle v. Cagle, 193 Ga. 34, 17 S.E.2d 75, as follows: 'Desertion, within the meaning of our statute on divorce, is the voluntary separation of one of the married parties from the other, or the voluntary refusal to renew a suspended cohabitation, without justification either in the consent or the wrongful conduct of the other. Its affirmative natural elements are two: the cohabitation ended, and the offending party's intent to desert. The statute creates a third affirmative element, the lapse of a definite period of time. Negatively, it must be without legal justification, and without a breach of the continuity which the statute renders essential.'

We hold that there was evidence to support the verdict in favor of the wife on the question of desertion by her husband. It appears from the evidence that a controversy over religion between the parties had led to their separation. The wife had become a follower of a religious group known as the Jehovah's Witnesses. Her husband had long been a member of the Methodist Church in Rome, ga. The wife testified as to the events immediately preceding the alleged abandonment and desertion of her by the appellant as follows: 'Well, we had a wonderful dinner. He had gone to the Methodist Church, and our meetings are in the afternoon; and I had dinner ready for him when he came in, and we ate dinner. And I always study my Bible before I go to church, to the meetings. And he was playing solitaire in the living room, and I went in there and took my Bible down, and he began, 'Why are you reading that stuff,' and so on, and 'You are going crazy.' And finally he got so mad, he said if I ever went again that he would be gone when I got home. So I calmly said, 'Well I'm going this afternoon.' So when I got home he was gone, and has been gone ever since.' She testified that he left on a Sunday late in January of 1961; that appellant moved back into the upstairs apartment in their house after about three months; that during this time he did not communicate with her or make an attempt at reconciliation; but that he came and got his clothes from her on two occasions. She further testified that she left the home of the parties on November 16, 1961 to take a job helping an elderly woman in her home with the intention of staying there only until Christmas, but that she has remained at this job ever since and appellant rented the apartment she had vacated after she left. She testified and appellant confirmed the fact that she had left a considerable amount of her clothes and personal items in the apartment which was rented to others by her husband with these clothes and items still there as she had left them.

The husband testified that he had left Mrs. Reagan and stayed...