State ex rel. Huhn v. Huhn

• Decision Date: 11 January 1954
• Docket Number: No. 41451,41451
• Citation: 224 La. 591,70 So.2d 391
• Parties: STATE ex rel. HUHN v. HUHN.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 391

70 So.2d 391

224 La. 591

STATE ex rel. HUHN v. HUHN.

No. 41451.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Jan. 11, 1954.

Irving Ward-Steinman, Alexandria, for defendant-appellant.

R. Hunter Pierson, Alexandria, for relatrix-appellee.

FOURNET, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal by the defendant, Leo Howell Huhn, from a judgment rendered in a habeas corpus proceeding instituted in the Ninth Judicial District Court, Parish of Papides, by his former wife, Mrs. Helen Earline Skelton Huhn, wherein the Court gave full faith and credit to a judgment of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court for Knox County, Tennessee, dated September 25, 1952, awarding to her the custody of the minors, Howard Dennis Huhn and Caroline Earline Huhn, 'whenever she is able to locate them.' Pending the further orders of the Louisiana court, the children were placed in the care and keeping of the Juvenile Officer of Rapides Parish.

According to the record, the plaintiff and defendant were married in September, 1945. Of this marriage there was born one child, Caroline Earline Huhn, now six years of age; it also appears that the other child involved, Howard Dennis Wheat (also known as Howard Dennis Huhn), aged eight years, is the illegitimate child of the couple. In a divorce proceeding filed by the wife in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of Knox County, Tennessee, in which the husband reconvened, judgment was rendered on July 14, 1951, dismissing the wife's suit and granting to the husband the divorce, with 'exclusive care, custody and control of the minor children of the parties * * *.' In the judgment, however, the plaintiff here was 'granted the privilege' of having the children visit her in her home, specifically on week-ends between certain hours from Saturday until Monday. (Emphasis supplied.) Both parties were enjoined from taking the children out of the jurisdiction of the Court.

Shortly after judgment was rendered it appears that the husband returned to Louisiana, his former home, and the children followed. The wife, continuing to reside in Tennessee, subsequently applied to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court for Knox County in the same cause; judgment 'pro confesso' was secured by her, and on September 25, 1952, the Court signed a judgment styled 'Order Modifying Final Decree,' which contained an injunction against the defendants named therein, Leo Huhn and Nora Huhn, from molesting her (the wife), from interfering with her custody of the minors, and from obstructing her in securing custody of said children, and the further order 'that the said minor children be placed with the petitioner whenever she is able to locate them.' The judgment also found Leo Howell Huhn 'in contempt of this Court by his wilful and malicious failure to comply with the orders of this Court, respecting the custody of said minor children,' and ordered him to pay the sum of $250 attorney's fees.

On the 2nd of July, 1953, Mrs. Huhn, on the basis of the latter judgment, instituted habeas corpus proceedings in the District Court for the Parish of Rapides, where Huhn was living with the children, seeking to recover their custody. On the return day the defendant filed an exception of no cause of action and a plea of res judicata, the basis of the former being that the judgment annexed to the petition revealed that the foreign court did not have jurisdiction of either the defendant or of the subject matter, and the basis of the latter being the original Tennessee decree of July 14, 1951. These defenses are in effect reiterated in the answer (filed with reservation of defendant's rights under the exceptions), namely, that the modifying decree is null and not entitled to full faith and credit because obtained in fraud, and in contravention of the due process clause of the Constitution, in that the defendant was neither served nor given any notice of the proceeding in spite of the fact that the Tennessee court had been previously informed by him of his whereabouts by registered mail; whereas the first decree, rendered after full hearing, with all parties before the court, is entitled to full faith and credit. In reconvention defendant sought to have the children awarded to him, claiming that his former wife is an unfit person to have their custody for certain stated reasons (which, if true, would be good cause for denying to her custody of the children). The Court, giving full faith and credit to the modified decree of September 25, 1952, apparently declined to hear any evidence on the reconventional demand. The defendant appealed.

The plaintiff contends that jurisdiction which has once attached is not defeated by removal of persons beyond the jurisdiction of the court; that in such case, constructive service is valid upon an absentee; that judicial decrees rendered pursuant thereto are entitled to full faith and credit in every other state; and that where children have been removed to this State in contravention of an order of a foreign court, the courts of this State are without jurisdiction to make an award of custody.

On the other hand, it is the contention of the defendant that the judgment rendered by the court of a sister state is not entitled to full faith and credit where it is not a final judgment under the laws of the state where rendered, and he cites authorities to show that under the laws of Tennessee a judgment awarding the permanent care and custody of a minor is not a final judgment; he submits that the courts of Louisiana, having an interest in the welfare of the child, have the right to determine custody when the child is found within this state, and where it is shown that the mother is not a proper person for that trust she will be denied it; that, in any event, a decree from a sister state is subject to inquiry and attack in the courts of the state where invoked.

Under the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution of the United States, Article IV, § 1, and the Federal statutes enacted pursuant thereto, Act of May 26, 1790, c. 11, as amended, Rev.Stat. § 905, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1738, the rule has been generally stated that the judgment of a court of one state, when pleaded or introduced in evidence in another state, is entitled to receive the same faith and credit that is accorded to it in the state where rendered, see 50 C.J.S., Verbo Judgments, § 889 b, p. 473, and unmerous cases cited under n. 73. A more restricted application of the full faith and credit clause is found in the later case of Williams v. State of North Carolina, 325 U.S. 226, 65 S.Ct. 1092, 89 L.Ed. 1577, 157 A.L.R. 1366, wherein full faith and credit is said to operate only with respect to judgments of courts whose jurisdiction is not impeached, either as to subject matter or person. With particular...