Teel v. Nolen Brown Motors, Inc.
| Decision Date | 29 March 1957 |
| Parties | Blanch TEEL, Madison J. Teel, Jr., and Crystal Dianne Teel, Petitioners, v. NOLEN BROWN MOTORS, Inc., Ophelia Chester Teel and the Florida Industrial Commission, Respondents. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Cosgrove & Rose, Miami, for petitioners.
John Goodman, Miami, for employer-carrier.
Verne L. Freeland, Miami, for Ophelia Chester Teel.
Rodney Durrance, Tallahassee, for Florida Industrial Commission.
Petitioners by petition for certiorari seek review of an order of the Florida Industrial Commission in a Workmen's Compensation matter.
The point for determination is the correctness of the legal conclusion of the Industrial Commission as to the lawful widow of a deceased employee.
It is admitted that Madison J. Teel came to his death as the result of an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment by Nolen Brown Motors, Inc. On August 23, 1954, the deputy commissioner made an award in favor of Blanch Teel and two minor children, as the widow and surviving children of the deceased employee. Some months later Ophelia Chester Teel petitioned for a modification of the order claiming that she was the lawful widow of the deceased by virtue of a prior undissolved marriage.
The deputy commissioner took testimony and arrived at the conclusion that the original order should be modified. He found that Ophelia, the first wife, was the lawful widow of the deceased. However, under the authority granted by Section 440.16(2)(c), Florida Statutes, F.S.A., he exercised an allowable discretion by providing that the entire amount of compensation should be paid to the two dependent minors (the children of Blanch and Madison) inasmuch as they were actual dependents of the deceased. He found that Ophelia, the first wife, was not dependent. Out of this situation he justified the exercise of his discretion accordingly. The sum of the testimony of the two hearings was that Blanch and Madison were married in Georgia on May 8, 1950. They lived together in Georgia and in Dade County, Florida. Ophelia produced a marriage license showing that she and Madison had been married in Georgia on December 17, 1938; that they had moved to Ft. Pierce, Florida, where they lived together until about 1948. At this time Madison left Ophelia for a period of about eleven months and went to Georgia. He returned to Ft. Pierce, lived with her for about a month, decided that 'marriage was not for him' and departed. Ophelia saw him periodically after his departure. She testified that he left through no fault of hers, that she had never instituted divorce proceedings and had never been served with divorce papers. On this record the deputy and later the full Commission determined that Ophelia, the first wife, had overcome the presumption of validity of the second marriage and entered the order under assault. Review of this order is here sought.
Blanch Teel, the second wife, contends that the uncorroborated testimony of Ophelia, the first wife, was insufficient to overcome the presumption of the validity of the second marriage. Ophelia, the first wife, contends that the showing which she made was adequate to establish her as the lawful widow.
We note at the outset that neither of the alleged widows contests the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Fisher v. Toombs County Nursing Home
...establishes the absence of a reasonable probability that [the spouse in question] actually secured the divorce." Teel v. Nolen Brown Motors, 93 So.2d 874, 876 (Fla.1957). The trial court erroneously determined that Fisher's marriage to Stewart was not valid based on an unresolved prior marr......
-
Smith v. Heckler
...whether the marriage was ceremonial or by common law. 25 Fla.Jur.2d Family Law Secs. 45, 47 at 66-67 (1981); Teel v. Nolan Brown Motors, 93 So.2d 874 (Fla.1957); In re Estate of Lee, 360 So.2d 1111 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1978); McBride v. McBride, 130 So.2d 302 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1961). This presum......
-
Sikes v. Guest
...See In re Hind's Estate, Fla.App.,App.1961, 135 So.2d 13; McBride v. McBride, Fla.App.,App.1961, 130 So .2d 302; Teel v. Nolen Brown Motors, Inc., Fla.App.,1957, 93 So.2d 874; and Roberts v. Roberts, 1936, 124 Fla.App., 116, 167 So. In the case of In re Hind's Estate, supra, Judge White sai......
-
Donner's Estate, In re, s. 76-1919
...the legality of the last marriage has the heavy burden of rebutting the presumption that such marriage is valid. Teel v. Nolan Brown Motors, 93 So.2d 874 (Fla.1957); Carey v. Lee, 360 So.2d 1111 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978). For the reasons expressed earlier in this opinion, Ruth has failed to sustai......