Case Title: Guthrie v. Guthrie

Citation: 537 So. 2d 886

Docket Number: 

State: mississippi

Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Date: 1989-01-18T00:00:00Z

Document:
537 So. 2d 886 (1989) Myrna GUTHRIE (Hinton) v. Aaron GUTHRIE. No. 58281. Supreme Court of Mississippi. January 18, 1989. Nancy J. Beck, Jackson, for appellant. J. Edward Rainer, Rainer, Hyche & Toney, Jackson, for appellee. Before ROY NOBLE LEE, C.J., and ROBERTSON and ANDERSON, JJ. ROY NOBLE LEE, Chief Justice, for the Court: Myrna Guthrie Hinton (Myrna), joined by her daughters, Cynthia Elaine Guthrie (Cynthia) and Donna Jo Guthrie (Donna Jo), filed an action in the Chancery Court of Rankin County, Mississippi, entitled Motion for Citation for Contempt, praying that the court find Aaron Guthrie in contempt because of his failure and refusal to pay child support for the daughters and for judgment against Aaron Guthrie for delinquent child support. At the conclusion of the plaintiffs' evidence, the court held that the proof was not sufficiently definite and dismissed the action. The claim relating to support for Cynthia was previously dismissed as barred by the statute of limitations. Myrna and Donna Jo have appealed to this Court and assign two errors in the trial below. Myrna and Aaron were divorced on September 18, 1962. Myrna was awarded custody of the two children of the marriage, i.e., Cynthia Elaine Guthrie, born December 25, 1957, and Donna Jo Guthrie, born October 12, 1960. Aaron was ordered to pay Myrna fifty dollars ($50.00) per month per child beginning February 1, 1962. The child support was to be paid until such time as each child reached majority, married, or otherwise became emancipated. On March 4, 1968, Myrna filed a motion for citation for contempt against Aaron alleging that child support was in arrears in the amount of $3,600 as of March 1, 1968. A hearing was set for April, 1968, and a non-resident summons was issued for Aaron, who was living in the State of Oregon at that time. There was no proof that Aaron received the summons, and there was no hearing on the petition and no action taken thereon. Eighteen (18) years elapsed from the filing of the first motion for contempt, and then, on November 26, 1986, a second petition for citation for contempt was filed by Myrna and her daughters, Cynthia and Donna Jo. The lower court granted Aaron's motion to dismiss the action as to *887 Cynthia, since she was more than 28 years old at the time of filing, and the statute of limitations barred her action. Miss. Code Ann. § 15-1-59 (1972). Aaron's answer admitted the terms of the divorce decree and support order, but denied that he had wilfully and intentionally refused to pay child support. Trial was held on June 16, 1987. Attached to the motion for contempt was an intemized statement of the delinquent child support for Donna Jo. According to it, Aaron was delinquent in the amount of forty-one thousand two hundred seven dollars forty cents ($41,270.40) support and interest. Myrna, Donna Jo and Myra Janelle Donald (Myrna's sister) testified for the appellants. The proof reflected that Aaron had made only three (3) payments for Donna Jo over the years; that Myrna had contacted Aaron through the years seeking the support payments; and that he refused to make them. Further, the proof indicated that Aaron sent Donna Jo a money order for one hundred dollars ($100.00) or possibly three hundred dollars ($300.00) while she was a student at Hinds Jr. College. After the appellant rested, Aaron moved the court to dismiss the motion for contempt and judgment on the ground that there had been no evidence as to the amount then due from him. The lower court granted the motion and its opinion follows in part: The two assigned errors simply present the question of whether or not the lower court erred in dismissing the action. Appellants contend that this Court should treat a contempt/child support action as an action on open account. We reject that contention and argument. In Peeples v. Yarbrough, 475 So. 2d 1154 (Miss. 1985), the Court quoted Griffith's Mississippi Chancery Practice § 667, at 735 (1950), as follows: 475 So. 2d at 1157-58. See also MRCP 81(d). Brown v. Gillespie, 465 So. 2d 1046, 1047 (Miss. 1985), involved a contempt citation and action for child support. The Court said: 465 So. 2d at 1047. We are of the opinion that the learned chancellor was in error when he dismissed the action for support. The proof reflected the amount which Aaron was required to pay under the court decree, and that no more than three (3) payments and $100.00 to $300.00 had been paid. The amount of the accrued judgment only required a mathematical computation by the attorney(s) and had already been computed and exhibited to the motion. We are of the opinion that the evidence sufficiently made out a prima facie case for delinquent support against Aaron.[1] While the Court has held that the introduction of the decree ordering a defendant to pay a stipulated monthly sum for the support and maintenance of his child, together with proof that he had failed to comply with the decree, placed him prima facie in contempt of court, under the facts of this case, where the appellants waited eighteen (18) years before taking any action for contempt or for collection of support from appellee Aaron, we cannot say that the lower court erred in holding that Aaron was not in willful contempt. See Brown v. Gillespie, supra, at 1048. The judgment of the lower court is affirmed on the holding that appellee was not in willful contempt of the court and is reversed and remanded for a full trial on the question and amount of delinquent support. AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED AND REMANDED IN PART. HAWKINS and DAN M. LEE, P.JJ., and PRATHER, ROBERTSON, SULLIVAN, ANDERSON and ZUCCARO, JJ., concur. PITTMAN, J., not participating. [1] Aaron was present before the court and could have been examined by counsel for the appellants.