Case Title: Lucas v. Lucas

Citation: 64 So. 2d 70

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1953-03-19T00:00:00Z

Document:
64 So. 2d 70 (1953)
LUCAS
v.
LUCAS.
2 Div. 302.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
March 19, 1953.
Lange, Simpson, Robinson & Somerville, Birmingham, for appellant.
McQueen & McQueen, Tuscaloosa and Geo. P. White, Centerville, for appellee.
GOODWYN, Justice.
This is the second appeal in this case. In the first appeal, this court affirmed the decree of the trial court overruling demurrer to the bill of complaint. Lucas v. Lucas, 252 Ala. 626, 42 So. 2d 457. The present appeal is from the final decree which granted the relief prayed for and taxed the costs of the proceeding, including compensation allowed the guardian ad litem, against the appellant respondent, Clay M. Lucas.
The bill seeks to have set aside and declared null and void, because of fraud in its procurement, a divorce decree rendered by the Circuit Court of Bibb County, Alabama, in Equity, on January 8, 1943, in a proceeding brought by Robert D. Lucas, now deceased, against Mary Belle *71 Lucas, the appellee-complainant here. Robert D. Lucas died on January 9, 1947. The bill here involved was filed on May 13, 1947, in the Bibb County Circuit Court, in Equity, with the heirs at law of said Robert D. Lucas being made parties respondent. Decrees pro confesso were taken against all named respondents who were of age, except Clay M. Lucas, appellant, who is a brother of Robert D. Lucas. A guardian ad litem was appointed to represent those respondents and unknown next of kin and heirs at law of Robert D. Lucas who were minors or non compos mentis.
It is alleged in the bill that the fraud consisted of the following:
It is further alleged in the bill, as amended, as follows:
The evidence, taken orally before the trial judge, is, in pertinent substance, as follows: Mary Belle Lucas, appellee-complainant, and Robert D. Lucas were married in Shelby County, Alabama, in 1933. In 1934 they moved to Loachapoka, in Lee County, Alabama. From then until 1940, Robert D. Lucas was in and out of Loachapoka. After July, 1940, Mary Belle Lucas did not see her husband again, but testified that she received letters from him after he left, together with contributions to her maintenance and support. She offered in evidence one such letter, which bore the date of December 24, 1946, and contained seventy-five dollars in cash. Appellant-respondent suggested that the date was not in the same handwriting as the body of the letter, and that the postal mark on the envelope had been so obliterated as to make the date unintelligible. On June 13, 1942, an attorney of Shelby County wrote to appellee at Loachapoka advising her that Robert D. Lucas had employed him to file divorce proceedings against her, and requesting that she let him know whether she would object. She wrote the attorney that she did object. The attorney wrote her again on June 27, 1942, acknowledging receipt of her letter and requesting that she reconsider. Then on July 6, 1942, the attorney again wrote her, advising that her husband was insisting on a divorce, and that he was filing a bill for that purpose in the Circuit Court of Shelby County, Alabama. With the letter there was enclosed a copy of the bill of complaint, and also an acceptance of service, and waiver and answer, for execution by appellee. These were not executed by appellee. Said bill for divorce alleged that Mary Belle Lucas voluntarily abandoned Robert D. Lucas in Shelby County in October, 1935. What happened to this proceeding is not made clear. On October 23, 1942, Robert D. Lucas filed a bill for divorce against Mary Belle Lucas in the Circuit Court of Bibb County, Alabama, in Equity, to which was attached his affidavit, dated October 19, 1942, reciting that:
A different attorney represented him in this latter proceeding. Service was had by publication in a newspaper published in Bibb County. There was no personal servive on Mary Belle Lucas. This bill alleged that said parties:
On January 8, 1943, a decree was rendered by the Bibb County Circuit Court, in Equity, granting the divorce and authorizing R. D. Lucas to marry again after 60 days from the date of the decree. On March 8, 1943, he married Josie Jennett, and they lived together in West Blocton, Bibb County, Alabama, until October 1, 1946. On November 29, 1946, Josie Lucas was granted a divorce by the Bibb County Circuit Court, in Equity, on the ground of cruelty. No child was born of this marriage, nor of the marriage of Robert D. Lucas to Mary Belle Lucas. There is no evidence that he was ever married to anyone else. Robert D. Lucas died on January 9, 1947, as a result of injuries received in an accident. Mary Belle Lucas lived in the State of Alabama continuously after she was married to Robert D. Lucas, and lived in Loachapoka, Lee County, Alabama, continuously after moving there in 1934. Loachapoka is about 100 miles, and about a two-hour automobile *73 ride, from West Blocton, in Bibb County. Mary Belle Lucas testified that she knew nothing of the divorce proceedings against her, nor of the marriage of Robert D. Lucas to Josie Jennett, until after his death. Although the bill alleges, on information and belief, "that the said Robert D. Lucas, deceased, was the owner of certain real and personal property at the time of his death," there was no evidence offered of such ownership.
As is required of us, we have reviewed the case anew on this appeal without regard to the former decision. Code 1940, Title 13, Section 28; Wilkey v. State, 244 Ala. 568, 579, 14 So. 2d 536, 151 A.L.R. 765; Birmingham News Co. v. Birmingham Printing Co., 213 Ala. 256, 258, 104 So. 506. We do not find that there is any conflict between our present views as to the law of the case and the conclusions reached in the former opinion. Accordingly, for the purposes of this appeal, we expressly approve the rulings on the law in that opinion, 252 Ala. 626, 42 So. 2d 457.
It seems quite clear that the primary, if not the only, objective of this suit is to establish appellee as the legal widow of Robert D. Lucas in order that she might effectively prosecute claims as his widow under the Workmen's Compensation Law of Alabama, Code 1940, Tit. 26, § 253 et seq. and the Social Security Laws of the United States. That she, as his widow, is entitled to monetary benefits under those laws is not questioned. In the case of Fox v. Fox, 235 Ala. 338, 340, 179 So. 237, 238, it was held that "a decree of divorce may be attacked for fraud after the death of the party procuring it where rights of property are concerned." For annotation on this point, see 22 A.L.R.2d 1325. We must first determine, then, whether a widow's right to benefits under the aforementioned laws is "a right of property" within the rule. The answer to this is found, we think, in the recent case of Vaughan v. Vaughan, Ala.Sup., 62 So. 2d 466, 472. We there recognized that a widow's right to a federal pension is a property right justifying a suit such as this. We see no reason why a widow's right to benefits under the aforementioned laws should not likewise justify and support such a suit; and we so hold.
Appellant's theory of defense is that appellee was guilty of laches and should not be permitted, as late as 1947, to question the validity of the divorce decree rendered in 1943; that she must have known about the divorce proceedings against her or, at least, she must have had knowledge of facts which should have put her on notice to inquire into her marital status. As stated by appellant in his brief:
Against this suggested inference, however, there is direct evidence by appellee that she had no knowledge of either the divorce proceedings in Bibb County or of Robert D. Lucas's second marriage, until after his death in 1947. Thus there was presented a factual situation which the trial court resolved against appellant. When, as here, testimony is taken ore tenus before the trial court, the established rule is that a finding by such court on the facts has the effect of a jury's verdict and will not be disturbed on appeal unless plainly and palpably wrong. Meadows v. Hulsey, 246 Ala. 261, 262, 20 So. 2d 526; *74 Taylor v. Hoffman, 231 Ala. 39, 40, 163 So. 339. We are unwilling to say that the trial court's decision should be disturbed under the authority of this rule.
We come now to consider appellant's contention that he should not have been taxed with all of the costs. His insistence in this respect is thus stated in his brief:
The taxation of costs in equity proceedings is governed by Equity Rule 112, Code 1940, Title 7, Appendix, which, in pertinent part, is as follows:
In referring to Equity Rule 112, supra, it was stated in Dozier v. Payne, 244 Ala. 476, 477, 14 So. 2d 376, 377, as follows:
See, also, the later case of Thompson v. Bryant, 251 Ala. 566, 569, 38 So. 2d 590, 593, wherein it is stated as follows:
Considering the case before us in the light of the foregoing pronouncements, we are unwilling to say that there was an improper exercise of discretion by the trial court in the taxation of the costs. Although we recognize the persuasiveness of appellant's argument that the complainant, appellee here, should be taxed with a part of the costs, we are not convinced that the trial court's decree, after indulging all fair intendments in its favor, should be disturbed.
The decree is due to be affirmed. It is so ordered.
Affirmed.
LIVINGSTON, C. J., and BROWN and SIMPSON, JJ., concur.