Title: Hutchinson v. Hutchinson

State: colorado

Issuer: Colorado Supreme Court

Document:

367 P.2d 594 (1961) Maxine L. HUTCHINSON, Plaintiff in Error, v. Jack L. HUTCHINSON, Defendant in Error. No. 19799. Supreme Court of Colorado. In Department. December 26, 1961. Rehearing Denied January 15, 1962. *595 J. H. Boutcher, John Gibbons, Denver, for plaintiff in error. Joseph A. Myers, V. G. Seavy, Jr., Denver, for defendant in error. MOORE, Justice. We will refer to the plaintiff in error as plaintiff or the mother, and to defendant in error as defendant or the father. The complaint filed by plaintiff is labeled as follows: "Complaint Under Reciprocal Support." In this ineptly drawn and rather confusing instrument it is alleged in substance that plaintiff and defendant were once husband and wife; that in 1944 a divorce decree was entered in a district court of the State of Texas; that two children were born as the issue of the marriage, one of whom was born following the divorce decree; that the said children (aged 16 and 15 respectively) were "unemancipated and under the care and control of the plaintiff"; that they reside with the plaintiff in Arapahoe county; that "the said minor children and the plaintiff herein are in need of [and] entitled to support from the defendant under the statutory and common law, and the Reciprocal Support Act of the State of Colorado by virtue of the Order of the [Texas court] * * * requiring the defendant to pay into the court the sum of Thirty Dollars ($30.00) per month"; that defendant "has failed in his duty to support his aforesaid minor children by wilful refusal to properly provide for them since the date of said Order of Court and fifteen years have elapsed and the plaintiff is entitled to judgment by virtue of said decree in the amount of Five Thousand Five Hundred and Fifty Dollars * * *"; that defendant is able-bodied and working in Denver where he resides; and that "the aforementioned dependent children are in need of support from said defendant herein in an amount not less than $100.00 per month." The complaint contains the following statement: "* * * these proceedings are brought under the Reciprocal Support Laws of Colorado which are similar to such support laws in the State of Texas." The foregoing quotations and summary are sufficient to explain why we have described the complaint as an "ineptly drawn and confusing instrument." The prayer of the complaint contains six separate requests for relief. We quote two of them as follows: Counsel for defendant filed a Motion to Dismiss and assigned as grounds, inter alia, the following: The action was originally filed in the district court of Arapahoe county but was removed to the district court of the City and County of Denver on motion for change of venue. Following a hearing on the Motion to Dismiss, the trial court ruled as follows: "* * * The Court is going to dismiss this cause because the complaint does not state a claim for relief. A *596 motion for a new trial is dispensed with. The Court takes the attitude that this is a final and appealable judgment." We conclude from the comments of the trial court and of counsel at the hearing, as disclosed by the transcript, that the court yielded to an erroneous compulsion to limit plaintiff to the theory of recovery under the Reciprocal Support Act, C.R.S. `53, 43-2-1 et seq., or that the action was to enforce an order of a Texas court awarding $30.00 per month support money, delinquent for a period of fifteen years, under the full faith and credit clause of the United States Constitution. We can very well understand that the disconnected and rambling references to a judgment of the Texas court, and the label affixed to the complaint coupled with the statement that "these proceedings are brought under the Reciprocal Support Laws of Colorado * * *," tended to lead the trial court astray. Nevertheless under our Rules of Civil Procedure the title by which a litigant may designate a pleading is not controlling. One does not stand or fall on a "theory" or "cause of action," as obtained under the practice prior to adoption of the rules. The substance of the claim rather than the appellation applied to the pleading by the litigant is what controls. If from the allegations of the complaint the plaintiff is entitled to relief under any "theory", it is sufficient to state a claim. We direct attention to Bridges v. Ingram et al., 122 Colo. 501, 223 P.2d 1051, 1053, from which we quote the following: From a perusal of the complaint here, the following may be gleaned: Defendant is alleged to be the father of the minor children of the parties; that he has failed and refused to provide support for them for a period of fifteen years; that they are in need of support and he has the means and ability to provide it. If these allegations are established by evidence, appropriate relief should be granted. McQuade v. McQuade, 144 Colo. 11, 354 P.2d 597. *597 The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings consistent with the views herein expressed, with leave to the plaintiff to amend her pleadings as she may be advised. SUTTON and FRANTZ, JJ., concur.