Case Name: Nathaniel GADSON v. Shirley GADSON
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1983-07-20
Citations: 434 So. 2d 1345
Docket Number: No. 54129
Parties: Nathaniel GADSON v. Shirley GADSON.
Judges: PATTERSON, C.J., WALKER and BROOM, P.JJ., and BOWLING and DAN M. LEE, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 434
Pages: 1345–1351

Head Matter:
Nathaniel GADSON v. Shirley GADSON.
No. 54129.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
July 20, 1983.
See also 429 So.2d 568.
Kendall Reeves, Ladner & Emil, Gulfport, for appellant.
Thomas J. Long, Gulfport, for appellee.

Opinion:
ROY NOBLE LEE, Justice,
for the Court:
Nathaniel Gadson has appealed from a decree of the Chancery Court, First Judicial District of Harrison County, Honorable John S. Morris, presiding, adjudging him in contempt of the court for failure to perform the provisions of a divorce decree dated September 17, 1981, which required him to pay alimony and child support to his wife, Shirley Gadson. Gadson contends that the decree finding him in contempt should be reversed because (1) the proof shows his inability to pay the support, (2) the amount of arrearage is incorrect, and (3) the divorce decree is void. We address only the third proposition and reverse.
Appellant and appellee were married April 1, 1972, and one child, Nadia, was born in 1976. The parties separated June 15, 1981. ' Subsequently, appellee filed a suit for divorce averring habitual cruel and inhuman treatment as the ground. On June 23, 1981, appellee filed a motion for temporary alimony, child support and suit money, and, on August 18, 1981, the chancery court entered an interlocutory decree for $900.00 per month support, the payments to begin August 21, 1981. On August 24, 1981, appellee filed a petition to cite appellant for contempt because of his failure to pay the temporary support.
Appellant was adjudged in willful contempt on September 15,1981, for failure to comply with the temporary order, and was ordered imprisoned in the Harrison County jail until he purged himself of that contempt. He was released from jail September 21, 1981, but, while he was still in jail, appellee was awarded a divorce September 17,1981. That final divorce decree ordered appellant to pay $200.00 per month alimony, $400.00 per month child support, $239.00 per month house payment and $800.00 attorney's fees, and granted appellee permanent child custody and exclusive use of the home and an automobile. Appellant filed a motion November 2, 1981, to set aside the decree or, in the alternative, for modification of same. On February 26, 1982, appel-lee filed a petition against appellant for contempt charging him with failure to comply with the final divorce decree. That petition was heard on March 17, 1982, and the chancellor found appellant was in arrears in the amount of $4,195.00, that he was in willful and contumacious contempt, and he was ordered imprisoned in the Harrison County jail until he purged his contempt by paying that sum. He was also ordered to pay attorney's fees in the amount of $1,000, and the aggregate amount required to purge the contempt was $5,195.00.
An appeal was prosecuted from the final divorce decree of September 17, 1981, on which decree this contempt case is founded. On March 16, 1983, 429 So.2d 568, we reversed and remanded that decree to the lower court for a trial on the merits because said decree was entered without any prior notice to appellant and his attorney; appellant's answer and cross-bill were stricken; and the final decree of divorce was entered without notice to them. The answer and cross-bill of appellant and the temporary decree of August 18, 1981, were reinstated.
We now consider the effect of reversing the September 17, 1981, divorce decree on the adjudication of contempt for failure to comply with that decree. In Sinquefield v. Valentine, 160 Miss. 61, 133 So. 210 (1931), Sinquefield was ordered to deliver custody of his children to their grandfather and was adjudged in contempt of court for failure to do so. The order was entered without notice to Sinquefield. The Court said:
The question, therefore, in the case is whether or not the father, in refusing to turn over the custody of his children to their grandfather, under a void order of the court, requiring him to do so, could be adjudged in contempt of court. On the authority of McHenry v. State, 91 Miss. 562, 44 So. 831, 833, 16 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1062, the question must be answered in the negative. The court said in that case, among other things:
"It is a misconception to suppose that only in a case where the court has no jurisdiction over the particular suit can one safely disobey the order of a court. A court may have jurisdiction, in a general sense, of the particular suit, as regards both its subject-matter and the parties to it, and yet the court may make, in the trial of that particular case, an order which, regard being had to the nature of the suit, the court has no power whatever to make. Such an order is an absolute nullity, not a mere irregularity; and both where general jurisdiction at all to entertain the particular cause is wanting, and also where, such general jurisdiction existing, the court, in the progress of the trial of the particular cause, makes an order wholly void, there is wanting utterly the predicate for any contempt process for disobedience to such order." 160 Miss, at 64-65, 133 So. at 210-211.
In McKinney v. McKinney, 374 So.2d 230 (Miss.1979), an original divorce decree was amended without service of process on McKinney which amendment required payment of child support. Mrs. McKinney subsequently filed a petition for contempt against McKinney, and, without his presence, the chancery court adjudged him in contempt and ordered his arrest and incar ceration. This Court reversed the judgment of contempt, stating that the decree was entered without proper service of process and was void.
Cox v. Cox, 279 So.2d 615 (Miss.1973), involved separate maintenance ordered to be paid by Cox to his wife. He declined to pay the amounts decreed against him and, at the time of the hearing, had defaulted in the total sum of $3,237.02. The lower court said: "It will not be the purpose of the Court at this hearing to consider the charge of criminal contempt or to punish for criminal contempt. ." [279 So.2d at 616]. However, that court held Cox to be in civil contempt and ordered him to remain in jail until the full amount of $3,237.02 was fully paid. The exact situation and facts prevail in the Cox case as in the case at bar. The decree awarding separate maintenance to Mrs. Cox was reversed and the Supreme Court entered a decree for Cox.
This Court, upon reversing the void decree awarding separate maintenance to Mrs. Cox and discharging her husband, said, "Cox, having been relieved of the obligation to pay, is entitled to immediate release." [279 So.2d at 616].
The decisions in the Sinquefield, McKinney and Cox cases, supra, control the question involved in the present case and require that the judgment of the lower court holding appellant to be in contempt of the September 17, 1981, divorce decree be reversed, vacated and the appellant discharged.
REVERSED AND APPELLANT DISCHARGED.
PATTERSON, C.J., WALKER and BROOM, P.JJ., and BOWLING and DAN M. LEE, JJ., concur.
ROBERTSON, HAWKINS and PRATHER, JJ., specially concur.
. We note that appellant introduced evidence on the contempt proceeding which indicated his inability to pay sums ordered in the decree.