Title: Killingsworth v. Killingsworth
Citation: 217 So. 2d 57
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: December 12, 1968

217 So. 2d 57 (1968)
Jo Ann M. KILLINGSWORTH
v.
Marvin H. KILLINGSWORTH, Jr.
3 Div. 202.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
December 12, 1968.
*58 Hill, Robison &amp; Belser, Montgomery, for appellant.
Rushton, Stakely &amp; Johnston, Montgomery, for appellee.
COLEMAN, Justice.
The wife appeals from a decree granting divorce to the husband on the ground of cruelty.
In his bill of complaint, the husband charges:
The wife denies these allegations. The contested issue was whether these allegations are true. Testimony was heard ore tenus. The trial court found that the husband is entitled to the relief prayed for in his bill of complaint. The wife argues that the court erred in three particulars.
Assignment 1 recites:
Respondent argues that the testimony of complainant, given at the trial, is in "absolute conflict" with his testimony "taken at deposition," and therefore his "testimony was impeached and his testimony should not be considered."
Respondent argues further that if complainant's testimony be not considered, there is no testimony to support the charge that respondent had committed acts of cruelty against her husband, and, therefore, there is no evidence to support the decree granting a divorce for cruelty, which is the only ground for divorce alleged in the bill of complaint. Consequently, respondent argues, the court erred in granting a divorce to complainant.
With respect to the charge of cruelty, the husband testified at the trial that he moved out of their house in October, 1964; that shortly thereafter, in November, the wife got out of the hospital and he went back and stayed a few days with her; that in the same November, prior to Thanksgiving, he left and had not been back; that "about that time, or immediately prior to that time," his wife "threatened my life"; that the wife used words "something to the effect that she would blow my brains out with the gun which we have, had in the house." The husband testified further:
"A Yes.
"Q What fire arm?
"A Well, it's a twenty-two pistol, automatic pistol.
"Q Was there a pistol in the household?
"A Yes.
"Q Did she ever produce it?
"A Yes.
"Q Did she ever produce it when it was loaded?
"A Yes.
"Q Did she ever threaten to use it?
"Q Did that happen?
"A Yes.
"Q On more than one occasion?
"A Yes.
"Q Did it happen several times?
"Q Was it ever necessary for you to take it and hide the ammunition?
"A Yes.
"Q Did she ever threaten you with any other deadly weapon?
"A Well, with a knife.
"Q All right. Is that a butcher knife?
"A Yes.
"Q When and where?
"A Yes, I, I was on guard to protect myself, sure."
The husband further testified that the wife had a violent temper, tore up household furnishings, tore kitchen cabinet doors off the hinges, threw her own wrist watch on the wall and broke it, defaced furniture with glass jars, tore up a set of draperies, tore up lamps and screens, tore up pots and pans by beating on them until the handle came off, tore up her own clothes, used abusive language and profanity towards the husband, and, on one occasion, she struck the husband so hard that he had to stop the automobile while riding down the highway.
On cross-examination, the husband testified:
"A Yes, I do.
"Q Did I ask what your basic problems with your marriage was?
"A Yes.
"A Yes, I made that statement.
"A Well, I had
"Q (Interrupting) You were under oath at this time?
"A We were both under oath, Mr. Belser.
"A Yes.
"Q Were you under oath?
"A Yes, we were under oath, to the best of my knowledge.
"Q Is your testimony completely opposite to that today?
"A There hasn't been anything to make me change my testimony.
"Q Well, how do you account for it being changed, then?
In the wife's brief, counsel states:
"It is quite clear that the testimony of Marvin Killingsworth (the husband) during the trial of this cause (R. 39) is in absolute conflict with his own testimony taken at deposition (Respondent's Exhibit 2, R. 47). . . . ." (Italicized Par. Supplied), and further:
We have set out above all the husband's testimony which appears on page 39 of the transcript. We set out next the pertinent part of the husband's deposition which appears on pages 46 and 47 of the transcript, to wit:
"A Yes, I did.
"Q What conversation did you have with him, sir?
*61 "Q And that is all his suggestions were?
"Q (Interrupting) Did you go to one?
"A Yes.
"Q Who was that you went to see?
"A Doctor R. B. Davidson.
"Q Did you go to see Mr. Ramage, too?
"A Yes, I went to see Mr. Ramage.
"Q What did you tell Mr. Ramage?
"A No.
"Q Did you tell Doctor Davidson that?
"A I told him about the same thing.
"Q What did you tell him?
"Q What did you tell him the trouble was?
"Q That was all?
"A That is basically all, yes.
"Q No other problem?
"A No, no, that is all."
As we understand the wife's argument, she contends that the husband's testimony on deposition contradicts his testimony at the trial, and, therefore the husband is bound by his own testimony on deposition which is a good defense to his suit. See 169 A.L.R. 798 for annotation on "Binding effect of party's own unfavorable testimony."
In Megason v. Boleyn Lumber Co., 140 La. 431, 73 So. 257, the Supreme Court of Louisiana, in a suit to recover title to land, held that one of the plaintiffs could not recover because of his admission in answers to interrogatories that he and his brothers had not purchased the land but had inherited it from their father. The court said:
As to the plaintiff who was bound by his own testimony on deposition, the Louisiana court reversed the judgment in his favor, but affirmed as to his brothers. In Megason, the testimony of the plaintiff on deposition squarely contradicted his subsequent retraction. Assuming, but not deciding, that, as contended by appellant in the instant case, the husband's unfavorable testimony *62 on deposition binds him and estops him, on the trial, from contradicting his deposition, we are, nevertheless, not persuaded that the contradiction exists. On deposition, quoted above from page 47 of the record, the husband was asked "What did you tell him?," referring to Dr. Davidson. The husband replied: "I told him the reasons for my feeling the way I felt. . . .," etc. The husband was next asked, "What did you tell him the trouble was?" The husband answered "Disagreements, temper, . . . .," etc. The next question is: "That was all?," and the husband replied, "That is basically all, yes." and "No, no, that is all."
It seems to us that a fair understanding, of the husband's answers to the quoted questions, is that the husband was being asked what he had told Dr. Davidson, not what the trouble was. If the husband had told Dr. Davidson that the only trouble was disagreements, temper, etc., his answers on deposition were truthful, although he had not told Dr. Davidson of the threats with knife and pistol as to which the husband later testified on the trial. Because we do not think the husband's testimony on deposition contradicts his testimony on the trial with respect to cruelty, we hold that he was not concluded by his deposition and that the trial court could consider the husband's testimony given on the trial to prove that the wife had committed acts of cruelty sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the statute; Title 34, § 22, Code 1940. Assignments 1, 4, and 5 are not sustained.
Respondent assigns as error:
On transcript page 109, the record indicates that Respondent's Exhibit No. 9 was marked for identification. This exhibit appears to have been "a note from a pastor." The court sustained objection to introduction of the note on the ground that the court had been told that Dr. White himself, who apparently wrote the note, was "going to testify, and he would be the best evidence." So far as we have ascertained, the record does not disclose the contents of this exhibit.
The propriety of the court's ruling in refusing to allow the introduction of this document is not reviewable when the document is not set out in the record. Forest Investment Corp. v. Commercial Credit Corp., 271 Ala. 8, 11, 122 So. 2d 131; Lee v. Southern Pipe and Supply Co., Ala., 214 So. 2d 313, 317.
Assignment 6 is not sustained.
Assignment 3 recites:
Dr. White testified that the parties to the instant suit attended the church of which the witness was pastor; that the husband has held the office of deacon in that church; that the witness had had conferences with the husband and wife concerning their marriage, "off and on, now, for sometime" in the year 1964; and that in these discussions, their marital problems were discussed.
On page 191 of the record, the following is shown to have occurred during the examination of Dr. White:
"A That's correct.
"MR. MOORE: We object.
*63 "THE COURT: Sustain the objection.
"MR. BELSER: On what grounds, Your Honor?
"THE COURT: That's an ultimate question for the Court to decide.
"MR. BELSER: We except (sic) that ruling.
"THE COURT: No, I will not.
"MR. BELSER: We respectfully except. Thank you, Doctor."
Thus ended Dr. White's examination.
Appellant asserts and appellee concedes that there is no privilege in Alabama with respect to a communication made by a person to a clergyman or spiritual adviser. The authorities we have examined support this proposition. We quote some of the text writers.
So far as we are advised, there is no decision by this court deciding this question. See Tonsmeire v. Tonsmeire, 281 Ala. 102, 199 So. 2d 645, which is not directly in point. We are not advised of any statute of this state which makes privileged a communication made by a person to a spiritual adviser.
According to all the authorities which the parties have cited and those authorities which we have been able to find, under the law of Alabama, the witness did not have any privilege to refuse to answer the question asking whether the husband had stated to the witness that the wife had threatened the husband's life with a gun or knife. The trial court erred in refusing to instruct the witness to answer the question.
Appellee says that the ruling of the court, if error, was harmless because the appellant was not injured by the ruling. *64 Appellee says the question called for a "yes" or "no" answer, and that:
Appellee is correct in saying that a "yes" answer would have corroborated the testimony of the husband and would not have benefited the wife. We are of opinion, however, that a "no" answer would have benefited the wife.
The husband's right to divorce depends on his own testimony. He is the only witness who testified that the wife committed or threatened to commit against the husband actual violence on his person, attended with danger to his life or health or that from the wife's conduct there was reasonable apprehension of such violence. The wife's testimony squarely contradicts that of the husband. All other witnesses, with whom the husband had conferred concerning the cause of his marital difficulties, had testified to effect that the husband had not stated to the witness that the wife had committed the alleged acts of violence. The husband's failure to state to the witness, Dr. White, that the wife had committed such acts would further strengthen the wife's contention that she had not done so and that the husband's testimony was false. Whether Dr. White's answer would have caused the trial court to reach a different finding we are not able to say.
". . . . The rule is that admissions of a plaintiff are competent evidence to defeat a divorce . . . ." Lyall v. Lyall, 250 Ala. 635, 638, 35 So. 2d 550, 552. The husband's failure to mention to any of his counselors the wife's alleged acts of violence, or threats to commit such acts, has the effect of casting doubt on the truthfulness of his testimony that the wife had committed such acts. If the wife was, in truth, guilty of the numerous violent acts which the husband testified she committed, and the husband was attempting to tell his counselors everything about his marital difficulties, and the cause thereof, a reasonable man might consider it strange that the husband would omit to mention numerous attempts and threats on his life. A reasonable inference would be that he did not mention the attempts and threats on his life because the wife had not made them. The husband's omission to mention the attempts and threats to the persons from whom he was seeking help is in the nature of an admission against the husband's interest, and is proper to be shown because it is competent to discredit the husband's testimony and to defeat his claim to a divorce.
In a later case, this court said:
To like effect, see Southern R. Co. v. Gantt, 210 Ala. 383, 386, 98 So. 192; and McGill v. Varin, 213 Ala. 649, 651, 652, 106 So. 44.
In the instant case, the question to the witness called for a clearly relevant and competent answer. He had testified that he had had conferences with the husband concerning the husband's marital difficulties. By his own testimony, the witness had knowledge of what the husband had said to the witness and he was competent to answer the question. It is, therefore, within the rule declared by the decisions cited and its exclusion was error, and prejudicial to appellant so far as this record informs us.
The wife made no offer to show what would be the answer of the witness to the question. We have written perhaps at undue length to show that, under the rule of Birmingham Ry. L. &amp; P. Co. v. Barrett and other cases cited above, the wife was not bound to show the expected answer in order to have review of the ruling sustaining objection to the question.
There is another principle which makes unnecessary an offer to show the expected answer in the present case. That principle has been stated as follows:
The Court of Appeals of Alabama has said:
In the instant case, the trial court had ruled twice that the witness would not be required to answer any question as to what the husband had said to the witness in conference. An offer of proof would have been a useless gesture.
For the error pointed out in Assignment 3, the decree is reversed and the cause remanded.
Reversed and remanded.
LAWSON, SIMPSON and BLOODWORTH, JJ., concur.