Title: Cline v. Cline
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: SJC-12851
State: Massachusetts
Issuer: Massachusetts Supreme Court
Date: May 26, 2020

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SJC-12851 
 
TYRON CLINE  vs.  CAROLINA CLINE. 
 
 
May 26, 2020. 
 
 
Divorce and Separation, Child support.  Supreme Judicial Court, 
Superintendence of inferior courts. 
 
 
 
Tyron Cline (petitioner) appeals from a judgment of the 
county court.  The case arises from a complaint for contempt 
filed in the Probate and Family Court by his former wife, who 
alleged that he refused to pay child support as required by 
their judgment of divorce.1  The petitioner styled his petition 
as one seeking a writ of habeas corpus.  Such relief is 
inapposite, as there is no indication that the petitioner is 
imprisoned or restrained of his liberty.  G. L. c. 248, § 1.  
Even if we read his papers generously as seeking relief relating 
to his child support obligation or to the contempt proceeding, 
he has shown no basis for relief, nor has he offered any reason 
why he could not raise his claims by appealing from a contempt 
judgment to the Appeals Court in the ordinary process rather 
than seeking extraordinary relief from the county court.  The 
single justice neither erred nor abused his discretion in 
denying relief. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
 
 
The case was submitted on briefs. 
 
Tyron Donovan Cline, pro se. 
                     
 
1 The petitioner asserts that he was adjudged to be in 
contempt.  However, he has not provided a copy of any judgment 
of contempt, nor does one appear on the docket of the Probate 
and Family Court.