Court Opinion

ID: 9586970
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:16:59.537408+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:58.005807
License: Public Domain

Judge PHILLIPS
concurring in result.
Though I agree that plaintiffs claim for equitable distribution was improperly stricken, I do not agree that it should be stricken upon defendant admitting the validity of the separation agreements, or that no discovery relating to defendant’s assets should be done during the interim, or that an early hearing by the trial judge is either necessary or advisable. The main reason for permitting inconsistent claims to be alleged is so that litigants can investigate and assess them before having to decide —or before the court decides for them — which inconsistent claim is supportable and which is not. These two inconsistent claims, I think, ought to be left to follow the usual course of such claims until such time as the progress of the litigation, by one means or another, brings one claim to the fore and shunts the other aside; which is as inevitable as the falling of night, since the claims are utterly and completely contradictory. And it can and should happen, quickly and easily, without the necessity of any hearing before, or findings by, the judge. Indeed, if, instead of seeking the aid of the judge, defendant had but answered the interrogatories about his assets that plaintiff submitted to him and had required plaintiff to answer a few thoughtful inquiries of his own about both claims, one claim or the other would probably have been eliminated or abandoned long ago.