Court Opinion

ID: 9542309
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:32:57.198006+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:07:33.880752
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION OE
LEWIS, J.
As the court holds, New York ex rel. Halvey v. Halvey, 330 U.S. 610, is applicable authority. Under Oregon law, as under the law of Florida involved in Halvey, a custody decree is not conclusive of facts which were not presented or considered at the hearing preceding such decree. The Oregon rule, as stated in Gonyea v. Gonyea, 232 Or. 367, 375 P.2d 808, 809-10, permits modification of a custody decree not only on the basis of a change in the circumstances which occurred since the decree was rendered, but also because of “the existence of some material fact which was unknown at the time of the decree.” Therefore, under the authority of Halvey, the Oregon decree of May 5, 1964 was not res judicata “except as to the facts before the court at the time of judgment.” (330 U.S. at 613). I agree with the court's conclusion in this case that the court below was justified in considering the evidence as to the successful remarriage of the mother and the life of the mother and children in Hawaii, which the Oregon court did not have before it. As in Halvey it is immaterial that the dearth of evidence as to these circumstances in the *41Oregon court was due to the respondent’s failure to present it. The interests of the children are paramount.
However, the court below received evidence as to the unfitness of petitioner as a father which may have been presented by respondent in the Oregon court when she testified in May, 1963. The decision rendered herein by the court below does not show whether this evidence influenced the decision to any material degree. Mindful of the Supreme Court’s action in Kovacs v. Brewer, 356 U.S. 604, I would vacate the order appealed from and remand for clarification.