Court Opinion

ID: 9767332
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:16:50.94383+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:30.623239
License: Public Domain

NORVELL, Justice.
I concur in the order reversing the judgment appealed from. The evidence indicates that the appellant at times since the marriage of the parties in 1933 was guilty of acts of cruel treatment toward the wife. However, appellee admits that she cohabited with her husband in January of 1951. By so doing, she condoned the acts of ■cruel treatment theretofore committed by the husband. Condonation, however, operates as a bar to a divorce only so long as “the injured party is * * * treated with conjugal kindness in the future, and, when not accorded this, the former acts of cruelty are revived.” Barta v. Barta, Tex.Civ.App., 283 S.W. 201; Tinnon v. Tinnon, Tex.Civ.App., 278 S.W. 288; Crittenden v. Crittenden, Tex.Civ.App., 214 S.W.2d 670; Thompson v. Thompson, Tex.Civ.App., 231 S.W.2d 496.
Upon the question of appellant’s failure to treat his wife with conjugal kindness, the record discloses nothing more than that the parties had a quarrel in February and that the suit was filed on the 26th day of said month. No details of the quarrel are related and it cannot be ascertained whether or not appellant was at fault. Appellee’s testimony is as follows:
“Q Now, did he try here lately to get you to come back to him? A No, because I told him I could not live with him under those conditions. When he was here in February we had a big fuss and I told him that I was going to file a suit for a divorce. That I could not live with him under those conditions. * * *
“Q * * * Over the period of time you were together, !how did you make out, you and Mr. Bippus? A Well, we had arguments. We had a .big fuss Christmas, and we had another one in January, and another one in February.
“Q In all those years, in that period of time, from 1938 down to 1951, say, during the first part of February, 1951, at the various times when he was here from time to time, how did you get along? Did you get along pleasantly or otherwise ? A No, it was always an argument.
“Q It was always an argument. Tell the Judge what you would argue about? A We would argue about first one thing and another.
“Q How did that affect you? A It made me very nervous. * * *
“Q How many times this year, since January, have you stayed with your husband down at Burton’s Tourist Courts? A January was the last time.
“Q How about February? A I didn’t stay with him in February, because I didn’t go out there. We had had a big quarrel. He asked me to go out there and I said positively no.”
The above quoted evidence, and that is all there is upon the point, is insufficient to show that appellant breached the condition of the condonement.