Court Opinion

ID: 9762833
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:32:00.849516+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:37.797370
License: Public Domain

Paul Ward,' Associate Justice, dissenting. I feel so strongly that the majority is wrong and that it has perpetrated such a terrible injustice on a fine patriotic young father that it is difficult for me to calmly and dispassionately phrase this dissent. The only saving feature I can see about the opinion is that it cites no legal precedent, so there is hope it won’t he used in the fntnre to deprive some other person of his own flesh and blood. The salient, undisputed, and almost unbelievable facts supporting the majority are these: David Wilson, Jr., secured a divorce from his first wife in 1952, and he was awarded the legal custody of his 2-year-old daughter, Lee Irene, who is the subject of this litigation. David was in the service of the United States Army overseas so he permitted his father and mother to take care of Lee Irene. When David returned from overseas in early 1955 he married his present wife with whom he has been living happily ever since. Six months later, after David returned from overseas the second time, he and his wife took Lee Irene to their home in Memphis. A few months later he, his wife, and Lee Irene moved to their present home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he had permanent employment with the Douglas Aircraft Company. There they lived in peace and happiness for nearly two years and until May 30', 1957, when they graciously and voluntarily took Lee Irene for a day’s visit with her paternal grandparents in Crawford County, Arkansas. The next day when David and his wife went to pick up Lee Irene for the trip hack to Tulsa, instead of getting her, David got a lick on the head and his wife got knocked to the floor. Instead of David taking his little girl by force as many a person might have done under the same circumstances, he looked to the law of the land for redress, no doubt with confidence and assurance. He filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to obtain custody of his child. Appel-lees, strangely, filed no answer and no written petition for custody. The ONLY reasons ever assigned by appellees for wanting to deprive David of his 7-year-old child was that she was not being properly treatecl [in her own father’s home] and was not being fed properly. I realize this sounds ridiculous and unbelievable but it is the record. I have carefully read the testimony to support the above alleged reasons for wanting to deprive David of the custody of his child and, in my opinion, it boils down to what is summarized below. As to Mistreatment. The proof showing Lee Irene was not treated right in the home of her father was based entirely on what the 7-year-old child told her grandparents, and the majority properly say this evidence was not admissible. Unless I have been laboring under a gross misapprehension of the law during the forty years I have been practicing and trying to interpret it, that disposes of the charge of mistreatment. As to Not Being Fed Properly. The testimony to substantiate this charge falls under three categories. (a) Seven neighbors, who hadn’t seen the child in two years or more and who had never been in David’s home, said the girl was not as fat as she once was. (b) Four pictures were introduced in evidence showing Lee Irene to be rather chubby when she lived with her grandparents. There are no pictures showing what she looks like now. (c) Appellees testified to what the little girl had told them. To offset the above, David and his wife both said they loved Lee Irene, that they wanted to raise her in their home, and that they and Lee Irene had plenty to eat. David testified his doctor examined Lee Irene before the trial and it was his opinion that there was nothing wrong with her. The father offered to show by another doctor that she was normal in respect to height and weight. The only reason assigned by the majority for depriving David of his child was the rule “that we will not disturb the findings of the Chancellor unless they are clearly against the preponderance of the evidence.” My answer to the application of this rule is that under such a process of reasoning the sacred ties of any family with small children are hereafter jeopardized in the jurisdiction of Arkansas. In fact no family in any state is safe any more if they permit one of their children to visit friends in Arkansas for only a day. Giving the majority the benefit of the doubt, and assuming they meant to apply the oft used rule ‘ ‘ for the best interest of the child, ’ ’ still the opinion is legally indefensible. I have diligently searched our decisions dealing with this rule and find that it was never used independently as a criterion to determine custody. The rule is applicable only to tip the scale when the issue is otherwise in doubt. This is shown by our numerous decisions. See: Kimberling v. Rogers, 227 Ark. 221, 297 S. W. 2d 772; Roberts v. Roberts, 226 Ark. 194, 288 S. W. 2d 948; Reavers v. Smith, 223 Ark. 43, 264 S. W. 2d 617; Self v. Self, 222 Ark. 82, 257 S. W. 2d 281; Cooke v. Gentry, 220 Ark. 785, 249 S. W. 2d 848; Sage v. Sage, 219 Ark. 853, 245 S. W. 2d 398; Vengas v. Mascorro, 216 Ark. 173, 224 S. W. 2d 532; Smith v. Smith, 215 Ark. 862, 223 S. W. 2d 772; Pastor v. Sharp, 212 Ark. 328, 205 S. W. 2d 855; Adams v. Adams, 224 Ark. 550, 274 S. W. 2d 771; Hydrick v. Hydrick, 224 Ark. 712, 275 S. W. 2d 878; Tidwell v. Tidwell, 224 Ark. 819, 276 S. W. 2d 697; Cushman v. Lone, 224 Ark. 934, 277 S. W. 2d 72; Harris v. Gillihan, 226 Ark. 19, 287 S. W. 2d 569, and Coder v. Coder, 226 Ark. 478, 290 S. W. 2d 628. In the case under consideration here the grandparents do not rely on any deep attachment they have formed for the child or the child for them, they do not even intimate that their son and his wife are not fitted morally or financially to have the custody of Lee Irene, and they do not pretend that she had been abandoned by her father and stepmother. They merely feel, as probably many grandparents do at times, that the child would be better off in their custody. I repeat, measured by the majority view, that every father [and mother] stands in jeopardy of losing his most sacred, G-od-given possession — his own children. The very thought of such a thing is so contrary to every enlightened concept of the laws of God and man that it is alarming to know this court would approve it. The majority, perhaps with an unconscious sense of uneasiness, seemingly seek to lessen the blow to Lee Irene’s father by pointing out they are only approving a temporary order of the Chancery Court. I call attention to this: The court gave the child to appellees for six months and forever unless it changes its order. That, no doubt, sounds pretty final to David. Moreover every order dealing with the custody of children is treated under the law of this state as final, otherwise this appeal could not have been taken.