Court Opinion

ID: 9688411
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 17:46:27.727163+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:38.492986
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. Property division here was not only unequal and disparate, it was also inequitable. Wife awarded 70% of property; husband awarded 30% of property. Finding of Fact V finds: “That virtually all of the assets of the parties were accumulated during the course of the parties marriage.” Therefore, I am convinced that a mistake has been made and the findings of fact and conclusions of law are clearly erroneous. Wiggins v. Shewmake, 374 N.W.2d 111 (S.D.1985).
There is no medical evidence, in this record, to support a finding of this lady’s alleged disability. In fact, testimony reflects that she refused to obey the advice of her doctors. She was supposed to return after October 24, 1986, for a “recheck” with Dr. Suga, but she never returned. Dr. Suga was a specialist to whom she was referred. Plaintiff’s Exhibit 10, his office notes, reveal: “Sensory exam today is subjectively normal.” Also, he noted: “She has almost full pronation and full supination.” Dr. Johnson, because of her complaints on January 21, 1986, reviewed her X-rays, which noted: “Three views of the elbow show no significant abnormalities.” Because of her complaints, Dr. Allen thought she should have a neurological consultation. Dr. Allen’s letter of January 23, 1986, to Dr. Johnson reflected that he could find “no changes in circulation” back on February 13, 1985. He did find “some tenderness over the lateral sulcus at the elbow.” Dr. Allen, in said letter, further indicated that there was no noticeable swelling and that she had “some evidence of nerve trauma and tendonitis.” For an entire year lacking a few days, she did not return to Dr. Allen at the Bartron Clinic at Watertown. She was complaining to Dr. Allen; she had some ultrasound treatments with a chiropractor for the past year; in other words, she left his care. On January 21, 1986, Dr. Allen found some weakness of grasp and tenderness about the right elbow, but could find no other abnormality. He was “at a loss as to what further therapy might be instituted” so he referred her to Dr. Johnson in Sioux Falls. Dr. Johnson’s report of February 10, 1986, indicates: “I believe that the tingling and dysesthesia that she has may be related to very early reflex sympathetic dystrophy_” (Emphasis added.) He also stated: “Her EMG studies are entirely negative by Dr. Cho.” These reports do not satisfy any diagnosis of a permanent injury, established as of a reasonable medical probability. Thomas v. St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, 283 N.W.2d 254, 258 (S.D.1979). Dr. D. Cho, M.D., saw and examined plaintiff. Essentially, he could find absolutely nothing wrong except her complaints plus a mild weakness of one finger. His electrophysiological interpretation is “[n]ormal conduction of the median and ulnar (both motor and sensory) nerves in right upper extremity”; “[n]or-mal F-loop across the right brachial plexus”; “[njormal EMG of the right upper extremity.” Dr. Cho concluded that there was no scientific evidence to support any nerve lesion to account for her symptoms and recommended “Mobilization exercise following heat (hot pack or paraffin wax) might benefit this patient.” There is no medical testimony to establish that she is unable to work.* Both parties had ex*754tremely limited income, immediately before trial, and thus the trial court did not award alimony.
If we intend, in South Dakota, to continue to go about being totally unfair to men in divorce cases, we should just, out and out, say so. The issue here is fairness. This case was not decided fairly, as it is a lopsided division of property (the wife awarded two and one-half times more than the husband). The trial court sits as a judge in equity. He is supposed to do equity. Equity would demand an approximate equal division of the property accumulated by these parties. I would reverse.

 Notwithstanding this, the trial court reflects on Finding of Fact VIII that wife cannot return to her previous employment or sell Mary Kay products. This finding of fact is clearly erroneous. Majority opinion's attempt to become a doctor, via Lawyers’ Medical Cyclopedia, is unsound in fact; it amounts to a medical diagnosis in this Court by resorting to a medical text. Dr. Suga stated: ‘‘[S]he is prone to reflex sympathetic dystrophy and I would agree with this." He did not say she had it. The trial court did not find that she had it.