Cline v. Cline

ALLYN, J.,

pro tem.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment denying her a divorce on her complaint for cruelty, granting defendant a decree upon the grounds of cruelty upon his cross-complaint and setting aside the major portion of the property involved to defendant as his separate property.

No useful purpose will be served by setting forth the evidence in the ease on the charges and countercharges of cruelty. It is sufficient to say that there is ample evidence in the record to support the findings of the trial court in favor of the defendant. No hard and fast rule can be established as to what particular facts must be alleged and proved to justify a finding that a spouse has undergone grievous mental suffering. A correct decision must depend upon the sound sense of justice of the trial court. It is a question of fact to be deduced from all the circumstances of each case

(Barnes

v.

Barnes,

95 Cal. 171 [30 Pac. 298, 16 L. R. A. 660];

Shaw

v.

Shaw,

122 Cal. App. 172 [9 Pac. (2d) 876]).

There is no substantial controversy as to the facts on the issue of property rights. At the time of the marriage of the parties in 1917 the defendant owned an undivided one-half interest in the New River Land and Cattle Com

[628]

pany, of Phoenix, Arizona, at one time valued at more than $50,000, a one-half interest in an alfalfa ranch, and several lots of city property. Through the years following the marriage defendant acquired the entire cattle business through purchase by money raised through borrowing and through the sale of cattle and city lots and also divided his interest in the alfalfa ranch, securing some 80 acres thereof in absolute ownership. The cattle ranged in number from about 3,500 head to 1800 at the time of the sale of defendant’s cattle interests, the fluctuation being caused by the natural increase of the herd and by decrease through sale and starvation brought about by the drought of 1925 and 1926. Prior to the sale of the Arizona properties plaintiff filed a desert claim on public land adjoining defendant’s ranch, which claim was improved to some extent, all of the costs of filing and improvement being paid by the defendant out of the ranch moneys. In 1927 the defendant sold all of his Arizona holdings, netting some $40,000. As a part of the transaction plaintiff relinquished her desert claim to the purchaser, it being included in the general purchase price.