Westphal v. Westphal

[389]

PARKER, J.,

pro

tem.

The parties to this action are the same as in the case of

Westphal

v.

Westphal, ante,

p. 379 [10 Pac. (2d) 119], this day decided. The present appeal is from an order directing defendant Adolph R. Westphal to pay plaintiff certain sums of money to defray counsel fees and costs of suit. The order appealed from was made after answer and cross-complaint by defendant. Prior to the making of the order in the present appeal the court had made an order directing the payment of a monthly allowance from which order defendant Adolph R. Westphal had appealed. The order here under review directs defendant Adolph R. Westphal, who will hereinafter be referred to as the husband, to pay to Elinor Westphal, hereinafter referred to as the wife, sums of money as follows: $500 to enable her to compensate her counsel upon the husband’s appeal from the order directing the payment of support money; $1500 to enable her to compensate her counsel for his services to be rendered in defending plaintiff against the cross-complaint of the husband; $500 to enable the wife to defray the costs and expenses of the action.

Sufficient of the general situation appears in the case between the same parties this day decided. We deem it unnecessary to detail the nature of the cross-complaint or the charges therein contained. Suffice it to say that the cross-complaint does necessitate a defense and the pleadings throughout indicate a relentless vindictive battle in the offing, such only as may be expected in like cases.

The chief ground relied upon by appellant is that the wife is of sufficient means to conduct her own defense and bear the expense thereof from her own funds. We feel this point to have been fully disposed of in the appeal from the order allowing support. The plaintiff wife, as there shown, has some oil stocks of a value of $15,000, from which she derives an income of $500 per annum. It is not the law that she be compelled to exhaust the

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