Nicholson v. Nicholson

SLOSS, J.

In this action, brought to annul a marriage, the defendant defaulted. After hearing the testimony adduced by the plaintiff, the court concluded that a case had not been made out, and entered judgment denying the relief sought. The plaintiff made a motion for a new trial, which was denied, and she now appeals from the order denying such motion.

The complaint alleged, as ground for annulment: “That the consent of the plaintiff to marry the defendant was obtained by force, in this, that while the plaintiff was under the influence of narcotics administered at the solicitation and request of the defendant, the defendant threatened to criminally expose a friend of the plaintiff’s and thus induced the plaintiff to consent to said marriage; that immediately thereafter, and while the plaintiff was still in a dazed and obfuscated state of mind, the defendant took the plaintiff into a law office, where the marriage ceremony was performed; that the plaintiff’s mind was so dazed that she did not realize what was being done or that she was really marrying the defendant.”

The trial court made findings of fact, to the effect that the consent of the plaintiff to many defendant was not obtained by force in any way; that plaintiff was not under the influence of narcotics; that she was not in a dazed or obfuscated state of mind when she was married; that her mind was not so dazed that she did not realize what was being done, or that she was really marrying the defendant, but she did know that she was marrying him, and she did marry him. The findings state further that the defendant did threaten to expose a friend of plaintiff’s, to wit, one Edwards, who was a fugitive from justice after conviction of crime. The defendant, according to the findings, told the plaintiff that unless she married Mm he would cause said Edwards to be brought back for further proceedings; “but the plaintiff knew exactly what she was doing when she married the defendant, and the principal thing that caused her to worry was the fact that two days before she was married, she was put out of her room at the Victoria Hotel for nonpayment of her bill for two

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months, and the defendant paid her bill; he then continued to try to persuade her to marry him, and she consented.”

Granting that the findings, in so far as they go beyond the issues tendered by the complaint, could not, on an appeal from the judgment, be looked to as affording support for such judgment, they do, nevertheless, serve to illustrate the impression produced by the testimony on the mind of the learned trial judge, and thus to aid in determining whether the plaintiff can maintain her contention that the evidence was such as to require the granting of the relief demanded by her.