Morris S. Stone v. Evelyn L. Stone

The appeal here is from a final decree dismissing with prejudice the appellants bill of complaint for divorce. The chronology of events in the lower court is as follows: the appellant, on August 23, 1956, filed a bill of complaint for divorce charging the appellee with habitual indulgence in a violent and ungovernable temper, and willful, obstinate and continued desertion for a period of one year. The appellee filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on October 2, 1956, which, in addition to the ground that the complaint failed to state a cause of action, included the grounds that the appellant was not a bona fide resident of the State of Florida, had not resided in the state for ninety days prior to bringing the action and that he and the appellee were residents of a state other than the State of Florida. The motion further set forth that the court lacked jurisdiction by reason of certain prior proceedings had between the parties in the Common Pleas Court of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The motion was brought on for hearing before the court, after due notice, on December 12, 1956, and during the hearing the court permitted the introduction in evidence of certain exemplified copies of the record of proceedings in the Ohio court over the objection of the appellants counsel. After considering the documents submitted in evidence, the motion to dismiss filed by the appellee, and argument of counsel for the respective parties, the court entered its final decree on December 17, 1956, dismissing the cause upon the authority of Carducci v. Carducci, Fla.1955, 82 So.2d 360.