168 Misc. 123 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1938
By this action plaintiff seeks to enjoin the defendant from further prosecuting an action of divorce in Mexico and from instituting any action for divorce outside of the State of New York. The facts are as follows:
The parties hereto were married some time in 1918 in the State of Ohio and, except for a few months immediately following their marriage, have resided in this State. Ever since some time in 1923 they have been living separate and apart. In February of 1927 the defendant instituted an action for divorce in the State of New Jersey which resulted in a dismissal of the complaint on the merits. Later in the same year the defendant obtained a judgment of separation
On behalf of the defendant it is argued that an injunction should not issue to protect a legal right that is lacking in substance; that, in view of the judgment of separation theretofore obtained by the defendant, the plaintiff’s marital rights are such that they will not be seriously affected by a foreign decree of divorce based upon already adjudicated grounds, particularly when such foreign decree would be a nullity in this State. The defendant’s counsel is frank to admit that the foreign decree is sought to “ give some color of validity to a marriage contracted by him elsewhere.”
The plaintiff’s marital status persists despite the outstanding judgment of separation. If the defendant’s argument be carried to its logical conclusion, there would be no distinction between a separation and a divorce, for in either event the plaintiff’s marital rights would suffer practical destruction. To deprive the plaintiff of her status by fraudulent resort to a foreign jurisdiction; to impose upon her the burden of defending her rights in any part of the country which the defendant may select as a forum; to cast upon her the suspicion that she was guilty of misconduct justifying a divorce in this State, all point to a direct and immediate invasion of her rights, to protect which equity will award injunctive relief. (Greenberg v. Greenberg, 218 App. Div. 104; Johnson v. Johnson, 146 Misc. 93; Gwathmey v. Gwathmey, 116 id. 85; affd., 201 App. Div. 843.)
Settle findings and judgment accordingly on notice.