PROUSE VS. PROUSE (DIVORCE)

Statutes cited

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

Appeal by the wife (defendant) from a decree of divorce entered by default in the First Judicial District Court, Ormsby County, after her special demurrer challenging jurisdiction was overruled. The husband's complaint alleged he was a bona fide resident of Washoe County for more than six weeks; the wife contended the Ormsby County court lacked jurisdiction because the plaintiff resided in Washoe County (Second Judicial District). The court affirmed. Construing the amendment in Stats. 1931, c. 97, p. 161 (amending Section 9460 N.C.L.), the court held that a residence of six weeks in the state gives the district court of any county jurisdiction to entertain a divorce action. The amendment reduced the residence requirement from three months to six weeks and substituted the word "any" for "the" - changing "the district court of the county" to "the district court of any county" - a highly significant change reflecting the Legislature's steadily liberal tendency and a departure from a county-residence to a state-residence basis of jurisdiction. The Legislature is presumed to mean what it plainly expressed; and were the statute doubtful, the construction least likely to produce mischief would be adopted (Smith v. Southern Pacific Co., 50 Nev. 377, 262 P. 935; and see Davis v. Davis, 54 Nev. 267, 13 P.2d 1109). The wife's forum- and fee-shopping objections addressed legislative policy, not judicial concern, and the same situation could follow under her own construction. Affirmed.

In plain language

A husband filed for divorce in the First Judicial District Court in Ormsby County, alleging he had been a bona fide resident of Washoe County (a different county, in the Second Judicial District) for more than six weeks. The wife filed a special demurrer arguing the Ormsby County court had no jurisdiction because he lived in Washoe County. The demurrer was overruled, the wife defaulted, and a divorce decree was entered. She appealed on the jurisdiction question. The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed. It examined the 1931 amendment to the divorce statute, which both shortened the required residence from three months to six weeks and, crucially, changed the wording from the district court of 'the' county to the district court of 'any' county. The court held that under the amended statute, a six-week residence anywhere in the state gives the district court of any county jurisdiction to hear the divorce - the basis had shifted from county residence to state residence. The change from 'the' to 'any' was highly significant and reflected the Legislature's steadily more liberal approach. The wife's complaint that this lets a plaintiff shop for a favorable judge or a low filing fee was an argument about legislative policy, which is not the court's concern; and the same problem could arise under her reading anyway.