Orville McDavid Lister v. Judy Lynette Lister
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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
NO. 2005-CA-00494-COA
ORVILLE MCDAVID LISTER
APPELLANT
v.
JUDY LYNETTE LISTER
DATE OF JUDGMENT:
TRIAL JUDGE:
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED:
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT:
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE:
NATURE OF THE CASE:
TRIAL COURT DISPOSITION:
DISPOSITION:
MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED:
MANDATE ISSUED:
APPELLEE
02/11/2005
HON. JAYE A. BRADLEY
JACKSON COUNTY CHANCERY COURT
GARY L. ROBERTS
MICHAEL V. RATLIFF
EARL L. DENHAM
CIVIL - DOMESTIC RELATIONS
DIVORCE GRANTED ON THE GROUND OF
ADULTERY
AFFIRMED - 05/06/2008
BEFORE KING, C.J., IRVING AND CHANDLER, JJ.
CHANDLER, J., FOR THE COURT:
¶1.
On February 11, 2005, the Chancery Court of Jackson County entered a final judgment
granting a divorce to Judy Lynette Lister on the ground of uncondoned adultery by her husband,
Orville McDavid Lister. The judgment also provided for the equitable distribution of the marital
assets between the parties. Aggrieved by the chancellor’s judgment of divorce, Orville appeals. He
raises a single issue: whether the chancellor erred in granting Judy a divorce based on the ground
of adultery.
¶2.
Finding no error, we affirm.
FACTS
¶3.
Judy and Orville, both Mississippi residents, married on November 18, 1982. They remained
together for almost eighteen years until they separated on February 1, 2000. They had no children
as a result of their marriage, but each of them had children from prior marriages. All of those
children were emancipated at the time of trial, so there was no issue of custody.
¶4.
The couple moved to Petal, Mississippi, and in 1986, Orville established and incorporated
Bowie River Forest Products, Inc. He was the sole shareholder of the corporation. When the timber
industry began to decline, Orville set up Bowie River Construction Company and went into the
construction business. Orville incorporated Bowie River Construction in 1994 as a wholly owned
subsidiary of Bowie River Forest Products (Bowie River). Judy worked for the company as a
secretary, bookkeeper, and office manager.
¶5.
Judy filed for divorce on March 10, 2000, in the Chancery Court of Jackson County, citing
Orville’s adultery with his new secretary, Sheila Walters, as her ground for divorce. Thereafter, the
chancellor held a hearing on temporary support and entered a temporary order. The order granted
Judy temporary use and possession of one of the couple’s homes in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and
the chancellor ordered Orville to reinstate Judy’s net pay of $700 per week. The order also required
Orville to pay the mortgages on the couple’s homes, and Orville had to pay Judy an additional $500
per month, which represented one-half of the income from a rental contract to which Judy was a
party.
¶6.
The trial was held from June 4, 2002, until June 6, 2002, and then from February 10, 2003,
through February 12, 2003. Regarding the adultery, each of the parties testified, along with Sheila
and her husband. A large portion of the trial consisted of testimony concerning the finances of
Orville and Bowie River.
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¶7.
In January 1999, Orville hired Sheila as a receptionist for Bowie River. At the time, Sheila
was married to Joseph Walters, and they had two children. Judy became suspicious that Orville and
Sheila were having an affair. Judy said that Orville and Sheila spent an excessive amount of time
together and that they would often be absent from the office at the same time. In the course of her
bookkeeping, Judy also discovered that Orville had given Sheila $2,500. Judy ordered Sheila to
return the money, and when she did so, Judy terminated her.
¶8.
Orville was out of town at the time Judy fired Sheila. When he returned and found out what
Judy had done, he reinstated Sheila to her position, and he terminated Judy. Orville also moved
Sheila into Judy’s office and gave her Judy’s cell phone.
¶9.
The marital home was located on the same land as the Bowie River offices. Also located on
that land were two mobile homes. While Judy and Orville were together, Judy’s daughter lived in
one of those mobile homes, and Judy’s mother lived in the other. Judy claimed that after she moved
to Ocean Springs, Orville forced her daughter and her mother to move out of the Bowie River
mobile homes. Orville denied that he forced them to move. Nevertheless, shortly after Judy’s
daughter moved out, Sheila and her two children moved into the mobile home nearest to the marital
home. Another Bowie River employee moved into the second mobile home.
¶10.
After Judy left, Orville also employed Sheila’s mother as a housekeeper to cook for him and
to clean his home. Sheila admitted that she and her children had eaten at Orville’s house when her
mother cooked.
¶11.
Judy additionally put into evidence a recorded conversation she had with Orville. In that
conversation, Orville told Judy, “All I want is a damn divorce. . . . I do not love you anymore, and
I want a damn divorce.”
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¶12.
Judy responded, “You’re the one who started all of it. You are the one who crossed that line,
Orville. You broke our marriage vows.”
¶13.
In response, Orville said, “Hey, I’m going to do more than that. You are going to have a
broke ass before I am through. . . . You ain’t going to have nothing. You ain’t going to have a pot
to piss in or a window to throw it out of, and I ain’t either.” When questioned at trial whether he
also said that Judy and her mother needed to move out so he could move in another woman, Orville
said he made the comment in the heat of an argument. He claimed he was just trying to “shut them
up or something.”
¶14.
Sheila’s husband, Joseph,1 initially tried to get a job with Bowie River before Sheila, but the
corporation did not hire him. He testified that Orville and Sheila spent an excessive amount of time
together, more than most married people. He also pointed out that Orville let her drive company
vehicles, and Orville gave her a gas card. He said Sheila would constantly go over to Orville’s
house to eat with him or to clean his house, and she would often call someone late at night.
According to Joseph, shortly after Sheila began working at Bowie River, she told him she wanted
to quit the job because Orville was sexually harassing her. Instead, Joseph said Orville gave Sheila
$500 and a raise to keep her from quitting.
¶15.
After Joseph and Sheila separated, Joseph said Sheila went and stayed at Orville’s house for
five days in a row. He said he spent five days watching Sheila come and go from Orville’s house.
When cross-examined about the incident, he said he did not remember the exact date, but he said
it was two or three weeks after she had left him. He claimed the private investigator who was with
him would know the exact dates.
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Joseph had filed for divorce from Sheila, but they were still married at the time of Judy and
Orville’s trial.
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¶16.
Joseph’s mother, Myrtis Walters, also testified that the $500 that Sheila received was to keep
Sheila from quitting her job because of Orville’s sexual harassment. Furthermore, Myrtis said she
observed Sheila riding on motorcycles with Orville, and she saw them shopping for groceries
together.
¶17.
Both Orville and Sheila denied having any type of sexual relationship. They also denied that
Sheila had ever spent the night in the Listers’ marital home. They admitted taking trips together,
including motorcycle rallies in Daytona, Florida and a shopping trip to New York City. However,
they maintained that other Bowie River employees would accompany them on those trips. Orville
and Sheila also admitted that Orville allowed Sheila to use a company gas card and to drive various
vehicles, including a Harley Davidson model Ford F-150 and a Ford Crown Victoria. Once again,
however, Orville said that other Bowie River employees enjoyed similar privileges, and the vehicles
were owned by the company.
¶18.
Despite his recorded statements, Orville claimed that he did not want a divorce. He said he
wanted to remain married to Judy, and he said she was welcome to come home and work for Bowie
River again. Nevertheless, he said he was not willing to remove Sheila from her position at Bowie
River, nor was he willing to stop riding motorcycles with her.
¶19.
Both parties rested, but before the chancellor entered a judgment, Judy filed a motion to
reopen the record. In the motion, she alleged that Orville had concealed financial information during
the trial. The chancellor heard testimony and argument concerning the motion, after which she
granted the motion to reopen the record. The chancellor appointed Koerber Turner PLLC to perform
a forensic accounting of Bowie River and to locate its assets. Jim Koerber, of Koerber Turner, later
testified at a hearing with regard to his findings. Through his investigation, he discovered bank
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accounts and assets that Orville had not disclosed.2 He also discovered that Orville had lost large
amounts of unreported money at the casinos.
¶20.
After the chancellor heard the additional testimony, she entered her findings of fact and
conclusions of law. The chancellor then entered a final judgment of divorce, granting Judy a divorce
on the ground of uncondoned adultery. The judgment also provided for the equitable distribution
of the marital assets.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶21.
We grant the chancellor much discretion in our review of a domestic relations case. Steiner
v. Steiner, 788 So. 2d 771, 777 (¶18) (Miss. 2001). Our scope of review in such a case is limited
by the substantial evidence/manifest error rule. Mizell v. Mizell, 708 So. 2d 55, 59 (¶12) (Miss.
1998). We will not disturb a chancellor’s findings unless manifestly wrong, clearly erroneous, or
an erroneous legal standard was applied. Id. at 59 (¶13).
LAW AND ANALYSIS
¶22.
The sole issue Orville raises on appeal is whether the chancellor erred in granting Judy a
divorce on the ground of adultery. He argues that Judy did not prove adultery by clear and
convincing evidence; therefore, the chancellor erred in granting the divorce. Orville argues that the
judgment granting divorce should be reversed, and the corresponding equitable division of assets
should, therefore, be set aside. Besides Orville’s claim that the division of assets should be set aside
because the divorce was improper, he does not take issue with the chancellor’s property division.
¶23.
A party seeking a divorce on the ground of adultery must prove the adultery by clear and
convincing evidence. McAdory v. McAdory, 608 So. 2d 695, 699 (Miss. 1992) (quoting Dillon v.
Dillon, 498 So. 2d 328, 329 (Miss. 1986)). The party seeking the divorce may establish adultery by
2
Koerber testified that one of the undisclosed accounts had a balance of more than $1.5
million at one point in time.
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showing “an adulterous inclination coupled with an opportunity to consummate the inclination.”
Reynolds v. Reynolds, 755 So. 2d 467, 469 (¶7) (Miss. Ct. App. 1999) (citing Holden v. FrasherHolden, 680 So. 2d 795, 798 (Miss. 1996)). “The inclination may be proven by showing either an
infatuation with a particular person or a general adulterous propensity.” Id. The chancellor must
set forth specific findings of fact and conclusions of law with regard to an allegation of adultery.
Id.
¶24.
Direct evidence is not necessary to prove adultery. The supreme court has stated the
following in regard to such allegations of adultery:
Where the accusing spouse relies on circumstantial evidence to support allegations
of infidelity, the accuser carries a heavy burden of convincing the trier of fact of the
accused adulterer's guilt through logical evidence tending to prove the allegation that
is inconsistent with a reasonable theory of innocence; however, the proof need not
be beyond a reasonable doubt, and direct evidence is not required given the
inherently secretive nature of adulterous relationships.
Id. (citing Owen v. Gerity, 422 So. 2d 284, 287 (Miss. 1982)).
¶25.
Nevertheless, the Court may reverse a divorce decree based on adultery when the evidence
is lacking. See McAdory, 608 So. 2d at 701; see also Spence v. Spence, 930 So. 2d 415, 418-19
(¶¶15-16) (Miss. Ct. App. 2005)). In reversing a chancellor’s judgment granting divorce, the
supreme court reiterated that “‘[t]rifles light as air’ may be sufficient to convince the jealous or the
suspicious, but they do not impress the court with the same degree of credulity. Before accepting
charges so seriously affecting the character of a person, the evidence must be clear and convincing.”
McAdory, 608 So. 2d at 701 (quoting Banks v. Banks, 118 Miss. 783, 788, 79 So. 841, 842 (1918)).
¶26.
Orville argues that under this Court’s decision in Spence, the evidence presented by Judy was
not clear and convincing in nature. He, therefore, argues that it was manifest error for the chancellor
to grant a divorce based on adultery.
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¶27.
The evidence presented here is distinguishable from that in Spence. In Spence, this Court
found that most of the evidence suggested that the husband and his alleged mistress were just close
friends. Spence, 930 So. 2d at 419 (¶16). Furthermore, we found the testimony that the husband
spent the night at the alleged mistress’s apartment to be unfounded because the witness said she saw
the husband’s car parked next to the alleged mistress’s car, but her neighbor’s daughter drove the
exact same type of vehicle as the husband. Id. at (¶15).
¶28.
In the present case, the chancellor found that the testimony of several witnesses established
by clear and convincing evidence the existence of an adulterous relationship between Orville and
Sheila. There was no evidence tending to show that Orville had an adulterous nature, but there was
evidence of an infatuation with Sheila. Supporting the chancellor’s finding was the testimony of
Sheila’s husband, Joseph, who said he had no doubt that Sheila had committed adultery. Joseph said
Sheila began staying at Orville’s house shortly after she left him. Joseph claimed he saw Sheila
staying at Orville’s house five days in a row.
¶29.
There is no requirement that the adultery precede the spouses’ separation. Curtis v. Curtis,
796 So. 2d 1044, 1051 (¶31) (Miss. Ct. App. 2001) (quoting Talbert v. Talbert, 759 So. 2d 1105,
1110-111 (¶16) (Miss. 1999)). Accordingly, it was proper for the chancellor to consider Joseph’s
testimony concerning Orville and Sheila’s actions after Judy left the marital home.
¶30.
Judy testified that Orville and Sheila spent a lot of time together and would often be absent
from the office at the same time. Judy also took issue with the fact that Orville gave Sheila money,
which was something Sheila never told her husband.
¶31.
Both Orville and Sheila denied any adulterous relationship. Orville told Judy that he did not
love her anymore and that he wanted a divorce. He allowed Sheila to move into the mobile home
next to his own house shortly after Judy left him, and he even loaned her money to pay for her
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divorce from Joseph. Orville said the vehicles that Sheila drove were company vehicles, but his
personal assets were so intertwined with those of Bowie River that they might as well have been
personal vehicles. Sheila admitted that she rode on the motorcycle with Orville, and they took long
trips together.
¶32.
As the fact-finder, it was the chancellor’s duty to judge the credibility of the witnesses.
Owen v. Owen, 928 So. 2d 156, 168 (¶35) (Miss. 2006) (quoting Simmons v. Jaggers, 914 So. 2d
693, 697 (¶20) (Miss. 2005)). In considering Orville’s denial of any sexual relationship, the
chancellor certainly could have considered the fact that Orville failed to disclose a significant
amount of assets when he turned over Bowie River’s financial records.
¶33.
Taking into account the discretion we grant to the chancellor’s findings, when reviewing the
testimony presented in this case, we find no error in the chancellor’s decision to enter a divorce on
the ground of adultery. Despite his denial of any sexual relationship with Sheila, the facts were
sufficient to establish that Orville had an infatuation with her sufficient to be an adulterous
inclination. There was also sufficient testimony that Orville and Sheila had opportunities to
consummate that inclination. We find this issue is without merit; therefore, we affirm the
chancellor’s judgment of divorce.
¶34. THE JUDGMENT OF THE CHANCERY COURT OF JACKSON COUNTY IS
AFFIRMED. ALL COSTS OF THIS APPEAL ARE ASSESSED TO THE APPELLANT.
KING, C.J., LEE AND MYERS, P.JJ., IRVING, GRIFFIS, BARNES, ISHEE,
ROBERTS AND CARLTON, JJ., CONCUR.
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