Price v. Perkins

Hammond, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The narrow issue in this case is whether legal services procured by a divorced mother for her infant son were necessaries for which the divorced father was liable to pay. The setting, the facts and the history of the case are described and recited in Price v. Price, 232 Md. 379 , in which the appeal was by the father from a decree which, among other things, ordered him, after the divorce, to pay counsel fees to a lawyer retained by the mother for legal services rendered the children of the divorced couple. It was there reiterated that if a divorced mother, or another, has furnished necessaries to her infant child the father of the child may be held liable to her or to the supplier, not in equity but in a suit at law “wherein he is entitled to have a jury pass upon questions of fact, including the inquiry as to whether the services were rendered, whether they were necessary, and whether the charge was a reasonable and proper one.” It was also reiterated that the term necessaries “may, under proper circumstances, extend to the services of an attorney, if reasonable and necessary for the protection or enforcement of the property rights of the minor or his personal protection, liberty or relief.” In the present case after the decision in Price v. Price, supra, the lawyer brought suit at law against the father to recover his charges for the services for which the chancellor had allowed him in the earlier case and the matter was tried before Judge Proctor, sitting without a jury.

It is conceded the services were rendered and that the charges therefor are reasonable. The sole issue is whether the services were necessaries for which the father is liable. Judge Proctor found that Richard, one of the infant sons of the Prices who ⁵⁰³ was in the custody of his mother, had become emotionally disturbed to the point where it was necessary to take him to the Phipps Clinic for examination and evaluation, and that this resulted in a course of out-patient treatment which was unsuccessful. The psychiatrist whom the mother had consulted recommended a school for emotionally disturbed children in Devon, Pennsylvania, known as the Devereux School.

Judge Proctor articulated his further findings in this wise: “At that time that was the only professional opinion so far as a possible solution to Richard’s