Spalding County Commissioners v. Tarver

James Tarver was a deputy sheriff in Spalding County, Georgia (the county) (defendant). James and Mary Tarver (plaintiff) were married in November of 1963 and divorced in September of 1964. Nine days after James and Mary divorced, James married Patricia Jo Tarver. In April of 1966, during James’s purported marriage to Patricia Jo, Mary gave birth to Barry Tarver (plaintiff), James’s child. James and Patricia Jo divorced in 1968 but remarried in 1969 and divorced again in 1974. James then married and divorced another woman before marrying Revia Tarver (plaintiff) in 1976 and divorcing Revia in 1979. Revia claimed that she and James had a common-law marriage that existed after their divorce. James and Revia lived together until 1980, when James was killed in the course of his employment with the county. Revia sought workers’-compensation dependency benefits as James’s common-law spouse. Mary sought dependency benefits for James’s minor son, Barry, as Barry’s guardian. At a hearing before an administrative-law judge (ALJ) on the benefits applications, Mary presented evidence that James and Mary had entered a common-law marriage in the nine days between Mary’s divorce from James and James’s marriage to Patricia Jo. Mary’s evidence included testimony from several witnesses who indicated that James and Mary lived together and held themselves out as husband and wife. The ALJ ultimately awarded benefits to Barry and denied Revia’s claim. The ALJ concluded that James and Mary had a common-law marriage that was never dissolved by divorce, which rendered all of James’s subsequent marriages invalid. The state workers’-compensation board adopted the ALJ’s award, but a state superior court reversed on appeal and remanded the case after finding that there was no evidence that James and Mary had a common-law marriage. The Spalding County commissioners and Revia cross-appealed to the Georgia Court of Appeals.