Barker v. Barker

137 So. 3d 16, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 0116, 2013 WL 6654381, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2614
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 18, 2013
DocketNo. 2013 CA 0116
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 137 So. 3d 16 (Barker v. Barker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barker v. Barker, 137 So. 3d 16, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 0116, 2013 WL 6654381, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2614 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

McDonald, J.

^Virginia Butler Barker Rangeley (Ms. Rangeley) joined the City Parish Employee Retirement System (CPERS) when she started working at the Baton Rouge City Police Department (the Department) on September 1,1978. Ms. Rangeley married Tony Barker on January 20, 1979. She continued to work for the Department until she resigned on March 11, 1985, and on April 15, 1985, CPERS refunded all the contributions made into her account.

Ms. Rangeley went back to work for the Department on October 14, 1986. She decided to buy back her prior service time, and on January 15, 1987, she signed an authorization for deductions from her paycheck for this purpose to be set aside, at the rate of $250.00 per month. The actual repurchase transaction would take place after the last payment was made.

Ms. Rangeley filed a petition for divorce on June 16, 1988, at which time she had repaid $3,750.00 of the repurchase amount. Ms. Rangeley continued to make the payments after the petition for divorce was filed, using $5,668.97 of her separate funds. Ms. Rangeley and Mr. Barker were divorced on April 2, 1990. Ms. Rangeley completed the last repurchase payment on May 15, 1990, at which time the repurchase transaction occurred.

Ms. Rangeley and Mr. Barker entered into a stipulated judgment, which was signed by the trial court on November 4, 1998. The judgment stated among other things that Mr. Barker “shall be awarded his interest in the pension of [Ms. Range-ley] from East Baton Rouge City Parish employees retirement system.”

On December 9, 2011, Mr. Barker filed a petition for injunctive relief. He alleged that Ms. Rangeley intended to retire in January 2012, and he sought an injunction to freeze his portion of her retirement benefits pending further orders of the court. On January 30, 2012, the trial court signed a stipulated judgment in | ¡¡which the parties agreed to a temporary benefit distribution to Mr. Barker, pending further orders of the court.

After a trial, in a September 18, 2012 judgment, the trial court found that all of the service time earned during the community, as well as all of the repurchased service time that had been earned during the community, was a community asset. [18]*18The judgment specified that Ms. Rangeley was entitled to reimbursement from Mr. Barker for one-half of her separate funds used to repurchase the prior service time, $2,834.50.

Ms. Rangeley filed a suspensive appeal from that judgment. This court issued a rule to show cause on April 1, 2013, noting that the judgment at issue appeared to be a non-appealable ruling. The parties were ordered to show cause by briefs whether the appeal “should or should not be dismissed.” The parties responded by joint memorandum, which urged that the ruling was appealable.

Thereafter, the rule to show cause was referred to the merits panel to which the appeal was assigned. Barker v. Barker, 2013 CA 0116 (LaApp. 1 Cir. 6/20/13). We note that the rule to show cause was issued based upon lack of specificity; the judgment declares that the repurchased service time earned during the community shall be divided according to the Sims1 formula, but does not apply the formula to provide a specific sum. However, we note that the judgment was not, technically speaking, based upon a demand for money in the usual sense; rather, Mr. Barker sought a ruling on the legal issue of whether he was entitled to a portion of the retirement credits earned during the community, but repurchased after the dissolution of the community. The judgment answers that question with complete certainty. Thus, we find that the judgment is final and appealable.

In her appeal, Ms. Rangeley makes the following assignments of error:

|41. The Trial Court erred in classifying as community property things which had been liquidated during the existence of the community, and for which the community received and spent cash, even though Appellant repurchased those things with her own money, after the divorce.
2. The Trial Court erred in classifying repurchased pension service credits based on the time of initial acquisition, rather than on the time [of] repurchase, or the source of funds used to repurchase the service credits.

Mr. Barker answered the appeal asking that, pursuant to La. C.C.P. art. 2133, the judgment be modified to provide for an amount of damages as a result of his loss of interest accrued on any portion of the retirement benefit awarded to him by the trial court, including both the DROP as well as the monthly service retirement allowance awarded in the trial court judgment, retroactive to the date of distribution of the retirement benefits accumulated in Ms. Rangeley’s DROP account and the monthly service retirement allowance by CPERS. He asked that the judgment be affirmed in all other respects'and that Ms. Rangeley be assessed with costs.

The facts of this case are not in dispute. Therefore, the issue is whether the district court correctly interpreted and applied the law. Appellate review of questions of law is simply review of whether the trial court was legally correct or legally incorrect. City of Baker School Bd. v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Bd., 99-2505 (La.App. 1 Cir. 2/18/00), 754 So.2d 291, 292. On legal issues, the appellate court gives no special weight to the findings of the trial court, but exercises its constitutional duty to review questions of law and renders judgment on the record. Northwest Louisiana Production Credit Ass’n v. State, Dept. of Revenue and Taxation, 98-1995 (La.App. 1 Cir. 11/5/99), 746 So.2d 280, 282; Bridges v. Smith, 01-2166 (La.App. 1 Cir. 9/27/02), 832 So.2d 307, [19]*19310, writ denied, 02-2951 (La.2/14/03), 886 So.2d 121.

| .^Louisiana Civil Code article 2338 provides:

The community property comprises: property acquired during the existence of the legal regime through the effort, skill, or industry of either spouse; property acquired with community things or with community and separate things, unless classified as separate property under Article 2341; property donated to the spouses jointly; natural and civil fruits of community property; damages awarded for loss or injury to a thing belonging to the community; and all other property not classified by law as separate property.

Louisiana Civil Code article 2341 provides:

The separate property of a spouse is his exclusively. It comprises: property acquired by a spouse prior to the establishment of a community property regime; property acquired by a spouse with separate things or with separate and community things when the value of the community things is inconsequential in comparison with the value of the separate things used; property acquired by a spouse by inheritance or donation to him individually; damages awarded to a spouse in an action for breach of contract against the other spouse or for the loss sustained as a result of fraud or bad faith in the management of community property by the other spouse; damages or other indemnity awarded to a spouse in connection with the management of his separate property; and things acquired by a spouse as a result of a voluntary partition of the community during the existence of a community property regime.

In its reasons for judgment, the trial court found:

Pursuant to La. C.C. art.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
137 So. 3d 16, 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 0116, 2013 WL 6654381, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2614, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barker-v-barker-lactapp-2013.