Boraggina v. Boraggina, Unpublished Decision (3-30-2001)

CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 30, 2001
DocketCourt of Appeals No. L-99-1272, L-99-1409, Trial Court No. DR-94-0945.
StatusUnpublished

This text of Boraggina v. Boraggina, Unpublished Decision (3-30-2001) (Boraggina v. Boraggina, Unpublished Decision (3-30-2001)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boraggina v. Boraggina, Unpublished Decision (3-30-2001), (Ohio Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY These consolidated appeals are before the court from judgments of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division, which ruled on various post-divorce motions filed by plaintiff-appellee, Jean M. Boraggina, and defendant-appellant, Nicholas V. Boraggina. From those judgments, appellant now raises the following assignments of error:

"ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE:

THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION AND ERRED TO THE PREJUDICE OF APPELLANT WHEN IT DETERMINED THAT IT LACKED JURISDICTION TO CONSIDER APPELLANT'S MARCH, 1996 MOTION TO MODIFY CHILD SUPPORT AND DISMISSED THE MOTION.

"ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER TWO:

THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION AND ERRED TO THE PREJUDICE OF APPELLANT WHEN IT DISMISSED APPELLANT'S SEPTEMBER, 1996 MOTION TO MODIFY CHILD SUPPORT.

"ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER THREE:

THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION AND ERRED TO THE PREJUDICE OF APPELLANT WHEN IT PROCEEDED ONLY ON APPELLEE'S MOTION TO SHOW CAUSE.

"ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER FOUR:

THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION AND ERRED TO THE PREJUDICE OF APPELLANT WHEN IT AWARDED APPELLEE ATTORNEY FEES IN DISREGARD OF THE STATUTE, THE LOCAL RULE AND ESTABLISHED CRITERIA.

"ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER FIVE:

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED AS A MATTER OF LAW TO THE PREJUDICE OF APPELLANT WHEN IT IGNORED THE JOINT STIPULATIONS SUBMITTED BY THE PARTIES FOR THE RESOLUTION OF THEIR CONTROVERSY."

On June 23, 1995, a final judgment entry of divorce was journalized in the court below, which approved the parties' settlement agreement with respect to the parties' rights and interests arising out of and relating to the division of property, spousal support, allocation of parental rights and responsibilities with regard to the parties' five children, child support, and the payment of marital obligations and expenses of the divorce proceedings. Pursuant to that judgment entry, appellee was named the residential parent and legal custodian of all five children and appellant was granted visitation and companionship with the children in accordance with the court schedule. The judgment entry then provided as follows:

"IT IS FURTHER ORDERED in accordance with the child support guidelines attached hereto as Exhibit D and further based upon an agreed upon income of $432,500.00 for the year 1995 and with the further stipulation that there shall be no child support modification by either party until the terms of the present contract with St. Charles expires.

"IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the defendant shall pay to the plaintiff the sum of Fifteen Hundred and no/100 ($1,500.00) per month per child as and for child support plus poundage of two percent (2%) payable via a wage withholding from defendant's monthly pay in the amount of Seven Thousand Five Hundred and no/100 ($7,500.00) plus two percent (2%) commencing on April 15, 1995 and the first day of each and every month thereafter.

"* * *

"IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the child support amount set is based on a compromised income figure by the defendant from St. Charles Hospital in the approximate [sic] of $432,500.00, and that neither party can petition the Court for any modification upward or downward of this child support order unless and until the contract that the defendant has with St. Charles Hospital expires.

"IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that in addition to defendant/obligor providing health insurance coverage for the children, defendant shall assume and pay all extraordinary medical, dental, optical, hospital, pharmaceutical, surgical, psychological, psychiatric and/or orthodontic bills not covered by said insurance coverage as defined by the Court's schedule which is attached hereto and incorporated herein as `Exhibit C.'" (Emphasis in original)

In addition to the child support matters, the settlement agreement divided the parties' marital property as follows. The parties' trust and retirement funds were divided equally. In addition, the parties were ordered to accept the first offer in excess of one million dollars on the marital home and the first offer in excess of $275,000 on the marital cottage. The proceeds from those sales were ordered to be divided equally between the parties.

On March 29, 1996, appellant filed a motion for modification of child support in which he asserted that there had been a change in circumstances in that his income had been drastically reduced since the time of the original divorce decree. Appellant attached to this motion a Schedule I affidavit of income. However, appellant did not indicate in the affidavit the amount or source of his income but, rather, stated that he would supplement the affidavit at the hearing. Appellant also did not explain in his motion how his income had been drastically reduced. Then, on September 4, 1996, appellant filed a second motion to reduce his child support obligations in which he asserted that as of September 1, 1996, he was terminated from his contract with St. Charles Hospital and no longer had any employment income. Appellant therefore requested that his child support obligation be reduced to $50 per week per child for a total monthly obligation of $1,075. Also at this time, appellant unilaterally reduced his child support payments to $219 per month per child, for a total monthly payment of $1,096. The record reveals that appellant's "termination" from his contract with St. Charles Hospital was actually a decision on the part of St. Charles not to renew its contract with appellant's company, Oregon Medical Services, Inc. As a result of that nonrenewal, the company that took over the emergency room operations for St. Charles Hospital purchased from appellant the non-compete clauses of the emergency room doctors that worked for appellant's company. Pursuant to this buy out, appellant received approximately one million dollars. After expenses, appellant deposited $870,000 in his trust fund. He then purchased an investment property in Florida for $275,000 and a home in Toledo, Ohio for $550,000, paying cash for both.

On February 12, 1997, appellee filed a motion to show cause, for lump sum judgment, and for attorney fees and other relief in which she alleged that appellant had reduced his child support payments without court order and had failed to pay medical bills for the children in accordance with the terms of the final divorce decree. Appellee therefore moved that appellant be held in contempt of court, that she be awarded a lump sum judgment for past due child support and medical expenses incurred on behalf of the children, and that she be awarded attorney fees and expenses of the suit.

On March 11, 1998, the trial court held a hearing on the pending motions. Prior to that hearing, appellant filed a brief in support of his motion to modify child support. In that brief, appellant made numerous assertions regarding his present income. He did not, however, file the court schedules attesting to those income figures. At the beginning of the hearing, appellee's counsel represented to the court that the appropriate court schedules had never been filed with regard to appellant's motion to modify. Upon questioning by the court, appellant's counsel admitted that he had never filed the schedules. Accordingly, the court, pursuant to local rule, dismissed appellant's motion to modify child support and proceeded on appellee's motion to show cause.

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Bluebook (online)
Boraggina v. Boraggina, Unpublished Decision (3-30-2001), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boraggina-v-boraggina-unpublished-decision-3-30-2001-ohioctapp-2001.