Callaghan v. Callaghan

125 P.3d 1061, 142 Idaho 185, 2005 Ida. LEXIS 158
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 1, 2005
Docket30916
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 125 P.3d 1061 (Callaghan v. Callaghan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Callaghan v. Callaghan, 125 P.3d 1061, 142 Idaho 185, 2005 Ida. LEXIS 158 (Idaho 2005).

Opinion

EISMANN, Justice.

This is an appeal from the district court’s orders dismissing appeals from decisions of the magistrate judge in post-divorce proceedings and awarding attorney fees pursuant to Idaho Code § 12-121. We affirm the dismissal of the appeals and the award of attorney fees.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The appellant Douglas S. Callaghan (Douglas) and the respondent Danielle R. Callaghan (Danielle) were divorced by a judgment entered on May 14, 1993. Danielle was awarded the primary physical custody of the parties’ three minor children, and Douglas was ordered to pay child support in the sum of $422.00 per month plus one-half of the medical insurance premiums and uninsured medical expenses for the children. The decree provided that when the oldest child reached age nineteen or graduated from high school, the child support paid by Douglas would be in accordance with the Idaho Child Support Guidelines for the two younger children, until they reached age nineteen or graduated from high school.

By order entered on June 20, 1996, Douglas’s monthly child support payment was reduced to $350.00 per month based upon a stipulation of the parties. That order also provided that by June 1st of each year the amount of the monthly child support payment would be recalculated annually based upon the parties’ incomes for the prior year. The parties’ oldest child graduated from high school in June 1997, and the second oldest child graduated from high school in June 2001.

On December 28, 2001, the Department of Health and Welfare, at Douglas’s request, filed a petition to intervene in this action and to modify Douglas’s monthly child support payment to $438.00. The Department filed a second petition on January 24, 2002, seeking to reduce Douglas’s monthly child support payment to $204.00. On June 10, 2002, Danielle filed a motion seeking to have Douglas held in contempt for the failure to pay court-ordered child support, including his share of the medical expenses.

The magistrate judge heard the contempt matter on October 31, 2002, and on January 6, 2003, he entered an order finding Douglas in contempt for failing to pay monthly child support totaling $6,030.89, for failing to pay his share of medical insurance premiums and uninsured medical expenses for the children totaling $5,176.14, and for failing to pay a debt of $488.10 that he had been ordered to pay in the divorce decree. The magistrate sentenced Douglas to serve a total of forty days in jail, to commence on April 1, 2003. The magistrate further ordered that Douglas could purge the contempts by paying $11,695.13 plus interest, costs, and attorney fees before April 1, 2003.

On February 21, 2003, the magistrate heard the motion to modify Douglas’s monthly child support obligation for the parties’ remaining minor child. By order entered on March 3, 2003, the magistrate increased Douglas’s monthly child support obligation to $380.00 and reduced his share of the remain-, ing child’s uninsured medical expenses to 46% of those expenses. On March 17, 2003, Douglas filed a motion to amend certain findings of fact made by the magistrate, and the magistrate denied that motion by order entered on April 3, 2003.

On April 1, 2003, Douglas sought an ex parte order staying enforcement of the contempt order. By order entered on April 3, *187 2003, the magistrate judge denied the motion because it had been submitted ex parte. On April 8, 2003, Douglas submitted a Rule 54(b) certificate with respect to the contempt order, which the magistrate judge refused to sign because the contempt order was already final. On April 10, 2003, Douglas submitted a second proposed Rule 54(b) certificate accompanied by his counsel’s affidavit. By order entered on April 17, 2003, the magistrate again denied the requested Rule 54(b) certificate on the ground that the contempt order was final when it was entered on January 6, 2003.

On May 15, 2003, Douglas filed a notice of appeal from the contempt order entered on January 6, 2003; from the order entered on April 3, 2003, refusing to stay the contempt order; and from the order modifying child support entered on March 3, 2003. On May 29, 2003, he filed a notice of appeal from the order denying the Rule 54(b) certificate. These were designated as the “first appeal” and the “second appeal.”

On October 3, 2003, the district judge issued an order conditionally dismissing the appeal unless Douglas paid the estimated transcript fee within seven days. Douglas then unsuccessfully sought several times to have a magistrate judge enter an order waiving the transcript fee, even though Rule 83(k)(l) of the Idaho Rules of Civil Procedure requires that the district judge issue any such order.

On October 3, 2003, the district court issued an order conditionally dismissing the appeal for nonpayment of the estimated transcript cost. On the same date, the clerk of the court sent notice to the parties of an “appeal hearing” scheduled for December 19, 2003. Neither Douglas nor his counsel appeared at that hearing, and the district court dismissed the appeals for the failure to prosecute them. The district court also awarded Danielle attorney fees under Idaho Code § 12-121. Upon Douglas’s motion for alternative relief, which the district court considered to be a petition for rehearing, the district court modified its prior order. It reinstated the appeal from the order modifying child support on the ground that the appeal from that order was timely and it adhered to its dismissal of the other appeals, although on different grounds. Douglas then appealed to this Court.

II. ISSUES ON APPEAL

A. Did the district court err in dismissing Douglas’s appeal from the contempt order entered on January 6,2003?

B. Did the district court err in dismissing Douglas’s appeal from the magistrate judge’s refusal to issue a Rule 54(b) certificate with respect to the contempt order?

C. Did the district court err in dismissing Douglas’s appeal from the magistrate judge’s refusal to stay the jail sentence ordered for contempt?

D. Did the district court err in awarding attorney fees to Danielle?

E. Is either party entitled to an award of attorney fees on appeal?

III. ANALYSIS

A. Did the District Court Err in Dismissing Douglas’s Appeal from the Contempt Order Entered on January 6, 2003?

By order entered on January 6, 2003, the magistrate judge found Douglas in contempt and ordered him to serve a total of forty days in jail. Douglas did not seek to appeal that order until May 15, 2003. The district court dismissed that appeal on the ground that it was untimely.

An appeal to the district court from a final order or judgment entered in the magistrate division must be filed within forty-two days after entry of the order or judgment. I.R.C.P. 83(e). The order finding Douglas in contempt and imposing a penalty was a final order. The divorce decree was a final judgment entered on May 14, 1993.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
125 P.3d 1061, 142 Idaho 185, 2005 Ida. LEXIS 158, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/callaghan-v-callaghan-idaho-2005.