De Arriz v. Klingler-De Arriz

947 A.2d 59, 179 Md. App. 458, 2008 Md. App. LEXIS 45
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMay 1, 2008
DocketNo. 480
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 947 A.2d 59 (De Arriz v. Klingler-De Arriz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
De Arriz v. Klingler-De Arriz, 947 A.2d 59, 179 Md. App. 458, 2008 Md. App. LEXIS 45 (Md. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

DAVIS, J.

The action of the circuit court in the instant appeal presents a classic case of the proverbial, “No good deed goes unpunished.” The court attempted to remediate retrospectively its earlier effort to absolve appellant of what it viewed as oppressive interest payments which would accrue on the monetary award granted appellee. We are tasked to determine whether it properly applied Maryland Rules 9-210 and 2-648 to prevent appellant’s law firm from establishing priority in the proceeds from the sale of the marital home over the marital award granted to appellee.

Appellants, Raul deArriz and the law firm of Brodsky, Greenblatt, Renehan & Pearlstein, Chartered,1 appeal from an Order of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County entered on June 29, 2007, in favor of appellee, Laura Klinger-deArriz. The Order grants appellee’s Emergency Motion To Reconsider, To Revise and to Alter and/or Amend the Court’s Order Entered on April 28, 2006 (Emergency Motion) and orders the clerk of the court to enter a money judgment against the [462]*462Brodsky firm in favor of appellee in the amount of $110,000. Appellants filed this timely appeal, presenting the following issues for our review,2 which we have rephrased and consolidated as follows:

I. Whether the trial court erroneously granted appellee’s Emergency Motion.
II. Whether the trial court erroneously entered a money judgment against the Brodsky firm in favor of appellee in the amount of $110,000.

For the reasons that follow, we resolve the issues in favor of appellants and, accordingly, reverse the judgment of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Since appellee’s Complaint for Absolute Divorce was filed on October 21, 2004, appellant and appellee have been engaged in contentious and protracted litigation regarding their divorce and ancillary matters. After a seven-day divorce trial on the merits, the trial judge made extensive findings of fact and rulings of law, which are included in her thirty—nine page Memorandum Opinion that accompanies her Judgment, of Absolute Divorce, both entered on April 28, 2006.3

[463]*463At issue in this appeal is the circuit court’s Order in its Judgment of Absolute Divorce that commanded that “[appellee] shall be and is hereby granted a monetary award against [appellant] in the amount of $110,000 ... and said award shall be payable upon settlement of the sale of the [marital home located at 5905 Griffith Road, Laytonsville, Maryland].” Significantly, the trial judge did not reduce the monetary award to a judgment, explaining on the record that, if the court had entered a judgment, but stayed the judgment’s execution until the date of settlement, substantial interest would have accrued and, thus, as a benefit to appellant, the judge did not enter a money judgment.

On October 20, 2006, appellant and appellee entered into a contract to sell their marital home for $1,075,000. Settlement was scheduled for January 16, 2007. Prior to settlement, on January 11, 2007, appellant and appellee received a draft settlement sheet, whereupon appellee learned, for the first time, that the Brodsky firm had filed a deed of trust in the amount of $145,534.28, excluding interest, against appellant’s interest in the marital home on October 5, 2006. With the purchase money mortgage, as the first mortgage encumbering the property, the Brodsky firm’s deed of trust comprised one-half of appellant’s net proceeds from the expected sale.

On January 12, 2007, four days before settlement, the Brodsky firm filed another deed of trust; this time in the amount of $101,862.30, excluding interest. On that same day, upon the filing of a petition for contempt by the Montgomery County Office of Child Support Enforcement, appellant consented to a judgment in the amount of $22,993.98 for child support arrearages. Thus, at the time of settlement, four liens encumbered appellant’s title to the marital home, effectively eliminating appellant’s interest in the marital home.

Appellant conveyed to the Brodsky firm the two deeds of trust as payment for a portion of his attorney’s fees owed in relation to his legal representation in the domestic relations [464]*464case.4 Because appellant would receive no proceeds from the sale of the marital home, appellee objected to the Brodsky firm’s liens taking priority over the monetary award. Due to the controversy regarding the deeds of trust, settlement did not proceed as scheduled.

On January 24, 2007, appellant filed an Emergency Motion to Appoint A Trustee to Sell the Former Marital Home and to Enforce the Parties Agreement. In it, he requested that a trustee be appointed to consummate the sale of the marital home, that the appointed trustee be compensated for its service from appellee’s net proceeds of the sale and that the Brodsky firm be paid all o f the ne t proceeds due and owing to appellant.

On January 30, 2007, appellee filed an opposition to appellant’s motion and, additionally, submitted to the trial court an Emergency Motion, requesting that the court revise the Judgment of Absolute Divorce nunc pro tunc, thereby giving appellee’s monetary award priority over the Brodsky firm’s two liens.

A day before the rescheduled settlement date, on February 8, 2007, the trial court heard oral arguments on the motions. During the hearing, as a temporary solution, the Brodsky firm agreed to the withdrawal of their liens in the amount of $110,000 with the understanding that the firm would maintain its filing date for purposes of determining priority at a later court hearing.5 The trial court made no ruling and took the matter under advisement.

On February 9, 2007, settlement occurred as planned and the settlement company deposited $110,000 into the court registry pursuant to a consent order.6 On February 20, 2007, [465]*465appellant filed an opposition to appellee’s Emergency Motion; appellee thereafter filed a reply to that opposition.

A second hearing took place on March 16, 2007, during which the parties disputed whether the Brodsky firm had a right to the escrowed funds. During the hearing, the trial court engaged in a colloquy with counsel for appellant, examining the ethical ramifications of the Brodsky firm’s deeds of trust in relation to Rules 1.7 and 1.8 of the Maryland Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court took the matter under advisement and scheduled another hearing for May 10, 2007.

Prior to the May 10 hearing, the trial judge informed counsel to address the applicability of Maryland Rules 9-210(b) and 2-648. The day before the hearing, the Brodsky firm filed a memorandum specifically addressing the court’s inquiry. Because the trial court was contemplating the entry of a judgment against the Brodsky firm, the firm retained independent counsel and was represented by that counsel at the hearing. All parties addressed the issues raised by the trial judge and attempted to answer the judge’s query of whether the court may enter a money judgment against the Brodsky firm in favor of appellee in the amount of the marital award. The trial court took the matter under advisement and allowed appellee the opportunity to respond in writing to appellant’s written submissions.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
947 A.2d 59, 179 Md. App. 458, 2008 Md. App. LEXIS 45, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/de-arriz-v-klingler-de-arriz-mdctspecapp-2008.