Fardad Aduli v. Valerie Aduli

368 S.W.3d 805, 2012 WL 1743349, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 3909
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 17, 2012
Docket14-10-01039-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 368 S.W.3d 805 (Fardad Aduli v. Valerie Aduli) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fardad Aduli v. Valerie Aduli, 368 S.W.3d 805, 2012 WL 1743349, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 3909 (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

TRACY CHRISTOPHER, Justice.

In this divorce appeal, Fardad Aduli argues that the trial court erred in denying his special appearance and abused its discretion in permitting his counsel to withdraw on the day of trial; denying his motions for a continuance and a new trial on the basis that he had been forced to leave the country; and adopting his wife’s proposed division of the marital estate without sufficient evidence. We affirm.

I. Factual And Procedural Background

Fardad and Valerie Aduli married in Louisiana in 2003. Fardad, an Iranian citizen, was in the United States on an H-l work visa. Valerie, a citizen of France, was in the country on an H-4 visa as Fardad’s spouse. 1 For about five years, the Adulis lived in a suburb of New Orleans while Fardad worked for his brother, who had sponsored Fardad’s visa. In 2006, Fardad and Valerie visited Houston. The Adulis took a liking to the city, and Fardad spoke of moving there to find work at the Texas Medical Center after he got his green card. In early 2008, Fardad bought and furnished a condominium in Houston, and Valerie moved there in January of that year.

According to Valerie, Fardad planned to join her in Houston after he got his green card. According to Fardad, however, Valerie moved to Houston because the Adulis had decided to separate. In his telling, Fardad purchased the condo in Houston because Valerie wanted to live there and Fardad “wanted [Valerie] to be comfortable” during their separation, but Fardad never intended to move to Houston himself. For the next several months, Fardad paid Valerie’s utility bills, made mortgage payments on the condo, and paid condominium association fees. He also gave Valerie $1,000 each month for living expenses. According to Fardad, he visited Valerie “maybe once every month and a half, once a month” for “[t]wo days, three days max” during their separation. According to Valerie, Fardad visited two or three times a month, for four days at a time. When Fardad visited, the Adulis shared a bed but were never intimate; Valerie had long suspected Fardad of engaging in an extramarital affair — a suspicion Fardad confirmed about a month before Valerie filed for divorce — and, as she stated, did not want to risk becoming pregnant by a man she did not trust.

In October 2008, Valerie filed for divorce in the trial court, citing irreconcilable differences, cruel treatment and adultery. Fardad filed a special appearance on the basis that Texas was not the Adulis’ last marital residence and there was no other valid basis for asserting personal jurisdiction over Fardad. After a hearing, the trial court denied Fardad’s special appearance. Shortly thereafter, Fardad and Valerie agreed to a set of temporary orders and injunctions relating to spousal support, payment of debts, temporary use of property, and discovery. Under the discovery provisions, each party had to provide a sworn inventory and appraisement of all separate and community property, and Fardad was required to provide tax returns for the first five years of the Adulis’ marriage. Fardad was also ordered to pay Valerie’s attorneys’ and experts’ fees. *811 In addition, both parties were bound by a restraining order from “making any withdrawals from any checking, savings, or brokerage account in any financial institution, for any purpose,” except as authorized by the trial court.

Over the next year, Fardad repeatedly violated the trial court’s restraining order by withdrawing money from his accounts. He also failed to comply with the trial court’s discovery orders and failed to pay Valerie’s attorneys’ and experts’ fees. On three separate occasions in late 2009, the trial court warned Fardad that failure to comply with the trial court’s orders would result in Fardad’s pleadings being struck. After Fardad continued to disregard the trial court’s orders, the trial court struck Fardad’s pleadings as a sanction and ordered that he would not be allowed to offer “any controverting testimony to testimony and or evidence presented by [Valerie] ... except through cross examination.”

In February 2009, Fardad filed a motion to dismiss, representing to the trial court that his application for a permanent work visa had been denied and that both he and Valerie were required to leave the country. He attached two letters from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”), dated in September 2008, informing Fardad and Valerie of this decision separately. The trial court denied Fardad’s motion to dismiss. Although Fardad had declared his intent to comply with the USCIS order immediately, a year later he filed a Suggestion of Bankruptcy based on a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding he had initiated in Louisiana that month, and requested a stay of the divorce proceedings. No order relating to this request appears in the record.

On July 23, 2010, nine days before trial, Fardad’s counsel, Todd Frankfort, filed a motion to withdraw, citing his inability to “effectively communicate with Fardad ... in a manner consistent with good attorney-client relations.” A hearing was set before trial on August 2, 2010. On July 30, Far-dad (though Frankfort) requested a continuance, citing his absence from the country and attaching a second letter from the USCIS. This letter, dated May 27, 2010, informed Fardad that his February 2010 “Application to Extend/Change Nonimmi-grant Status” had been denied and that “[t]his decision [left Fardad] without lawful immigration status; therefore, [he was] present in the United States in [violation of the law.” In requesting a continuance, Fardad claimed that he had been forced to return to Paris and needed time to obtain a new visa. When Frankfort’s motion to withdraw came up for hearing before trial, the trial court considered Fardad’s request for continuance as well.

At the hearing, the following exchange took place:

MR. FRANKFORT: Judge, I’ve had various issues with Mr. Aduli. I guess, the most significant of which is that a good portion of my fees were discharged in bankruptcy and now he is left owing us some money and I just am not comfortable being in that position. He has sent me a letter opposing my withdrawal that he would like read into the record. May I proceed with that at this time?
[[Image here]]
THE COURT: Yes. Is it an e-mail?
MR. FRANKFORT: It was sent by email. I received the following e-mail from Mr. Aduli on July 30 at 12:27 p.m. It says, “... Your Honor, I cannot be present at my trial because my application for an extension of visa was denied and I had to leave the United States. I am writing this letter to oppose my attorney[’]s Motion to Withdraw for the following reasons:
Number one, as you know, Your Honor, I have been declared bankrupt under *812 Chapter 7 and do not have any assets to pay Mr. Frankfort at this time. I have no assets and have been declared bankrupt. I do not have any income as I do not have a job.
Number two, Mr. Frankfort informed me of his intention to withdraw as my attorney merely eight days ago and that has not left me with ample time to find another counsel.
Number three, Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
368 S.W.3d 805, 2012 WL 1743349, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 3909, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fardad-aduli-v-valerie-aduli-texapp-2012.