Harris v. Harris

575 S.E.2d 315, 212 W. Va. 705, 2002 W. Va. LEXIS 219
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 3, 2002
DocketNo. 30594
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 575 S.E.2d 315 (Harris v. Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harris v. Harris, 575 S.E.2d 315, 212 W. Va. 705, 2002 W. Va. LEXIS 219 (W. Va. 2002).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

This ease is before this Court upon appeal of a final order of the Circuit Court of Marshall County entered on October 5, 2001. In that order, the circuit court denied a motion to alter or amend a judgment and an alternative motion for a new trial filed by the appellant and plaintiff below, Samuel Harris, after the court found him in contempt for failing to pay the appellee and defendant below, Michelle D. Harris, $50,000.00 pursuant to a property settlement agreement1 signed by the parties in the underlying divorce action. The court further ordered Mr. Harris to pay Ms. Harris $7,468.60 plus interest for certain medical bills she incurred dui'ing their marriage.

In this appeal, Mr. Harris contends that the circuit court misinterpreted the parties’ property settlement agreement, and therefore, the circuit court erred by holding him in contempt. This Court has before it the petition for appeal, the entire record, and the briefs and argument of counsel. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse, in part, and affirm, in part, the circuit court’s decision holding Mr. Harris in contempt.

I.

FACTS

The parties were married on July 15,1988, and separated on July 1, 1996. A final divorce order was entered on September 6, 1996. The final divorce order incorporated a property settlement agreement which the parties signed on August 1,1996.

The property settlement agreement addressed, inter alia, the distribution of any monies the parties might receive from two lawsuits. The agreement specifically provided that each party would receive:

of any and all amounts received from the settlement or verdict or mediation pertaining to an insurance company bad faith action against McDonough Caperton Insurance Company and USF&G2

and

/£ of all amounts received from the settlement, verdict or mediation pertaining to a personal injury case involving physical injury to Husband and % of all funds received regarding the accompanying claim for loss of consortium.

The agreement also provided that Mr. Harris would maintain health insurance coverage for Ms. Harris until her remarriage or death and that he would “pay medical bills incurred at Wheeling Hospital during the marriage which have not yet been paid.”

On July 16, 1998, Ms. Harris filed a Petition for Contempt in the Circuit Court of Marshall County alleging that Mr. Harris had failed to comply with the property settlement agreement. Specifically, she asserted that Mr. Harris had not given her one-half of the proceeds resulting from the settlement of the bad faith lawsuit. She further asserted that Mr. Harris had failed to pay certain hospital bills which she had incurred during their marriage.

The record shows that during the marriage, the parties were stockholders in a mobile home business known as Housing Showcase Mobile Homes, Inc. (hereinafter “Housing Showcase”). Sometime before the parties separated, Housing Showcase was named as a defendant in a series of lawsuits arising out of the wreck of one of its mobile homes which was being transported incident [708]*708to its sale. Eventually, Housing Showcase filed suit against McDonough Caperton Insurance Company and USF&G alleging, inter alia, that the insurance companies had failed to provide a defense for Housing-Showcase in the lawsuits arising from the wreck of the mobile home.

Shortly before the parties separated, they contemplated filing their own personal bad faith lawsuit against McDonough Caperton Insurance Company and USF&G based on the companies’ actions following the wreck of the mobile home. However, after the parties signed the property settlement agreement, they decided, upon advice of counsel, not to file the bad faith lawsuit against McDonough Caperton Insurance Company and USF&G.3 Thereafter, Housing Showcase settled its lawsuit against McDonough Caperton Insurance Company and USF&G for $100,000.00.4

On April 3, 2000, the circuit court held a bench trial on the Petition for Contempt filed by Ms. Harris. After reviewing the evidence, the circuit court entered an order on September 5, 2001, finding Mr. Harris in contempt and ordering him to pay Ms. Harris the sum of $50,000.00, without interest, as her net share of the settlement of the lawsuit filed by Housing Showcase against McDon-ough Caperton Insurance Company and USF&G. The court further ordered Mr. Harris to pay Ms. Harris $7,468.60 plus interest for medical bills she incurred at Wheeling Hospital during the marriage which had not yet been paid. Subsequently, Mr. Harris filed a motion to alter or amend the judgment and an alternative motion for a new trial. The motions were denied in the final order entered on October 5, 2001. This appeal followed.

II.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

As noted above, Mr. Harris appeals from an order denying his motion to alter or amend the judgment finding him in contempt. This Court has held that, “The standard of review applicable to an appeal from a motion to alter or amend a judgment, made pursuant to W. Va. R. Civ. P. 59(e), is the same standard that would apply to the underlying judgment upon which the motion is based and from which the appeal to this Court is filed.” Syllabus Point 1, Wickland v. American Travellers Life Insurance Co., 204 W.Va. 430, 513 S.E.2d 657 (1998). Since the underlying judgment is the September 5, 2001 order finding Mr. Harris in contempt, we must apply the standard of review applicable to such a proceeding. In Syllabus Point 1 of Carter v. Carter, 196 W.Va. 239, 470 S.E.2d 193 (1996), this Court held that:

In reviewing the findings of fact and conclusions of law of a circuit court supporting a civil contempt order, we apply a three-pronged standard of review. W,e review the contempt order under an abuse of discretion standard; the underlying factual findings are reviewed under a clearly erroneous standard; and questions of law and statutory interpretations are subject to a de novo review.

We also note that a clearly erroneous standard of review is applicable to the court’s interpretation of the parties’ property settlement agreement. This Court has stated that: “When a trial court determines that an agreement is ambiguous and construes the meaning of a provision in the contract based on' extrinsic evidence, such as the parties’ intent, our standard of review is ‘clearly erroneous.’ ” Jessee v. Aycoth, 202 W.Va. 215, 218, 503 S.E.2d 528, 531 (1998). With these standards in mind, we now consider the parties’ arguments.

III.

DISCUSSION

A. The Lawsidt Proceeds

Mr. Harris contends that the circuit court misinterpreted the parties’ property settlement agreement. He asserts that the [709]*709only reasonable interpretation of the provision in the agreement which concerns “an insurance company bad faith action” is that it references the personal bad faith lawsuit the parties contemplated filing against McDon-ough Caperton Insurance Company and USF&G before they separated. Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
575 S.E.2d 315, 212 W. Va. 705, 2002 W. Va. LEXIS 219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-harris-wva-2002.