Holm v. Holm

2025 ND 100
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMay 22, 2025
DocketNo. 20240246
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2025 ND 100 (Holm v. Holm) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holm v. Holm, 2025 ND 100 (N.D. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA

2025 ND 100

Heidi Holm, Plaintiff and Appellee v. Joshua Holm, Defendant and Appellant

No. 20240246

Appeal from the District Court of Stark County, Southwest Judicial District, the Honorable Rhonda R. Ehlis, Judge.

AFFIRMED.

Opinion of the Court by Bahr, Justice.

Erin L. Melling, Hettinger, ND, for plaintiff and appellee.

Thomas F. Murtha IV, Dickinson, ND, for defendant and appellant. Holm v. Holm No. 20240246

Bahr, Justice.

[¶1] Joshua Holm appeals from a district court judgment and orders. On appeal, Joshua Holm argues the court erred by not awarding him attorney’s fees when it denied Heidi Holm’s motion to compel; by finding he failed to timely file his answer brief to Heidi Holm’s second motion to compel; and by not establishing a marital assets and debts valuation date sixty days before the initially scheduled trial date. Joshua Holm also argues the court abused its discretion in valuing the contents of his safe; by not accepting his testimony as to the value of an asset; and by determining a truck was marital property. Finally, Joshua Holm asserts the court’s division of the marital estate was inequitable. We affirm.

I

[¶2] Joshua Holm and Heidi Holm were married in June 2021. Heidi Holm commenced a divorce action in April 2023. The parties have no children.

[¶3] In September 2023, Heidi Holm filed a motion to compel. The district court denied the motion. The court also denied Joshua Holm’s request for attorney’s fees under N.D.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(5)(B).

[¶4] In November 2023, Heidi Holm filed a second motion to compel, which the district court granted. The court found Joshua Holm did not provide a complete, timely response to the discovery requests and awarded attorney’s fees to Heidi Holm. Joshua Holm contested the award. After a hearing, the court upheld its decision and ordered Joshua Holm to pay the attorney’s fees.

[¶5] Following a two-day trial, the district court divided the marital assets and debts and entered judgment. The court set a valuation date of sixty days before the first day of trial.

1 II

[¶6] Rule 28(b)(7)(B)(i), N.D.R.App.P., requires the appellant’s brief contain “a concise statement of the applicable standard of review[.]” Joshua Holm’s brief does not identify, explain, or apply the applicable standard of review for many of the issues he raises. “Appellate rules must be complied with and treated respectfully.” State v. Roller, 2024 ND 180, ¶ 19, 11 N.W.3d 864 (quoting State v. Wiese, 2024 ND 39, ¶ 7, 4 N.W.3d 242). We caution parties that this Court may summarily affirm judgments and orders when briefs do not meet the minimum requirements of the North Dakota Rules of Appellate Procedure. N.D.R.App.P. 35.1(a)(8).

III

[¶7] This Court reviews a district court’s decision whether to grant an order to compel under the abuse of discretion standard; we review the “factual findings supporting the decision, including whether a party, in good faith, attempted to confer, under the clearly erroneous standard.” Meuchel v. Red Trail Energy, LLC, 2024 ND 44, ¶ 19, 4 N.W.3d 203. “The court abuses its discretion ‘when it acts in an arbitrary, unreasonable, or unconscionable manner, or when it misinterprets or misapplies the law.’” Id. ¶ 15 (quoting Don’s Garden Ctr., Inc. v. Garden Dist. Inc., 2024 ND 25, ¶ 10, 2 N.W.3d 646). “A finding of fact is clearly erroneous if it is induced by an erroneous view of the law, if there is no evidence to support it, or if, after reviewing the entirety of the evidence, this Court is left with a definite and firm conviction a mistake has been made.” Fercho v. Fercho, 2022 ND 214, ¶ 24, 982 N.W.2d 540 (quoting Eberle v. Eberle, 2010 ND 107, ¶ 16, 783 N.W.2d 254).

A

[¶8] Joshua Holm argues the district court erred by denying his request for attorney’s fees under N.D.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(5)(B) when it denied Heidi Holm’s motion to compel. He asserts the court denied his request because it determined he did not timely file his answer brief.

[¶9] N.D.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(5)(B) reads, in relevant part:

2 If the motion [to compel] is denied, the court . . . must, after giving an opportunity to be heard, require the movant, the attorney filing the motion, or both to pay the party or deponent who opposed the motion its reasonable expenses incurred in opposing the motion, including attorney’s fees. But the court must not order this payment if the motion was substantially justified or other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.

[¶10] The district court denied Heidi Holm’s first motion to compel for failing to comply with N.D.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(5)(B). The court held Heidi Holm did not make a good faith effort to resolve the discovery dispute before filing her motion with the court. The court denied Joshua Holm’s request for attorney’s fees, concluding Joshua Holm’s answer brief was untimely and, had Heidi Holm complied with Rule 37, she “may have proven her case due to what appears to be [Joshua Holm’s] hedging and failure to provide documentation[.]” The court concluded Joshua Holm’s “failure to timely respond and evasive answers mitigates [Heidi Holm’s] need to pay attorney’s fees, and no award will be made.”

[¶11] Joshua Holm argues his answer brief was timely and the district court erred in denying his request for attorney’s fees on that ground. Joshua Holm does not challenge the court’s second ground for denying his request for attorney’s fees. Although the court denied Joshua Holm’s request for attorney’s fees on two grounds, it did not indicate whether each ground was an independent reason for the denial, i.e., whether the court would have denied Joshua Holm’s request for attorney’s fees due to his evasive discovery responses even if his answer brief was timely. Because we cannot discern from the court’s order what impact its conclusion Joshua Holm’s answer brief was untimely had on its denial of his request for attorney fees, we address the issue.

[¶12] Heidi Holm attempted to file her motion to compel and accompanying documents on September 26, 2023, at 4:59 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST). The filings included an affidavit of service dated September 26, 2023. The clerk rejected the filings due to an issue with the notice of motion. Heidi Holm again attempted to file her motion and accompanying documents on September 26, 2023, at 6:04 p.m. CST. The clerk again rejected the filings due to an issue with

3 the notice of motion. On September 27, 2023, at 11:02 a.m. CST, Heidi Holm filed her motion and accompanying documents and the clerk accepted them. Joshua Holm filed his answer brief on October 12, 2023, at 12:37 a.m. CST.

[¶13] Rule 3.2(a)(2), N.D.R.Ct., provides the party opposing a motion has “14 days after service of a brief within which to serve and file an answer brief and other supporting papers.” “For purposes of computation of time,” N.D.R.Ct. 3.5(e)(4) provides “any document electronically served must be treated as if it were delivered on the date of transmission.” The record reflects Heidi Holm’s motion was electronically transmitted to Joshua Holm on September 26, 2023. The clerk’s rejection of Heidi Holm’s filings did not change the date of transmission. Rule 3.5(c)(3), N.D.R.Ct., provides:

If a document submitted for electronic filing is rejected, the time for filing is tolled from the time of submission to the time the e-mail generated by the Odyssey system notifying the filer of rejection is sent. The document will be considered timely filed if resubmitted within three days after the notice of rejection.

Under the applicable rules, the tolling of the filing does not change the date of service, which is the date the document was transmitted. Thus, Joshua Holm’s answer brief was due fourteen days after September 26, 2023, or October 10, 2023.

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Bluebook (online)
2025 ND 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holm-v-holm-nd-2025.