In re the Marriage of Haimovitz

987 P.2d 584, 163 Or. App. 244, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 1718
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedOctober 13, 1999
Docket96-3620-D-2; CA A102356
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 987 P.2d 584 (In re the Marriage of Haimovitz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Marriage of Haimovitz, 987 P.2d 584, 163 Or. App. 244, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 1718 (Or. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

EDMONDS, P. J.

Husband appeals from a judgment of dissolution of marriage. ORS 107.105. We affirm because husband’s arguments on appeal appear to focus on the terms of an amended judgment that was entered at a time when the trial court lacked jurisdiction.

On March 26, 1998, the trial court entered a judgment of dissolution of marriage. The property distribution under the judgment provided, in part:

“[Wife] is awarded a 1.2% interest in the Haimovitz Family Limited Partnership, to be taken out of [husband’s] 7.2%, leaving him with a 6% interest.”

The trial court did not award spousal support to either party. On April 6, 1998, husband timely filed a motion for a new trial.1 That motion contained four basic arguments: (1) as a matter of law, wife was not entitled to an interest in the Haimovitz Family Limited Partnership; (2) if wife was entitled to an interest in the Haimovitz Family Limited Partnership, then the calculation of the interest awarded in the judgment was mathematically incorrect; (3) wife’s claim to any interest in the partnership was barred by the statute of limitations; and (4) wife’s claim to a partnership interest was barred by the doctrine of waiver, estoppel, or laches.2 According to the court record, no order allowing or denying the motion was entered within 55 days of March 26. As a result, the motion was deemed denied by May 21, 1998, under ORCP 64 F.3 On June 5, 1998, husband filed a notice of appeal from the March 26 judgment. Thereafter, the trial [247]*247court entered an order on June 30, 1998, that granted husband’s motion for a new trial and amended the language from the judgment of dissolution that is quoted above to provide:

“[Wife] is awarded a money judgment against [husband] in the amount of $69,240.00 as lump sum spousal support representing the value at the time of trial of a 1.2% interest in the Haimovitz Family Limited Partnership.”

On appeal, husband makes the following assignments of error:

“1. The Court, in awarding all of the marital assets to Wife and all of the debts to Husband, failed to make an equitable division of the property.
“2. The trial court erred in calculating a 1.2% interest, instead of a 0.39% interest, in the Family Limited Partnership as marital property, and then in awarding Wife lump sum spousal support of $69,240 based on a 1.2% interest.
“3. The Court erred in failing to value the personal property of the parties.”

As relief, he requests that this court

“reverse the judgment of the trial court, eliminate the $69,240.00 judgment in favor of the Wife, award Husband an equalizing judgment of $90,000, and assign an equal amount of debt ($201,000) to each party.” (Emphasis in original.)

Because husband’s arguments on appeal appear to focus on the judgment as amended by the June 30 order, we inquire first whether the amended judgment is properly before us. The June 30 order that purports to amend the original judgment says that it is: “DATED: June 29, 1998, and effective May 18, 1998.”4 If that reference is meant as a manifestation of the court’s intention to make a nunc pro tunc amendment of the March 26 judgment, the order could not have that effect unless there was a ruling having the force of law on the motion on May 18. In Gillespie v. Kononen, 310 Or 272, 276 n 7, 797 P2d 361 (1990), the Supreme Court stated:

[248]*248“The function of a nunc pro tunc entry is to make a record of what was previously done, but not then entered; not to make an order now for then, but to enter now for then an order previously made. The purpose of a nunc pro tunc order is to supply an omission in the record of action actually taken but omitted from the record through inadvertence or mistake, or to enter an order which should have been made as a matter of course and as a legal duty. Such an order is effective only when it records a previously omitted truth — it does not create, but only speaks what has been done.” (Citations omitted.)

See also State ex rel Juv. Dept. v. Dreyer, 328 Or 332, 339, 976 P2d 1123 (1999) (“Nunc pro tunc orders are a manifestation of the inherent power of a court to make its record speak the truth, that is, to correct clerical errors at a later time so that the record reflects what actually occurred at an earlier time.”).

There was no written order entered on May 18 granting the motion. In Conley and Conley, 97 Or App 134, 776 P2d 860, rev den (1989), we interpreted ORCP 64 F to mean that

“a motion for new trial under ORCP 64F is determined upon entry in the trial court register of a written order disposing of the motion. In the absence of a written order entered in the register within 55 days of entry of judgment, a motion for new trial is deemed denied and a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days thereafter.”

Also, in State ex rel Schrunk v. Johnson, 97 Or App 420, 776 P2d 863, rev den 308 Or 382 (1989), we rejected the argument that a trial court’s oral ruling could satisfy the rule’s requirement. In that case, after the trial court had entered a judgment of conviction against a criminal defendant, it held a hearing on a motion for a new trial, which it orally granted under ORCP 64 G. However, no written order was timely entered. After the 30-day period for granting the motion under ORCP 64 G had passed, the trial court entered a written order granting a new trial. Thereafter, the trial court entered an amended order that was identical to the original order, except that it indicated that the order was made “nunc pro tunc” to the date that the trial court had orally granted the new trial motion. Relying on our holding in Conley, we [249]*249rejected the argument that the trial court’s oral ruling satisfied the requirement of the rule. We also rejected the argument that the failure to enter a timely written order could be cured by the nunc pro tunc order. Here, even if the June 30 order were an attempt to enter a written order about a ruling made on May 18, it is not a valid nunc pro tunc order under our holdings in Conley and Johnson.

Having held that the June 30 order has no nunc pro tunc effect, we turn to the issue of its efficacy in light of the fact that husband filed his notice of appeal from the March 26 judgment on June 5. “[Even when] the parties have not raised any jurisdictional issues, we are required, sua sponte, to determine jurisdiction.” Winn v. McGeehan, 136 Or App 510, 514 n 5, 901 P2d 926 (1995). Once husband filed a notice of appeal, the trial court was divested of jurisdiction to amend the judgment. See ORS 19.270; ORS 19.275.5 Nonetheless, husband asserts:

[250]*250“Judgment was entered March 26, 1998.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
987 P.2d 584, 163 Or. App. 244, 1999 Ore. App. LEXIS 1718, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-haimovitz-orctapp-1999.