In re the Marriage of Roddy

2014 COA 96, 338 P.3d 1070, 2014 WL 3747348, 2014 Colo. App. LEXIS 1255
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 31, 2014
DocketCourt of Appeals No. 13CA0632
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 2014 COA 96 (In re the Marriage of Roddy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals 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 Roddy, 2014 COA 96, 338 P.3d 1070, 2014 WL 3747348, 2014 Colo. App. LEXIS 1255 (Colo. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Opinion by

JUDGE GRAHAM

T1 In this post-dissolution of marriage proceeding, Jonathan D. Roddy (husband) appeals from the district court's order that modified his child support obligation to Kristin Betherum, now known as Kristin Morelli (wife) He also appeals from the court's order denying his motion for post-trial relief from the child support order. We dismiss the appeal from the child support order and affirm the post-decree order.

I. Background

[ 2 When the parties' 2008 decree of dissolution was entered, the court adopted their stipulation that wife would be the primary residential parent for the parties' minor child and husband would pay her $3000 in monthly child support. Eight years later, husband moved to modify child support on the bases that his parenting time had increased and his income had decreased since the prior order.

T3 After a three-day hearing on husband's motion and other matters not related to this appeal, the district court increased husband's support obligation to $4604 per month (child support order). At the time it entered this order, the court found that wife's 2011 tax return was "the only remotely credible source of information" regarding her income.

14 Husband moved for post-trial relief under C.R.C.P. 16.2(e)(10), C.R.C.P. 59, and C.R.C.P. 60, arguing that wife had withheld her January through June 2012 accounting records and financial statements. The court denied this motion, finding that "[the incomplete, speculative, and partial estimation of one-half of [wife]'s gross income for 2012 was and remains completely immaterial to the [1074]*1074{clourt's determination of Child Support" (post-decree order).

15 Husband thereafter filed his notice of appeal with this court, citing his intention to appeal from both the child support order and post-decree order. We questioned whether the appeal of the child support order was timely, and issued an order requiring husband to show cause "why this appeal should be allowed to proceed as to the [child support order] and not be limilted to the [post-decree order] and be limited to C.R.C.P. 60 standards of review and relief." After considering husband's response to the show cause order, a motions division of this court

determined that, for the reasons set forth in this [clourt's {show cause order], that the appeal is untimely insofar as any relief sought pursuant to C.R.C.P. 59 is concerned. Accordingly, it is HEREBY ORDERED that the appeal shall proceed but is limited to review of relief available to appellant under C.R.GC.P. 60 & C.R.CP. 16.2 and is subject to the associated standards of review.

II. Child Support Order

16 Husband contends that the district court erred in its child support calculation. Wife contends that husband has failed to preserve this contention for appeal and that his appeal from the child support order is untimely. We agree with wife's second contention, and therefore dismiss this part of husband's appeal.

%7 The child support order was entered on November 13, 2012. At that time, husband had forty-nine days, or until March 19, 2013, to file a notice of appeal. See C.AR. 4(a). Because husband's notice of appeal was not filed until April 4, 2013, any appeal from the child support order is untimely, and we lack jurisdiction to consider it. See In re Marriage of Buck, 60 P.3d 788, 789 (Colo.App.2002) (the timely filing of a notice of appeal is a jurisdictional prerequisite to appellate review).

T8 Husband nevertheless argues that the motions division order limited his appeal to C.R.C.P. 60 and C.R.C.P. 16.2 standards of review but "did not specifically exclude issues concerning the underlying" child support order. We are not persuaded by this argument.

19 We agree that the motions division order does not specifically mention the child support order. Yet, the order should not be read in isolation. To the contrary, the motions division order expressly refers to-and therefore must be read in connection with-the show cause order, which not only mentions the child support order but also necessarily connects husband's request for relief under C.R.C.P. 59 with that underlying order. (Indeed, we note that husband made this same connection in his response to the show cause order when he commented that precluding his appeal under C.R.C.P. 59 would bar his appeal from the child support order.) Reading these orders together, we conclude that the motions division intended that husband's appeal would proceed only as to the post-decree order, and would be subject only to C.R.GP. 16.2 and CRCP. 60 standards of review.

110 Husband alternatively argues that his appeal from the child support order should be allowed to proceed because it is "inextricably linked" to the post-decree order. While the issues may overlap and may stem from the same factual cireumstances, husband may not use his timely appeal from the post-decree order as a means to revive an untimely appeal from the child support order. See People in Interest of J.A.U. v. R.L.C., 47 P.3d 327, 381 n. 6 (Colo.2002) (holding that an appeal from the denial of a Rule 60(b) motion raises only the question of whether the district court abused its discretion and does not bring up the underlying judgment for review); see also Guevara v. Foxhoven, 928 P.2d 798, 794-95 (Colo.App.1996) (reviewing court would not address the merits of the judgment where defendant timely appealed only the denial of C.R.C.P. 60(b) relief).

111 Finally, husband urges us to consider this contention under CAR, 2. That Rule allows an appellate court to suspend the requirements of the Colorado Appellate Rules in the interest of expediting a decision, or for other good cause shown. Husband's [1075]*1075only argument supporting this contention is that "it makes little sense" to require him to file two appeals. In our view, this argument doés not demonstrate good cause for us to suspend the rules and allow the untimely appeal from the child support order to proceed.

{12 Because husband did not timely appeal from the child support order, the issues he raises regarding that order are not properly before us. We dismiss this portion of the appeal. See Walker v. Walker, 264 P.3d 630, 631 (Colo.App.2011) (holding that an untimely filed appeal must be dismissed). ,

III Post-Decree Order

113 Husband contends that the district court abused its discretion when it denied his motion for post-trial relief after he established that wife had withheld financial information. He argues both that wife violated her duty to provide full and honest disclosure under C.R.C.P. 16.2, and also that the court should have relieved him from the child support order under either C.R.C.P. 60(b)(2) or C.R.C.P. 60(b)(5). We consider his contentions in turn.

A. C.R.C.P. 16.2(e)(10)

T 14 Husband argues that the district court abused its discretion by failing to find that wife violated C.R.C.P. 16.2(e)(10). We conclude that this Rule does not apply here and, therefore, affirm the district court's denial for a different reason. See In re Marriage of Rodrick,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2014 COA 96, 338 P.3d 1070, 2014 WL 3747348, 2014 Colo. App. LEXIS 1255, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-roddy-coloctapp-2014.