Marriage of Servin v. Servin

345 N.W.2d 754, 1984 Minn. LEXIS 1282
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedMarch 16, 1984
DocketC3-82-1471, CX-83-280
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 345 N.W.2d 754 (Marriage of Servin v. Servin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marriage of Servin v. Servin, 345 N.W.2d 754, 1984 Minn. LEXIS 1282 (Mich. 1984).

Opinion

TODD, Justice.

Ruth and Donald Servin were divorced by a judgment and decree entered April 28, 1980 and Ruth appealed from part of the award. On December 26, 1980 an order was filed requiring her to post a supersede-as bond guaranteeing payment of rent on the marital homestead from and after October 16, 1980. The bond was to become payable if the judgment was affirmed. On May 14, 1981 the appeals panel remanded the matter to the trial court for a new trial on the nature of the debt involved and for amendment of the decree as to the proceeds from the sale of the homestead.

On February 17, 1982 an order was filed amending certain portions of the original decree. On September 7, 1982 an amended judgment and decree pursuant to the order of February 17, 1982 was entered. On November 29, 1982, an order was filed directing Ruth Servin to cooperate in the sale of the homestead and awarded Donald Ser-vin an amount equal to the sum of $200 per month for accrued rentals from and after October 16, 1980 to the date of closing.

The facts in this case are not in dispute. Donald Servin claims the appeal to this court is not timely filed. Ruth Servin claims the trial court erred in the method it used to achieve its goal of equal division of the marital property. She also claims error in failing to award permanent spousal maintenance and compelling her to pay the costs of a supersedeas bond she posted in her original appeal. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

1. The time for filing an appeal to this court was formerly described in Rule 104.01:

An appeal from a judgment may be taken within 90 days after the entry thereof, and from an order within 30 days after service of written notice of filing thereof by the adverse party.
The time for taking an appeal from a partial judgment disposing of less than all multiple claims or affecting less than all of the multiple parties to an action shall begin to run on the date of the entry of the final judgment relating to all of the remaining multiple claims or multiple parties.

*757 Minn.R.Civ.App.P. 104.01. 1 The timing of this appeal must be set out for a proper review of the case. The first notice of appeal was filed on November 8, 1982 from the order of February 17, 1982 and the amended judgment and decree entered on September 7, 1982. The second notice of appeal was taken on February 23, 1983 from the order dated November 29, 1982. It is crucial to note that in neither case was a notice of the filing, which begins the 30-day filing period for orders, served by either party on the other.

Ruth appealed on November 8, 1982 from the order of February 17, 1982 and the amended judgment and decree entered September 7, 1982. No notice of the filing of the February order was served by either party on the other. See State ex rel. Kruse v. Webster, 231 Minn. 309, 314-15, 43 N.W.2d 116, 119 (1950); Strand v. Chicago Great Western R. Co., 147 Minn. 1, 3, 179 N.W. 369, 370 (1920). Donald never filed notice with Ruth and, therefore, the statutory time limitations of Rule 104.01 never began. Ruth’s appeal from the February 17, 1982 order is timely. The appeal from the amended judgment and decree is clearly timely since it is within the 90-day period allowed by Rule 104.01.

The appeal from the November 29, 1982 order is also timely. The notice of appeal was filed on February 23, 1983 outside the 30-day time limitation. Neither Donald nor Ruth served upon the other party a notice that the order was filed, and therefore, the 30-day time limitation for appeal under Rule 104.01 never began.

Donald’s real argument regarding the appeal from amended judgment and decree on November 8, 1982 is that Ruth should and could have earlier appealed from those issues determined in the original judgment and decree and not considered in the amended judgment and decree. He argues that the original judgment and decree was entered on April 28, 1980 and the 90 days began to run at that time for those issues not considered on appeal to the three-judge district court panel.

Rephrased, the issue is whether appellant is entitled to appeal from all issues in the original judgment and decree when the judgment and decree has since been amended. The general rule in Minnesota is that after amendment or modification of an order, the time within which an appeal must be taken begins to run from the date of the amendment or modification, although some states require that the modification be substantial before granting extended time to appeal. Krug v. Independent School Dist. No. 16, 293 N.W.2d 26, 29 (Minn.1980).

This court stated in E.C.I. Corp. v. G.G.C. Co., 306 Minn. 433, 237 N.W.2d 627 (1976), that “[t]he correct application of Rule 104.01 is that the time to appeal an issue begins to run anew from a modification of judgment when the issue was for some reason not appealable before the modification.” Id. at 435, 237 N.W.2d at 629. The issue in the instant case then is whether the issues on appeal were for some reason not appealable before the modification of the original judgment by the amended judgment and decree.

The issues raised on appeal to the three-judge district court panel were whether the trial court abused its discretion in failing to make a just and equitable division of property, in ordering the homestead sold and in failing to award permanent spousal maintenance. The panel limited its consideration to whether the trial court abused its discretion in disposing of the marital property, in ordering payment of respondent’s debt with proceeds from the sale of parties’ real estate, and in setting its maintenance award. Essentially, the panel had before it on appeal the same issues assigned for error below in the trial court.

The panel remanded all issues to the trial court for a new trial. It found that it failed to “find facts sufficient to determine if the debt was marital or individual.” The *758 court stated: “[bjecause of the inconsistency between the findings of fact and conclusions of law and the insufficiency of evidence to determine the character of the debt, the court remands this matter to the trial court for a new trial on the issue of, whether the debt incurred to Esther Servin [Mr. Servin’s mother] was a marital or individual debt.” It also held that the trial court's conclusions regarding the division of real estate proceeds were insufficient to allow it to determine if the trial court’s property and maintenance award was inequitable.

It is clear from the issues addressed by the panel that the issues on appeal were not limited to whether the debt to Mr. Servin’s mother would be treated as a marital debt or as an individual debt of Mr. Servin. Ruth Servin would have had a duty to appeal those issues neither being considered by the panel nor affecting the original judgment. The issues here on appeal were

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Bluebook (online)
345 N.W.2d 754, 1984 Minn. LEXIS 1282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marriage-of-servin-v-servin-minn-1984.