Michael Karl Kuehner, App V. Brenda Wallace Kuehner, Resp

CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedFebruary 6, 2024
Docket57203-6
StatusUnpublished

This text of Michael Karl Kuehner, App V. Brenda Wallace Kuehner, Resp (Michael Karl Kuehner, App V. Brenda Wallace Kuehner, Resp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Michael Karl Kuehner, App V. Brenda Wallace Kuehner, Resp, (Wash. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

Filed Washington State Court of Appeals Division Two

February 6, 2024

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

DIVISION II In the Matter of the Marriage of: No. 57203-6-II

MICHAEL KARL KUEHNER,

Appellant,

v. UNPUBLISHED OPINION

BRENDA WALLACE KUEHNER,

Respondent.

VELJACIC, J. — Michael Kuehner and Brenda Wallace Kuehner (hereinafter Michael and

Brenda) filed for divorce in 2018. The parties negotiated a settlement agreement under Civil Rule

(CR) 2A in July 2020. Two years later, Michael filed a motion to reduce his monthly spousal

maintenance obligation under the settlement agreement, which Brenda responded to by counter

motion. In July 2022, the trial court issued an order in Brenda’s favor. Michael then filed a motion

to vacate the July 2022 order under CR 60(b)(4), claiming it was obtained through fraud. He

appeals the trial court’s denial of this motion.

We hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying Michael’s motion to

vacate, and that the trial court properly interpreted the settlement agreement. We affirm the trial

court’s orders. We also award Brenda attorney fees. 57203-6-II

FACTS

Michael and Brenda were married in 1987. They ceased living together in 2015, and

Michael filed for divorce in 2018. Eventually, the parties negotiated, and on July 20, 2020,

executed a CR 2A settlement agreement.1 The relevant portion of the settlement agreement reads:

1. Michael Kuehner shall pay Brenda Kuehner spousal maintenance of $6,000 per month beginning August 2020 until the full $360,000 is paid per paragraph 2, below. Payments shall be due on the 15th of each month. 2. Michael Kuehner shall pay Brenda Kuehner $360,000 within the next three (3) years, beginning August 2020. 3. Each time Brenda Kuehner receives $120,000, Michael Kuehner’s spousal maintenance obligation shall be reduced by $2,000 per month. Once Michael Kuehner has paid Brenda Kuehner $360,000, his spousal maintenance obligation shall be terminated. 4. Michael Kuehner’s $120,000 payments shall be made directly to Brenda Kuehner or an LLC established by Brenda Kuehner at her sole discretion. 5. So long as Michael Kuehner owes spousal maintenance to Brenda Kuehner, he shall maintain and or designate Brenda Kuehner as the beneficiary of his life insurance policy with New York Life, up to $360,000 or amount owed per this Agreement, including unpaid maintenance.

Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 14.

On March 12, 2021, after several hearings, the trial court ruled that all obligations had been

performed and that the settlement agreement was enforceable. On September 21, Superior Court

Commissioner Gelman held a hearing focusing on one aspect of the CR 2A agreement:

maintenance of an insurance policy. The hearing resulted in an order (hereinafter “Gelman Order”)

that read:

It is also ordered that Michael Kuehner must maintain New York Life policies listing Brenda Wallace Kuehner as the beneficiary with beneficiary benefits of at least $360,000 payable to Brenda Wallace Kuehner. These policies must remain current and enforceable until the full amount of the $360,000 dollar equalization payment bas been paid in full.

1 A trial court order regarding the settlement agreement has already been before this court. That opinion addresses attorney fees and is unrelated to matters in this appeal. In re Marriage of Kuehner, No. 55323-6-II (Wash. Ct. App. Mar. 1, 2022) (unpublished), http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/.

2 57203-6-II

CP at 235.

However, that language was edited in pen by the commissioner to read:

It is also ordered that Michael Kuehner must maintain New York Life policies listing Brenda Wallace Kuehner as the beneficiary with beneficiary benefits up to $360,000 payable to Brenda Wallace Kuehner. These policies must remain current and enforceable until the amount of spousal maintenance owed to a maximum of $360,000 pursuant to the CR2A agreement has been paid in full.

CP at 25 (emphasis indicates the changes).

In June 2022, Michael filed a motion seeking to reduce his $6,000 monthly maintenance2

obligation to $4,000. But Michael did not confirm his motion to reduce the maintenance payments,

so it was stricken and not heard.

Brenda filed a counter motion, seeking an order clarifying and enforcing the terms of the

settlement agreement as imposing separate obligations for a $360,000 community property

equalization payment and for monthly spousal maintenance. She argued that the agreement was

not that she would receive $360,000 for spousal maintenance. Rather, her position was that she

would continue to receive monthly spousal maintenance until Michael had paid the community

property equalization obligation of $360,000, and that the amounts agreed to in the disputed

paragraphs were separate awards. Michael did not file a response to Brenda’s counter motion.

In July 2022, the trial court heard Brenda’s counter motion and adopted Brenda’s

interpretation of the settlement agreement. The court ordered that: (1) the spousal maintenance

and the community property equalization obligation in the settlement agreement were separate

obligations; (2) the $360,000 was “a cash obligation from [Michael] to [Brenda] as payment for

her interest in the parties’ community property and to be paid within three years of the date of the

2 “Spousal maintenance” or “maintenance” is sometimes referred to as “spousal support” by the trial court and the parties.

3 57203-6-II

agreement,” CP at 36; and (3) the current maintenance amount was $6,000 per month. The court

further clarified:

The maintenance award is separate and distinct from the property award of $360,000. Per the language of the CR2A agreement, the spousal maintenance is tied to the property award because spousal maintenance terminates upon full payment of the $360,000, and the monthly maintenance obligation is reduced under the agreement when certain benchmarks are met regarding payment of the $360,000 property award as follows: Once Petitioner has paid $120,000 towards the property obligation, the monthly spousal support payment would be reduced by $2,000, to $4,000 per month. Once an additional $120,000 was paid toward the property obligation, support would be reduced by $2000, to $2000 per month. Spousal maintenance terminates when the $360,000 is paid in its entirety.

CP at 36.

Subsequently, Michael filed a notice of appeal of the order on the counter motion and

brought a motion to vacate the July 2022 order under CR 60(b)(3) and (4), claiming it was obtained

through fraud. Essentially, he asserted that Brenda had fraudulently misrepresented her intent to

the trial court because the parties had previously mutually intended $360,000 to be the maximum

total amount of all payments.

In support of his motion to vacate, Michael filed with the court a disclosure of possible

witnesses and exhibits and the declaration of his former attorney, Barbara Henderson, concerning

the settlement agreement. CP 50. The Henderson declaration was never offered into evidence,

and Henderson did not appear for testimony. In support of his position, Michael also filed

documents prepared by David Syme, Michael’s attorney, but these were voluntarily withdrawn.

The declaration was described by Syme as “just an attempt to explain the math.” Rep. of Proc.

(RP) (Sept. 30, 2022) at 27.

After hearing Michael’s CR 60 motion on September 30, 2022, the trial court denied it.

The court said: “Given that we are where we are and I’m now aware of Commissioner Gelman’s

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