Randall v. Randall

948 So. 2d 71, 2007 Fla. App. LEXIS 411, 2007 WL 102492
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 17, 2007
DocketNo. 3D06-6
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 948 So. 2d 71 (Randall v. Randall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Randall v. Randall, 948 So. 2d 71, 2007 Fla. App. LEXIS 411, 2007 WL 102492 (Fla. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

WELLS, Judge.

Kristina Randall appeals from an order finding her in indirect civil contempt, discharging a contempt order previously entered against her former husband, Stephen Randall, and changing the terms of an earlier order as to the sale of certain property. We reverse this order in all respects.

In June of 2002, the parties’ thirty year marriage was dissolved by a final judgment of dissolution of marriage which incorporated an agreement primarily made in open court. Pursuant to that agreement, Ms. Randall waived alimony “in return for an equitable distribution of the marital estate” which turned out to equal a one half ownership interest in Atlantic Mills, Inc., a company owned by the parties and operated by Mr. Randall during the marriage, and one half of the equity value, then set at $500,000, in a warehouse to remain titled in Mr. Randall’s name.

With regard to Atlantic Mills, Mr. Randall was given until May 2002 (a month before the final judgment) to get that business “in order,” failing which Mrs. Randall was to take over its operation. Although [72]*72Mr. Randall was ordered to pay child support for the parties’ two minor children, he was permitted to pay it from Atlantic Mills’ funds until that entity was sold. Atlantic Mills’ funds also were to be used, until sold, to pay certain specified loans and business expenses, health insurance for the parties and their children, lease and insurance payments on both Mr. and Mrs. Randall’s cars, disability insurance for the parties, insurance on the warehouse awarded to Mr. Randall, a line of credit with Eastern National Bank and $250 per week in salary to Mrs. Randall. As for the sale of this business, the final judgment provided:

Should a cash offer of Three Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand Dollars ($375,-000.00) or more come in for Atlantic Mills, then neither party may withhold his or her consent to the sale. The Court reserves jurisdiction to determine whether there should be a sale based upon an inferior offer should the parties be unable to agree.

Although the final judgment did not obligate Mr. Randall to sell the warehouse so that Mrs. Randall would receive her distribution by any certain date, it did require the net monthly income from that property ($9600 per month from tenants and leased billboard space, less mortgage, taxes, and maintenance) to be deposited into a joint signatory account and distributed equally between the parties.

The judgment also distributed the parties’ personal debts making Mr. Randall responsible for all personal debts of the parties with the exception of an MBNA credit card, a Neiman Marcus credit card, a direct student loan, and one-half of an outstanding dental bill for which Mrs. Randall was to be “responsible.”

Barely five months after the final judgment was entered, on November 15, 2002, an order was entered finding that Mr. Randall had violated virtually every provision of the final judgment. Specifically, the court found that Mr. Randall failed to pay required private school tuition; that Mr. Randall, while in sole control of Atlantic Mills, had failed to pay Mrs. Randall’s car and disability insurance; and that Mr. Randall had used Atlantic Mills’ funds to pay for an appraisal and the property taxes on his warehouse and to pay for some of his personal expenses. The court also found that contrary to the final judgment, Mr. Randall had negotiated with a lender without Mrs. Randall’s consent and that as a consequence of Mr. Randall’s actions, Atlantic Mills had been rendered essentially valueless:

The Former Husband deliberately undermined the Former Wife’s position in Atlantic Mills, Inc. and set about in a deliberate and destructive manner to squander Atlantic Mills, Inc. revenues and assets prior to the turnover to the Former Wife on June 1, 2002....

The court also noted that Mr. Randall had received an offer to purchase his warehouse for $900,000 and although he was not obligated to sell it, “all financial obligations to the parties still outstanding could be resolved by such sale including any debt on the credit line of Atlantic Mills, Inc. or the outstanding mortgage on the warehouse.” Based on these findings, and the finding that Mr. Randall was “satisfied to earn two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) a week from Atlantic Mills, Inc. rather than work for another income producing entity,” Mr. Randall was ordered to report to the court within 45 days as to whether he had paid $250,000 to Mrs. Randall or had sold the warehouse:

B. Within forty-five (45) days, the Former Husband shall report to the Court as to either the sale of the Warehouse or the payment of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000.00) to [73]*73Ms. Randall in order to purge himself of this Order of willful contempt.
C. If the Former Husband fails to pay the two hundred Sty thousand dollars ($250,000.00) or sale the warehouse in order to raise the money to pay the two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000.00), the Former Husband may be incarcerated for failure to comply with this Order.

Mr. Randall appealed this order. It was, however, affirmed with an award of appellate fees and costs to Mrs. Randall. Randall v. Randall, 875 So.2d 667 (Fla. 3d DCA2004).

On September 13, 2005, a new judge was assigned to this case. Rather than selling the warehouse, Mr. Randall requested permission to refinance it. The court agreed to permit Mr. Randall to refinance the warehouse “provided that the Former Wife shall be paid $250,000 in full, with interest thereon, first, without setoff, from 11/15/02; and provided that the Final Judgment for Appellate Attorney’s Fees and Costs shall likewise be satisfied.” Mr. Randall did not, however, either sell or refinance the warehouse. Nor did he pay Mrs. Randall as repeatedly ordered. Rather, he filed two motions for rehearing in which he sought to set off virtually the entire, if not the entire, $250,000 that he was to pay to Mrs. Randall.1

The motions were granted. Contrary to the order of November 15, 2002, affirmed by this court, this order, dated December 12, 2005, found that it was Mrs. Randall’s refusal to accept a $235,000 offer to purchase Atlantic Mills prior to entry of the amended final judgment and not Mr. Randall’s “deliberate and destructive” conduct that caused Atlantic Mills to be lost. Although no basis was found for holding Mrs. Randall in contempt for failing or refusing to sell this business, the court nonetheless concluded that Mrs. Randall’s “refusal to accept the offer to purchase was unreasonable ... and since [Mrs. Randall] was willing to accept zero, zero is exactly what she shall receive by way of this order.” Mr. Randall was relieved of the obligation imposed by the November 15, 2002, order — an order affirmed by this court — to either pay Mrs. Randall $250,000 or to sell his warehouse so that he could pay her for dissipating this asset;

On November 15, 2002, this Court found the former husband in contempt for failing to pay the former wife $250,000.00 despite the fact that the warehouse had not been sold.... This Court now determines that the former husband need not ever sell the warehouse if he so chooses and that he is only obligated to pay the former wife if a sale ever occurs. The contempt finding against the former husband is now discharged.

(Emphasis added).

Mrs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
948 So. 2d 71, 2007 Fla. App. LEXIS 411, 2007 WL 102492, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/randall-v-randall-fladistctapp-2007.