Ruberg v. Ruberg

858 So. 2d 1147
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 7, 2003
Docket2D01-2139, 2D01-4224, 2D02-1067
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 858 So. 2d 1147 (Ruberg v. Ruberg) 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
Ruberg v. Ruberg, 858 So. 2d 1147 (Fla. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

858 So.2d 1147 (2003)

Sandra G. RUBERG, Appellant/Cross-Appellee,
v.
David C. RUBERG, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

Nos. 2D01-2139, 2D01-4224, 2D02-1067.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

November 7, 2003.

*1149 Arnold D. Levine and Robert H. Mackenzie of Levine, Hirsch, Segall, Mackenzie & Friedsam, P.A., Tampa, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee.

David A. Maney and Patricia F. Kuhlman of Maney, Damsker, Jones, Kiely & Kuhlman, P.A. Tampa, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

CANADY, Judge.

In these consolidated appeals, the appellant/cross-appellee, Sandra G. Ruberg, challenges the following: the equitable distribution scheme set forth in a final judgment *1150 of marital dissolution; an order that only partially grants her motion for attorney's fees and costs with respect to the marital dissolution; and an order that denies her request for an increased alimony award. On cross-appeal, the appellee/cross-appellant, David C. Ruberg, challenges a provision of the final judgment of marital dissolution that requires him to maintain a $1,000,000 life insurance policy for the benefit of Mrs. Ruberg and an order that denies his request for a decrease in Mrs. Ruberg's alimony award. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. BACKGROUND

The parties were married in 1976. They have three adult children. During the marriage, the parties relocated several times to different parts of the country due to Mr. Ruberg's employment. The Ruberg family moved to Tampa in 1993, when Mr. Ruberg was hired as president and chief executive officer of Intermedia Communications, Inc.

On September 17, 1998, Mrs. Ruberg filed for divorce. A final judgment dissolving the parties' marriage was entered on October 18, 2000. The equitable distribution of the parties' marital assets did not occur, however, until April 5, 2001, when a second final judgment of marital dissolution was entered. That judgment reaffirmed and incorporated by reference the October 2000 dissolution judgment, awarded Mrs. Ruberg permanent monthly alimony, and divided and distributed the parties' marital assets.

A. Equitable Distribution

The April 2001 judgment awarded Mrs. Ruberg marital assets with a net value of $1,126,971. Those assets included, among other things, the marital home; a second residence the parties purchased for Mrs. Ruberg's elderly father; retirement, investment, and bank accounts that had been jointly owned by the parties; and $360,000, which Mr. Ruberg paid to Mrs. Ruberg during the pendency of the dissolution proceedings.

The April 2001 final judgment also provided for an equal division of 675,301 shares of Intermedia stock. That stock had been awarded to Mr. Ruberg in a series of option and restricted share grants during his employment with Intermedia. The trial court determined that one of those grants was awarded as a signing bonus when Mr. Ruberg began his employment with Intermedia and that the others constituted long-term incentive compensation to Mr. Ruberg. It was established that the block of 675,301 shares had vested and become exercisable prior to the filing date of Mrs. Ruberg's dissolution petition. The trial court determined those shares to be marital property subject to equitable distribution. The trial court, however, found that another 299,370 shares of stock options and 170,482 shares of restricted stock were unvested and constituted nonmarital property.

B. Alimony

The trial court went on to award Mrs. Ruberg $18,000 in permanent monthly alimony. The final judgment contains an extensive discussion of the testimony adduced by the parties concerning the economic factors to be considered under section 61.08(2), Florida Statutes (2001), in determining alimony. In its discussion, the trial court makes reference to evidence adduced by Mrs. Ruberg pointing to a monthly need—based on the parties' lifestyle during the marriage—in excess of $45,000 (pretax). The trial court did not, however, make any specific findings regarding the amount of alimony needed by Mrs. Ruberg to maintain the standard of living she enjoyed during the marriage.

*1151 As security for the payment of the alimony, Mr. Ruberg was ordered to "maintain a $1,000,000 [term] life insurance policy (death benefits), of which Mrs. Ruberg [was] to be a beneficiary so long as [Mr. Ruberg was] obligated to pay Mrs. Ruberg permanent alimony." The judgment contains no findings related to the life insurance requirement.

The trial court reserved jurisdiction to revisit and reevaluate the alimony issue, if necessary. The trial court did so because, when the alimony award was entered, a merger between Intermedia and World-Com, Inc., was pending. The merger agreement specified that WorldCom's purchase price for Intermedia would be based on a stock price of thirty-nine dollars per share. Due to the volatility of the stock market at the time of the equitable distribution of the parties' marital assets and the uncertainty of whether the sale of Intermedia to WorldCom would actually close—or what the share price would be if it did close—the trial court indicated that "the [p]arties may or may not receive substantial value in the assets distributed to them." The trial court thus reserved jurisdiction "to adjust the amount of the permanent alimony award once the sale of Intermedia to WorldCom [was] concluded and th[e][c]ourt [was] able to determine the value of those assets received by Mrs. Ruberg as equitable distribution of marital assets." The trial court also reserved jurisdiction to determine Mrs. Ruberg's claim for attorney and expert witness fees and costs. On May 9, 2001, after the denial of the parties' respective motions for rehearing, Mrs. Ruberg timely appealed the final dissolution judgment, and Mr. Ruberg cross-appealed.

C. Attorney's Fees

On August 2, 2001, the trial court ruled on Mrs. Ruberg's fee motion. After considering each of the parties' financial resources and determining that Mr. Ruberg's future "earning ability [was] substantially superior to that of [Mrs. Ruberg]," the trial court entered an order directing Mr. Ruberg to pay a total of $241,949.15 toward Mrs. Ruberg's fees and costs. That sum was in addition to significant sums Mr. Ruberg had previously contributed to Mrs. Ruberg's attorney's fees during the pendency of the dissolution proceedings. The fee order provided that Mrs. Ruberg "shall be responsible for any other outstanding balances of fees and costs," and that her "request for reimbursement of any other fees and/or costs paid by her is denied." On August 28, 2001, Mrs. Ruberg timely appealed the trial court's fee order to this court.

D. Alimony Modification

Thereafter, the merger of Intermedia and WorldCom successfully closed. Thus, on November 12, 2001, this court relinquished jurisdiction as to the appeal from the final dissolution judgment to allow the trial court to consider the parties' respective motions for modification of the original alimony award in accord with the reservation of jurisdiction set forth in the final dissolution judgment.

On March 11, 2002, the trial court entered its order denying Mrs. Ruberg's motion to increase and Mr. Ruberg's motion to decrease the alimony award. Upon determining that the then-current net value of Mrs. Ruberg's WorldCom stock was $2,417,246—based on a share price of fifteen dollars—the trial court refused to increase her monthly alimony award. The trial court likewise refused to decrease Mrs. Ruberg's alimony, despite Mr.

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858 So. 2d 1147, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ruberg-v-ruberg-fladistctapp-2003.