Ryan v. Ryan

946 N.E.2d 1191, 2011 WL 1119011
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 28, 2011
Docket71A03-1009-DR-453
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 946 N.E.2d 1191 (Ryan v. Ryan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ryan v. Ryan, 946 N.E.2d 1191, 2011 WL 1119011 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

946 N.E.2d 1191 (2011)

Sean Thomas RYAN, Appellant-Petitioner,
v.
Dee Anna RYAN, Appellee-Respondent.

No. 71A03-1009-DR-453.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

March 28, 2011.

*1192 Matthew A. Yeakey, Sanders Pianowski, LLP, Elkhart, IN, Attorney for Appellant.

Robert J. Palmer, May Oberfell Lorber, Mishawaka, IN, Attorney for Appellee.

OPINION

BROWN, Judge.

Sean Thomas Ryan ("Husband") appeals the denial of his motion for relief under Ind. Trial Rule 60(B). Husband raises three issues, which we revise and restate as whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for relief from judgment without hearing pertinent evidence. We reverse and remand.

The relevant facts follow. Husband and Dee Anna Ryan ("Wife") were married on February 28, 2000, and had children in August 2001 and June 2003. Husband filed a verified petition for dissolution of marriage on March 5, 2008. On September 19, 2008, the trial court issued a decree *1193 of dissolution of marriage which incorporated a Property Settlement Agreement (the "Settlement Agreement"). Section 5 of the Settlement Agreement set forth the parties' agreement as to the division of their real estate which included a parcel and house located in Granger, Indiana (the "Granger House"), and a parcel and house located in Union, Michigan (the "Lake House").

Section 5 of the Settlement Agreement also provided that the proceeds from the sale of the Granger House and Lake House would be divided pursuant to a private agreement. The Private Agreement provided in part that either party could bind the other to accept an offer to purchase one of the properties so long as the resulting net proceeds would equal at least $1,100,000 in the case of the Granger House or $300,000 in the case of the Lake House. Following the decree of dissolution, the parties listed the Granger House for sale at a listing price of $1,349,000 and the Lake House at a price of $349,000.

On May 14, 2010, Husband filed a motion for relief from judgment under Ind. Trial Rule 60(B)(8) and argued that the Granger House and the Lake House could not be sold under the terms of the Settlement Agreement and Private Agreement in light of housing prices in St. Joseph County, Indiana, and Cass County, Michigan, respectively, and thus the court's duty under Ind.Code § 31-15-7-4 to divide the property of the parties could not be effectuated without equitable relief. On June 16, 2010, Wife filed a memorandum in opposition to Husband's motion together with an affidavit of a real estate agent. In the memorandum, Wife argued that a property settlement agreement cannot be modified by the court under the circumstances, that Husband's motion fell under Rule 60(B)(1) rather than Rule 60(B)(8) and therefore was untimely, and that Husband's motion was unsupported by admissible evidence. The court held an initial hearing on June 16, 2010 and provided Husband time to file an additional memorandum.

On June 22, 2010, Husband filed a memorandum in support of his motion for relief from judgment and motion for evidentiary hearing together with his affidavit. In the memorandum, Husband argued that the court's non-delegable duty to achieve a final division of property cannot be accomplished without relief from the judgment and that Rule 60(B)(8) is an appropriate method to seek relief from judgment in a marital dissolution proceeding. Also on June 22, 2010, the court held a hearing and gave Wife time to file a response to Husband's memorandum.

On July 16, 2010, Wife filed a memorandum in opposition to Husband's motion for relief and motion for evidentiary hearing. On August 3, 2010, the court entered an order denying Husband's motion for relief under Rule 60(B)(8) and denying the motion to hold an evidentiary hearing. Additional facts will be provided.

The issue is whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying Husband's motion for relief from judgment without hearing pertinent evidence. Motions for relief from judgment are governed by Ind. Trial Rule 60(B), which provides in relevant part:

On motion and upon such terms as are just the court may relieve a party or his legal representative from a judgment. . . for the following reasons:
(1) mistake, surprise, or excusable neglect;
* * * * * *
(8) any reason justifying relief from the operation of the judgment, other than those reasons set forth in subparagraphs (1), (2), (3), and (4).
*1194 The motion shall be filed within a reasonable time for reasons (5), (6), (7), and (8), and not more than one year after the judgment, order or proceeding was entered or taken for reasons (1), (2), (3), and (4). A movant filing a motion for reasons (1), (2), (3), (4), and (8) must allege a meritorious claim or defense.

The burden is on the movant to establish grounds for Trial Rule 60(B) relief. In re Paternity of P.S.S., 934 N.E.2d 737, 740 (Ind.2010). A motion made under Rule 60(B) is addressed to the equitable discretion of the trial court; the grant or denial of the Rule 60(B) motion will be disturbed only when that discretion has been abused. Id. at 740-741 (citation and quotation marks omitted). An abuse of discretion will be found only when the trial court's action is clearly erroneous, that is, against the logic and effect of the facts before it and the inferences which may be drawn therefrom. Id. at 741 (citation and quotation marks omitted). A motion for relief from judgment under Rule 60(B) is not a substitute for a direct appeal. Id. at 740. Rule 60(B) motions address only the procedural, equitable grounds justifying relief from the legal finality of a final judgment, not the legal merits of the judgment. Id.

A. Basis for Relief

We initially address the parties' arguments regarding whether Husband may request and the trial court has the authority to grant relief pursuant to Trial Rule 60(B)(8) under these circumstances. The trial court's order denying Husband's Trial Rule 60(B)(8) motion states in part that Wife filed memoranda in opposition to Husband's request for relief from judgment on June 16, 2010 and July 16, 2010 and that "[a]fter reviewing all of the submitted memorand[a] and citations contained therein, the Court now respectfully denies [Husband's] motion for [Trial Rule] 60(B) relief for generally the reasons stated in [Wife's] memoranda."[1] Appellant's Appendix at 7.

Husband argues that "[i]n filing his [Trial Rule] 60(B)(8) Motion, [he] utilized an approved procedure for the trial court to effectuate a final property settlement." Appellant's Brief at 15. Husband also argues that the trial court's nondelegable duty to effectuate the statutorily required final distribution of marital property cannot be accomplished without relief from the judgment. Wife argues that "[t]here is no evidence of duress, fraud or undue influence," that she "does not consent to a modification of the [] Settlement Agreement," and that "[t]herefore, the trial court did not have authority to grant [Husband's] petition." Appellee's Brief at 8. Wife argues that "[a]ssuming the Court determines that a property settlement agreement can be modified through a Trial Rule 60(B) motion, [Husband's] motion is nevertheless untimely." Id. at 11.

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Related

Sean Thomas Ryan v. Dee Anna Ryan
972 N.E.2d 359 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
946 N.E.2d 1191, 2011 WL 1119011, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ryan-v-ryan-indctapp-2011.