Sparcello v. Heno

848 So. 2d 610, 2002 La.App. 5 Cir. 317, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 20, 2003 WL 118224
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 14, 2003
DocketNo. 02-CA-317
StatusPublished

This text of 848 So. 2d 610 (Sparcello v. Heno) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sparcello v. Heno, 848 So. 2d 610, 2002 La.App. 5 Cir. 317, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 20, 2003 WL 118224 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

1 ¡WALTER J. ROTHSCHILD, Judge.

The sole issue presented by this appeal concerns the proper division of a community property asset between two former spouses. For the reasons stated more fully herein, we affirm the trial court’s judgment in this matter.

John Paul Sparcello and Gail Heno were married on December 12, 1962. Prior to and during the marriage, Mr. Sparcello was employed by the Orleans Parish Fire Department. On September 12, 1986, Mr. Sparcello filed a petition for divorce, and a judgment of divorce was subsequently rendered by the court on November 19, 1986.

On July 28, 1987, Ms. Heno filed a petition for partition of community property with a descriptive list. Mr. Sparcello answered this petition and submitted his own sworn descriptive list. In June of 1994, the parties entered into a Settlement of Community Property Agreement that was made judgment of the court on June 14, 1994. As part of this settlement, the parties agreed that Mr. Sparcello would remit payment to Ms. Heno representing one-half of all accumulated annual and sick leave acquired by him during the existence of the community as a result of his employment with the City of New Orleans. The I .-¡parties further agreed that the amount of this payment would be calculated by the City of New Orleans and paid when due upon Mr. Sparcello’s retirement or at the end of his employment with the City of New Orleans.

On May 11, 2000, Gail Heno filed a petition for enforcement of the June 1994 judgment. In this petition, Ms. Heno alleged that Mr. Sparcello retired from the Orleans Parish Fire Department in July of 1999 and that at that time he received payment of accumulated leave funds he acquired during his employment. Based on the previous agreement between the parties, Ms. Heno alleged that she was entitled to one-half of the community interest in these funds.

On July 13, 2000, the parties entered into a consent judgment in open court wherein Mr. Sparcello agreed to pay Ms. Heno $29,979.94 in full settlement of this matter. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Sparcello filed a motion for new trial arguing the judgment was contrary to law because the 1994 settlement agreement did not include annual or sick leave benefits. The trial court granted the motion for new trial, and the dispute was heard by the court on October 11, 2001.

Prior to trial, Ms. Heno discovered that Mr. Sparcello accumulated no annual leave during the period of existence of the com[612]*612munity, and Ms. Heno therefore limited her demand to her share of the accumulated sick leave only.

At trial, the parties stipulated that Mr. Sparcello was employed by the fire department from October 1, 1957 until his retirement on June 9, 1999. Additionally, the parties stipulated that the gross amount of accumulated annual and sick leave received by Mr. Sparcello upon his retirement in 1999 was $105,237.07. Further, a stipulation was entered that a community of acquets and gains existed between the parties from December 12, 1962 until September 12, 1986, and that Mr. Sparcello’s work-service period amounted to 41.69 years, 23.75 of which occurred during the existence of the community property regime.

| ¿Raymond Armant, payroll supervisor for the City of New Orleans, testified that he prepared a calculation of the amount of accumulated sick leave acquired by Mr. Sparcello during his employment with the fire department. Mr. Armant testified that the amount of leave that Mr. Sparcel-lo had acquired as of the date of termination of the community, September 12, 1986, was $44,463.75. However, Mr. Ar-mant admitted that this figure included the leave acquired by Mr. Sparcello prior to his marriage, and that he did not calculate the amount of leave acquired by Mr. Spar-cello soley during the existence of the community. Mr. Armant also stated that the value of the Mr. Sparcello’s leave benefits increased over time based on Mr. Sparcel-lo’s daily rate of pay increases. Mr. Spar-cello’s daily rate of pay at the termination of the community and at the time of partition was $118.57. His daily rate of pay at the time his retirement was $154.28.

Sandra Gauthier, an employee of the city finance department, testified that she calculated the amount of sick leave benefits accumulated by Mr. Sparcello during the existence of the community property. She stated that 527.33 sick days were accumulated between 1962 and 1986, and that based on Mr. Sparcello’s 1986 daily rate of pay of $118.57, the total value of accumulated leave benefits amounted to $30,235.36. Both Ms. Gauthier and Mr. Armant agreed that no payments were made to Mr. Sparcello at this time however, as the payments only became due upon retirement or termination of employment.

After taking the matter under advisement and accepting post-trial memoranda, the trial court gave the following reasons for judgment:

The evidence supports that the parties’ benefits are to be calculated based upon the proceeds accumulated during their marriage through September 12, 1986. Thus, the percentage due each party is determined to be calculated upon the sum of Thirty thousand, two hundred, thirty five and 36/100 ($30,235.36) dollars. We find no basis in law to extend to Mrs. Sparcello leave accumulated by Mr. Sparcello beyond the date of September 12,1986.

|fiBased on that determination, the trial court divided Mr. Sparcello’s sick leave benefits totaling $30,325.36 in the following manner: 28.488% to Ms. Heno and 71.51% to Mr. Sparcello.

Ms. Heno now appeals from this judgment on the basis of a sole assignment of error. Appellant argues that based on the terms of the community property settlement agreement, the value of the funds in dispute here were to be calculated at the time of Mr. Sparcello’s retirement rather than valued at the time of the termination of the community. Appellant argues she is entitled to the increased value of these funds which accrued after the termination of the community, and she contends that the trial court erred in ignoring the hold[613]*613ings of Sims v. Sims, 358 So.2d 919 (La.1978) and Hare v. Hodgins, 586 So.2d 118.

In Sims, supra, the Supreme Court recognized that when the community is dissolved, the non-employed spouse is entitled to have recognized his or her one-half interest in the right to receive payments from employee benefit plans, in the proportion that these payments result from the employment or contributions during the community. The court also established the formula to determine a non-employee spouse’s interest in an employee benefit plan. Pursuant to that formula, the community interest in such a plan is expressed as a fraction with the numerator representing the number of years of creditable service that accrued during the existence of the community and the denominator representing the total years of creditable service. The fraction is then multiplied by one-half to determine the non-employee spouse’s share of the retirement benefits.

Although the present case does not involve pension rights, the parties applied the holding in Sims in the settlement agreement between them by recognizing the right of Ms. Heno to receive one half of the accumulated annual and sick leave due to Mr. Sparcello. Further, the trial court applied the Sims formula in determining that Ms. Heno was entitled to 28.488% of the accumulated [ fisick leave benefits, and the parties do not dispute this proportion. As stated in Sims, this figure represents one-half of the community portion of the entire amount of accumulated benefits.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sims v. Sims
358 So. 2d 919 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
Hare v. Hodgins
586 So. 2d 118 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
848 So. 2d 610, 2002 La.App. 5 Cir. 317, 2003 La. App. LEXIS 20, 2003 WL 118224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sparcello-v-heno-lactapp-2003.