Thomas Maginnis v. Ninamary Maginnis

CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJune 17, 2021
Docket2019 CA 001090
StatusUnknown

This text of Thomas Maginnis v. Ninamary Maginnis (Thomas Maginnis v. Ninamary Maginnis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thomas Maginnis v. Ninamary Maginnis, (Ky. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

RENDERED: JUNE 18, 2021; 10:00 A.M. NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

Commonwealth of Kentucky Court of Appeals NO. 2019-CA-1090-MR

THOMAS MAGINNIS APPELLANT

APPEAL FROM JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT v. HONORABLE GINA KAY CALVERT, JUDGE ACTION NO. 17-CI-500728

NINAMARY MAGINNIS APPELLEE

OPINION AFFIRMING IN PART, VACATING IN PART, AND REMANDING

** ** ** ** **

BEFORE: GOODWINE, K. THOMPSON, AND L. THOMPSON, JUDGES.

THOMPSON, K., JUDGE: Thomas Maginnis appeals from the property division

and maintenance determinations made by the Jefferson Family Court in its order

which contained findings of fact, conclusions of law, and the decree dissolving his

marriage to Ninamary Maginnis. We vacate the valuation of a marital business,

which means we must also vacate the maintenance award.

Thomas and Ninamary were married in 1986 and separated in 2017.

At the time of the trial in 2019, Ninamary was 62 and Thomas 58, and they had no minor children. Ninamary was admitted to practice law in 1998 and worked in the

legal field until being diagnosed with leukemia in 2014. Though she maintained

her law license, she was declared totally disabled by the Social Security

Administration in 2017. Thomas has a high school diploma and had taken some

college courses.

In 1994, the parties started a business called Chimney Master.

Thomas performed the manual labor as a chimney sweep and Ninamary performed

some other tasks, such as bookkeeping. At the time of trial, Chimney Master had

one other employee.

As it pertains to this appeal, the main issues remaining for resolution

at trial were valuing Chimney Master and determining whether Ninamary was

entitled to maintenance (and, if so, in what amount and for what duration). In

conjunction with this dispute, the parties wished to rely on valuation testimony by

expert witnesses.

On December 17, 2017, Ninamary served interrogatories on Thomas

that included a request for disclosure of any expert witnesses in accordance with

the Kentucky Rules of Civil Procedure (CR) 26.02(4)(a)(i).

Ninamary’s expert testimony disclosure was filed on January 29,

2018, and stated that she would call Chris Johnson, a certified public accountant

(CPA), to testify during a February 8, 2018 hearing and may continue his

-2- testimony at a future trial for final adjudication. At that time, Ninamary disclosed

Johnson’s curriculum vitae (CV) and that he would testify as to the financial

standing and earning potential of Chimney Master based on his analysis of the

business and financial records from 2015 and 2016, the business’s well-being, and

current earnings potential. Johnson was expected to testify that Thomas has the

ability to earn a gross income of $13,000 to $15,000 per year, Chimney Master is a

going concern with excellent future income potential but that he believed that not

all invoice amounts for those years are accounted for in the operating bank

account, totaling $45,000.

Although Johnson apparently prepared a report valuing Chimney

Master dated January 1, 2018, it is unclear when Ninamary produced this report for

Thomas. On June 7, 2018, Thomas requested a continuance of the trial on several

bases including that Ninamary had disclosed to him that she had obtained an expert

to value the business but had failed to provide a copy of the valuation and

credentials. Thomas’s motion for a continuance was granted, with the family court

indicating it would not reschedule the trial until the parties indicated they were

ready.

In a hearing order filed on November 21, 2018, the family court

scheduled the trial for February 26, 2019, and ordered the parties to file a list of the

-3- witnesses they intended to call for trial no later than noon on February 16, 2019.

The parties continued to engage in discovery up until shortly before trial.

On February 15, 2019, Thomas filed his hearing memorandum which

disclosed his witnesses and separately filed expert testimony disclosures for two

witnesses. As for the expert testimony disclosure for CPA Melissa DeArk,

Thomas stated she would provide expert testimony concerning her analysis of the

business valuation of Chimney Master prepared by Johnson and listed the

documents she was expected to rely on including the parties’ federal tax returns

and Johnson’s report, and provided her CV. This disclosure did not clarify what

DeArk’s opinion was of Johnson’s valuation or his methodology, or what the basis

for such an opinion would be.

On February 18, 2019, past the deadline set by the family court,

Ninamary filed her hearing memorandum listing her witnesses, including expert

witness Johnson.

The trial proceeded as scheduled on February 26, 2019. Ninamary

called Johnson to testify as to the value of Chimney Master. Johnson’s testimony

was largely consistent with his written report but differed in one important respect

regarding the “enterprise value” as opposed to the “total value” of Chimney

Master. In Johnson’s written report he concluded Chimney Master’s “enterprise

value” was $284,141 but in his testimony he concluded Chimney Master’s “total

-4- value” was $284,414.1 In Johnson’s testimony and in his written report, he

consistently stated that 70% of Chimney Master’s value was personal goodwill

(deemed “personal attributes” in the report) and 30% was enterprise goodwill

(deemed “enterprise attributes” in the report). However, during his testimony he

clarified that the 30% “enterprise value” of Chimney Master calculated out to

about $85,000 of the total value of $284,414.

Thomas attempted to call DeArk, as a “rebuttal expert.” Before

DeArk offered any substantive testimony, Ninamary objected, and a lengthy bench

conference ensued. Ninamary’s counsel stated that Thomas failed to disclose

DeArk as an expert witness and provide her opinion in response to interrogatories

and his disclosure of her as a witness for trial had “vaguely” provided the subject

matter of DeArk’s opinion but not the opinion itself, so Ninamary could not

effectively cross-examine DeArk. We note that while Ninamary deposed other

witnesses after DeArk was disclosed, she made no attempt to depose DeArk.

Thomas responded that DeArk would be testifying as a rebuttal

witness about whether Johnson’s report was done properly, without placing an

overall value on Chimney Master of her own, and was not truly functioning as an

expert witness. Thomas also argued expert rebuttal witnesses are exempt from the

1 The valuation was sometimes expressed as $284,141 and sometimes as $284,414; the first figure appeared in the conclusion of Johnson’s report.

-5- usual disclosure obligations. The family court found Thomas’s disclosure did not

give Ninamary “any idea” of DeArk’s planned testimony and, consequently,

refused to permit DeArk to testify as an expert.

In its post-trial order, the family court divided the marital property. In

doing so, the family court adopted Johnson’s $284,141 valuation of Chimney

Master, awarded Chimney Master to Thomas and ordered Thomas to pay

Ninamary half its value, $142,070. The family court properly noted that

“transferable goodwill” was a factor in determining a business’s value, but it

nonetheless did not make any findings regarding Chimney Master’s goodwill. The

family court stated it excluded DeArk from testifying because Thomas “did not

disclose” her.

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