Tippie v. Patnik, 2007-G-2787 (4-4-2008)

2008 Ohio 1653
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 4, 2008
DocketNo. 2007-G-2787.
StatusPublished

This text of 2008 Ohio 1653 (Tippie v. Patnik, 2007-G-2787 (4-4-2008)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tippie v. Patnik, 2007-G-2787 (4-4-2008), 2008 Ohio 1653 (Ohio Ct. App. 2008).

Opinions

OPINION
{¶ 1} In the instant appeal, submitted on the record and briefs of the parties, appellant, Mary Grace Patnik appeals the judgment of the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas, denying her motion to show cause. We affirm the judgment of the lower court.

{¶ 2} This appeal is the second arising from a series of legal skirmishes surrounding the divorce between Patnik and appellee, Jeffrey Tippie, which was granted by the lower court on February 6, 2003.Tippie v. Patnik, 11th Dist. No. 2005-G-2665, *Page 2 2006-Ohio-6532, at ¶ 8. The vast majority of these battles relate to the whereabouts and attempted recovery of certain property from Tippie; to wit, gold and silver coins and bars, and a silverware set Patnik inherited from her parents, which were previously determined by the court to be her separate property. Id. at ¶¶ 4-6.

{¶ 3} Between April 2002, and February 2005, Patnik filed three motions to show cause related to the trial court's orders to return various property, including the aforementioned coins and bars, and silverware, and to pay her attorney fees related to these motions.

{¶ 4} In July 2005, the trial court ordered Tippie to serve sixty days in jail for contempt related to the February 2005 motion to show cause, but provided that the jail sentence would be suspended, provided Tippie purge himself of the contempt "by delivering to Ms. Patnik on or before August 3, 2005, the silver and gold coins and bars and the silverware, or by paying her an amount equal to the fair market value." As an additional purge condition, the court ordered Tippie to pay Patnik a total sum of $6,019.50 for the attorney fees associated with the various motions. Id. at ¶ 28.

{¶ 5} Tippie timely appealed this judgment to our court. The judgment of the trial court was stayed pending this appeal after Tippie had served 32 days of the 60-day sentence. We affirmed the lower court's judgment on December 8, 2006.

{¶ 6} On July 11, 2006, while the prior appeal was pending, Patnik filed yet another motion to show cause. This motion alleged that Tippie, although he had "made several payments to [Patnik] as a condition of his work release privileges while he was in jail," remained largely non-compliant with the trial court's July 2005 order to pay for the gold and silver bars and her attorney fees. *Page 3

{¶ 7} On October 30, 2006, a hearing was held on Patnik's motion to show cause before the trial court judge. Following this hearing, the court entered the following order:

{¶ 8} "There is no dispute that Husband has been held in contempt previously, most recently * * * on or about July 25, 2005. The court's ruling with respect to that decision is on appeal at this time * * *.

{¶ 9} "In the instant case, the dispute is over the same or similar issues as in the [earlier] Motion to Show Cause. There are three areas of contention.

{¶ 10} "The first is the gold and silver coins and bars which were addressed at Paragraph 39 of the Magistrate's Decision, filed January 21, 2003, and which ultimately was adopted by the Court * * *.

{¶ 11} "THE COURT FINDS that Husband denies that he has this property but that Wife agrees he may pay for them instead. The parties agree their value is $2,794.88. Husband is not in contempt on this issue. THE COURT ORDERS Husband shall pay $2,794.88 to the Wife within 60 days hereof. IT IS SO ORDERED.

{¶ 12} "The second item is the silverware addressed at Paragraph's [sic] 42 and 43 of the Magistrate's Decision, which again was adopted by the Court. The husband denies he has the silverware. The wife disputes this and claims he has it, citing to the language in Paragraph 43 of the Magistrate's Decision.

{¶ 13} "THE COURT FINDS Husband shall return the silverware to the Wife within 14 days hereof. If he does not do so, it shall be valued by the Court at hearing which is hereby set for FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2006 AT 11:00 AM. After valuation by *Page 4 the Court, Husband shall have 30 days to pay or he shall be in contempt hereof. IT IS SO ORDERED.

{¶ 14} "Third, and last, concerns past counsel fees. The parties agreed in open Court that the amount owed (disregarding any clams with respect to this * * * Motion to Show Cause) is $6,019.50 less $2,500 paid, leaving $3,519.50 owed * * *.

{¶ 15} "* * *

{¶ 16} "WHEREFORE, the Plaintiff/Respondent/Husband, Jeffrey M. Tippie is hereby found in contempt of this Court's Order for failure to pay counsel fees. THE COURT HEREBY ORDERS Jeffrey M. Tippie to pay the costs of these proceedings, for which judgment is rendered and execution may issue, and to serve a 90 day term of incarceration at the Geauga County Safety Center for which he shall report Monday, November 13, 2006 at 8:00 am. He may purge by paying to Defendant/Wife the sum of $3,519.50 on or before the time and date his incarceration is to begin.

{¶ 17} "IT IS SO ORDERED."

{¶ 18} Implicit in the court's ruling is the recognition that, even if Tippie had once possessed the silverware, he no longer has it in his possession. Thus, a financial recovery for the silverware was all that would be possible.

{¶ 19} On December 14, 2006, Patnik filed a motion to continue the valuation hearing, which was granted by the court. The hearing was rescheduled for March 1, 2007.

{¶ 20} A bench hearing was held as scheduled on the issue of the valuation of the silverware. The court heard testimony from both parties. Patnik testified that the silverware was the "cactus pattern," made by Georg Jensen in Denmark in *Page 5 approximately 1930. Patnik introduced evidence, in the form of a spreadsheet prepared by her attorney, listing each item allegedly missing from her silverware set, along with prices obtained by requesting information from three outside sources, including Replacements Ltd., located in North Carolina and Alastair Crawford, LLC, a company in New York City, which dealt exclusively in Georg Jensen silverware. In addition, she introduced copies of three web pages from the "Unica Home" website, listing thirty-one separate descriptions of certain silverware items from the cactus collection, along with their prices. Tippie objected to the admission of this testimony as hearsay. Patnik was asked her opinion of the value of the silverware. She answered that, to her, the silverware was "priceless." When pressed to assign a missing value to the items, she answered that in her opinion, the silverware was valued at $55,000. When Tippie testified, he introduced no evidence as to the value of the silverware, but did introduce a DVD recording of a videotape he had taken shortly after the parties were married. Tippie testified that he had taken videotape of various rooms in the house and the items therein, including the silverware, for insurance purposes. His videotape and testimony indicated that there were significantly fewer items in the silverware collection than Patnik claimed. Following the hearing, the trial court requested that both parties brief the issue of valuation and the admissibility of Patnik's exhibits.

{¶ 21}

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Bluebook (online)
2008 Ohio 1653, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tippie-v-patnik-2007-g-2787-4-4-2008-ohioctapp-2008.