Zygmunt John Samiec v. Susan Kay Hopkins, F/K/A Susan K. Samiec

2015 WY 131, 358 P.3d 506, 2015 Wyo. LEXIS 148, 2015 WL 5657135
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 25, 2015
DocketS-15-0028
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2015 WY 131 (Zygmunt John Samiec v. Susan Kay Hopkins, F/K/A Susan K. Samiec) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zygmunt John Samiec v. Susan Kay Hopkins, F/K/A Susan K. Samiec, 2015 WY 131, 358 P.3d 506, 2015 Wyo. LEXIS 148, 2015 WL 5657135 (Wyo. 2015).

Opinion

HILL, Justice.

[11] In this post-divorce dispute, Zyg-munt Samiec (Father) appeals a district court order requiring him to pay 75% of his daughter's residential treatment costs. Father contends that the district court erred in failing to recognize either a written or an implied agreement between Father and his former wife, Susan Hopkins f/k/a Samiee (Mother), to split the residential treatment costs equally. Alternatively, Father argues that the district court should have applied the doctrine of promissory estoppel to find a binding agreement between Mother and Father to share equally in the costs of their daughter's residential treatment. We affirm.

ISSUES

[12] Father states the issues on appeal as:

a. Did the Parties have a binding agreement to each pay 50% of New Haven's costs?
b. Does the doctrine of promissory estop-pel create a binding agreement between the parties?

FACTS

[13] Father and Mother were divorced in December 2009. The parties' decree of divoree incorporated a stipulated agreement specifying that Mother would have primary custody of the parties' two daughters and *509 Father would have visitation. The stipulated agreement further provided: '

7. ... [Father] and [Mother] further agree [to] equally share the current outstanding and future costs and fees for the minor children's extracurricular activities, school activities and counseling costs.
ck ook
10. * * * [Father] currently carries medical insurance for the minor children. All costs of medical, dental optometric [sie], or orthodontic care not covered by such insurance for the children shall be split between the parties with [Father] paying 75% and [Mother] paying 25% of such uncovered costs.

[14] In 2010, one of the parties' daughters (Daughter) was placed at the Wyoming Behavioral Institute (WBI) after threatening suicide. Soon thereafter, Father filed a petition to modify the divorce decree, seeking custody of the parties' two children. The parties resolved their custody dispute, but they were. unable to agree on how to divide the costs of Daughter's stay at WBI, and they asked the district court to determine whether residential treatment should be treated as a counseling cost, which pursuant to the divorcee agreement would be subject to a 50/50 split between Father and Mother, or as a medical expense, which pursuant to the divorcee agreement would require Father to pay 75% of any uncovered expense.

[T5] When Daughter completed her six-week stay at WBI in 2010, the question of how residential treatment costs should be treated under the divorce agreement was still pending before the district equrt. After leaving WBI, Daughter continued to experience difficulties, and Mother and Father eventually agreed to place Daughter in another residential program, the New Haven Residential Treatment Center in Saratoga Springs, Utah. Daughter's stay at New Haven began on April 12, 2011, which was again while the question of how residential treatment costs should be categorized under the divorce agreement was still pending before the district court. Daughter ultimately remained at New Haven until the end of August 2012, and the total cost of her approximately sixteen-month stay at New Haven was $212,449.00.

[16] On April 4, 2012, roughly a year into Daughter's sixteen-month stay at New Haven, the district court ruled that residential treatment is a medical expense subject to the 75/25 cost sharing provision. Father appealed that ruling, and on August 28, 2018, this Court issued its decision affirming the district court's decision. See Samiec v. Ferme-Ha, 2018 WY 101, T1, 308 P.3d 844, $45 (Wyo.2018). The question of whether residential treatment should be considered a counseling cost or a medical expense was therefore unanswered before Daughter's admission to New Haven and remained a pending question throughout her entire sixteen-month stay.

[T7] When Daughter was admitted to New Haven, Mother and Father signed enrollment and tuition agreements with New Haven, which specified that Mother and Father were both jointly and severally liable for the fee obligations under the agreements. Pursuant to those agreements, Mother and Father were each billed 50% of Daughter's tuition on a monthly basis. This meant that by the end of Daughter's stay, Mother and Father had each paid $106,224.50 of Daughter's tuition fees.

[T8] On January 31, 2014, Mother filed a motion seeking an order to show cause why Father should not be held in contempt for failing to reimburse Mother $58,112.25 for half of the costs she paid to New Haven. Mother contended that based on the district court's ruling that residential treatment costs were medical expenses governed by paragraph 10 of the parties' divorce agreement, which ruling was affirmed by this Court, Father was required to pay 75% of the New Haven costs. Mother argued she was therefore entitled to reimbursement of the amounts she had paid in excess of her obligation under the divorcee agreement's 75/25 split for uncovered medical expenses.

[191 On February 5, 2014, the district court issued an Order to Show Cause and directed Father to appear on March 25, 2014. Father filed a motion to vacate the show cause order, arguing that questions of fact *510 concerning whether the parties had an enforceable agreement to each pay 50% of the New Haven costs required. an evidentiary hearing and precluded the dispute from being resolved as a contempt matter. The district court then issued an Order Vacating Show Cause Hearing and Ordering Eviden-tiary Hearing.

[110] On July 1, 2014, the district court held an evidentiary hearing on the question of whether the parties had an enforceable agreement to share the New Haven costs equally rather than according to the 75/25 split provided by the parties' divorce agreement. The court found no such agreement, concluding first:

Although the parties had binding contracts with New Haven which made them each . individually responsible for 50% of. the total costs, this did not create a binding agreement between them to modify the terms -of the Stipulation and Agreement governing ultimate responsibility for sharing of medical costs.

[111] The district court then rejected Fathers claims of an 1mpl1ed—1n fact contract to modify the parties'. divorce agreement. In particular, the court rejected the contention that Mother's payment of all amounts billed to her by New Haven evidenced consent to cost sharing at the rate billed, finding that such payment was consistent with the parties' past practice of Mother paying medical bills in their entirety and then receiving reimbursement from Father. The court likewise rejected Father's promissory estoppel claim, finding there was no clear and definite agreement to modify the parties' divorce agreement, but even if there were, the evidence did not support reasonable reliance by Father,

[M12] On October 24, 2014, the district court issued its order implementing its decision. The order directed Father to reimburse Mother $53,112.25, the amount she paid New Haven in exeess of the 75/25 split dictated by the parties' divorce agreement. Father timely filed a notice of appeal to this Court.

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

Related

Acton v. Acton
2017 WY 151 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2017)
Deason v. Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District
251 P.3d 779 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2015 WY 131, 358 P.3d 506, 2015 Wyo. LEXIS 148, 2015 WL 5657135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zygmunt-john-samiec-v-susan-kay-hopkins-fka-susan-k-samiec-wyo-2015.