Blair v. Blair

• Decision Date: 21 February 2000
• Docket Number: No. S99A1459.,S99A1459.
• Citation: 527 S.E.2d 177,272 Ga. 94
• Parties: BLAIR v. BLAIR.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

527 S.E.2d 177

272 Ga. 94

BLAIR v. BLAIR.

No. S99A1459.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

February 21, 2000.

Robert G. Nardone, Avondale Estates, for appellant.

Shelby A. Outlaw, Decatur, for appellee.

HINES, Justice.

We granted ex-wife, Ms. Blair, discretionary appeal to determine whether the trial court's award, entered pursuant to her contempt action against her ex-husband, properly reflected the amount Ms. Blair should have received to compensate her for her ex-husband's failure to provide equivalent insurance coverage under the divorce decree. Because the award does not reflect Ms. Blair's entitlement, we reverse.

The Blairs were divorced in 1989, after a marriage of 28 years. The final judgment and decree of divorce was entered following a jury verdict. Under the decree, Mr. Blair was obligated to "maintain health insurance for the wife equivalent to the coverage formerly provided by Delta Airlines through Aetna Insurance Company; the husband shall provide to the wife the replacement policy and provide proof of payment and the period covered by said payment as these payments are made." Ms. Blair contended that Mr. Blair was in contempt of the provision for not providing the required health insurance.

After an evidentiary hearing, the court found the following: The couple's separation resulted in the termination of Ms. Blair's coverage under the Delta/Aetna policy, but triggered her coverage under COBRA for three years until 1991; at that time, Mr. Blair provided Ms. Blair coverage under an Aetna conversion policy; the conversion policy provided significantly fewer benefits to Ms. Blair than did the Delta/Aetna policy; Ms. Blair is almost uninsurable; Ms. Blair has obtained a Blue Cross Blue Shield policy which provides more benefits than did the conversion policy but which contains a 60-month exclusion for pre-existing conditions; the 60-month period was to expire in 1999; the current cost for the policy is $385 per month; since termination of COBRA coverage, Mr. Blair has been paying Ms. Blair $301 per quarter, the cost of the conversion policy; Mr. Blair knew or should have known that such sum would not purchase equivalent coverage; the jury intended for Mr. Blair to provide Ms. Blair with coverage equivalent to that then provided by Delta; the final judgment and decree of divorce contemplates that Mr. Blair would pay the expense of such a replacement policy and this he has not done.

The trial court did not find Mr. Blair in contempt, but concluded that he had not been as diligent as he should have been to provide equivalent health coverage, and therefore, was not relieved of fiscal responsibility for uncovered expenses which would have been covered by the Delta/Aetna policy. For Mr. Blair's "failure to provide the best possible coverage" to Ms. Blair, the court found him indebted to Ms. Blair for $13,044.41 for medical services which the court found, by a preponderance of the evidence, would have been covered under the Delta/Aetna policy from January 1, 1991 until the date of the hearing.

1. Ms. Blair contends that the court erred in failing to enforce the spirit and intent of the health insurance provision by not ordering Mr. Blair to pay sufficient sums to maintain her Blue Cross Blue Shield policy, the best and only coverage available for her, and to pay, additionally, any expenses not covered which the jury-awarded Delta/Aetna coverage would have paid. The contention has merit.

The analysis of the award must begin with the trial court's authority. In this contempt proceeding, the court did not have the power to modify the terms of the divorce and alimony judgment. Perry v. Perry, 265 Ga. 186, 188(3), 454 S.E.2d 122 (1995); Peppers v. Peppers, 238 Ga. 411, 412, 233 S.E.2d 374 (1977). But, the trial court did have wide discretion to determine whether court orders have been violated, and that determination is to stand on appeal in the absence of an abuse of discretion. Wrightson v. Wrightson, 266 Ga. 493, 496(4), 467 S.E.2d 578 (1996); Davis v. Davis, 250 Ga. 206, 207, 296 S.E.2d 722 (1982). This is so because the court has the authority to interpret and clarify a court order. Millner v. Millner, 260 Ga. 495, 497(2), 397 S.E.2d 289 (1990). The question becomes whether "the clarification is reasonable or whether it is so contrary to the apparent intention of the original order as to amount to a modification." Davis at 207, 296 S.E.2d 722. See Kirkendall v. Decker, 271 Ga. 189, 516 S.E.2d 73 (1999).

Here, the court's determination that the final judgment and decree of divorce contemplates that Mr. Blair would pay the expense of a replacement health insurance policy providing coverage equivalent to that in the Delta/Aetna policy is supported by the clear language of the judgment. So too, is the court's implicit finding that the Blue Cross Blue Shield policy is presently equivalent coverage as will satisfy Mr. Blair's obligation under the decree. And it is undisputed that the Aetna basic conversion policy which replaced the COBRA coverage in 1991, and was the policy on which Mr. Blair calculated his payment of premium obligation, fell far short of providing benefits comparable to the Delta/Aetna policy or the subsequent Blue Cross Blue Shield policy, and indeed, failed to provide significant coverage. Ms. Blair's insurance expert described the...