Bridges v. Bridges

• Decision Date: 18 March 2011
• Docket Number: 2090977.
• Citation: 69 So.3d 885
• Parties: Joseph M. BRIDGESv.Renee Lynn BRIDGES.
• Court: Alabama Court of Civil Appeals

69 So.3d 885

Joseph M. BRIDGES

v.Renee Lynn BRIDGES.

2090977.

Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.

March 18, 2011.

John Olszewski and Floyd Minor of Minor & Olszewski, L.L.C., Montgomery, for appellant.Philip A. Thompson of Haygood, Cleveland, Pierce, Mattson & Thompson LLP, Auburn, for appellee.

THOMPSON, Presiding Judge.

Joseph M. Bridges (“the husband”) appeals from a judgment finding him in contempt for his failure to comply with certain provisions of the 2005 judgment divorcing him from Renee Lynn Bridges (“the wife”). In addition to finding the husband in contempt, the trial court modified provisions of the 2005 divorce judgment.

The record indicates the following. The 2005 divorce judgment (“the 2005 judgment”) incorporated an agreement the parties had reached that settled all the issues in the case. The provisions of the judgment that are relevant to this appeal read as follows:

“ 9. LIFE INSURANCE: The Husband shall maintain through his employer a life insurance policy in an amount not less than $500,000 with the Wife named as the beneficiary thereon for so long as Husband is obligated to pay periodic alimony to the Wife as set out herein. The Husband shall pay all premiums on said policy and shall not cancel or allow said insurance to lapse. The Husband shall not mortgage, pledge, or encumber said insurance. The Husband shall furnish proof of said insurance to the Wife each year on the anniversary of this Consent Decree.

“....

“ 11. FREQUENT FLIER MILES/DISCOUNT POINTS: Husband shall transfer to the Wife 50% of his existing frequent flyer/discount mileage points with the airlines; and 50% of his hotel discount points/bonus points. In the future, Husband shall convey to Wife 25% of all new frequent flyer/discount mileage points and hotel discount points/bonus points earned or accrued by Husband during the prior year. Commencing March 1, 2006, and continuing on March 1st each year thereafter, Husband shall provide to the Wife a photocopy of each and every account evidencing his accumulated frequent flyer/discount mileage points and his hotel discount points/bonus points. Husband shall execute whatever documents are necessary or required to allow Wife to use her 25% of each year's accumulated points.

“....

“ 18. ALIMONY: .... As additional periodic alimony, the Husband shall pay the sum of 25% of the gross sum of bonuses and commissions received by Husband under his employer's Neptune Technology Group, Inc.'s ‘Management Incentive Plan’ (as defined by Husband's employer for all covered management and staff); however, the same shall exclude Husband's salary, stock, stock options or any other form of non-cash compensation received by Husband from Neptune Technology Group, Inc.”

In June 2008, the wife filed a petition for a rule nisi alleging, among other things, that the husband had failed to abide by the life-insurance, frequent-flier-mileage/hotel-discount, and periodic-alimony provisions of the 2005 judgment. The husband denied most of the wife's allegations; however, he acknowledged that he owed the wife $3,000 in monthly periodic alimony, contending that he had been financially unable to pay it. The husband submitted documents that he said indicated that he had complied with the life-insurance and frequent-flier-mileage/hotel-discount provisions of the 2005 judgment. He also asserted that he had left his job with Neptune Technology Group, Inc. (“Neptune”) shortly after the parties divorced and that, therefore, he was under no obligation to pay the wife a 25% share of any bonuses he might receive. After a number of continuances, the trial court held a hearing on the matter on November 10, 2009. The husband lived out of the country, and he waived his presence at the trial; however, he was represented by counsel.

The evidence was undisputed that the husband no longer worked for Neptune. At the trial, the wife refuted the husband's assertion that, because he was no longer employed by Neptune, he was under no obligation to pay her any portion of bonuses he might receive from any other employer. The wife testified that, in entering into the agreement that was incorporated into the 2005 judgment, the parties intended that she would receive 25% of any bonuses paid to the husband, regardless of who his employer was at the time. Neither party presented any evidence regarding the amount of money, if any, the husband had received in the form of bonuses since leaving his employment with Neptune.

The wife testified that when the husband provided her with proof that he had life insurance, the information she received from him did not indicate the beneficiary. She also testified that, since July 2008, she had not received proof that the husband had maintained a life-insurance policy naming her as the beneficiary.

The wife also testified that the husband had not deposited any frequent-flier points into her account since 2007, and, she said, he had never provided her with hotel-discount points. She asserted that the husband had not provided her with any documentation as to the frequent-flier points he had accumulated after 2007. The husband provided a document indicating that he had transferred frequent-flier points to the wife's account in February 2008. However, there was no evidence in the record indicating that the husband had provided the wife with any points or proof of the number of frequent-flier points or hotel-discount points he had accumulated after February 2008.

After the trial, the trial court entered a judgment finding, among other things, that the husband was in contempt for failing to provide proof of an insurance policy naming the wife as the beneficiary, for failing to provide proof to the wife of the total amount of frequent-flier and hotel-discount points earned, and for failing to provide to the wife proof of any bonuses he had been paid for the three years preceding the entry of the judgment.

The trial court ordered the husband to provide the wife with proof that he had a $500,000 life-insurance policy naming the wife as a beneficiary and to continue to provide proof of the policy annually. The trial court further ordered the words “through his employer” in the first sentence of the life-insurance provision of the 2005 judgment—paragraph 9—to be stricken. The trial court also ordered the husband to pay 25% of the gross sum of any bonuses or commissions he had received from his employer during the three years preceding the entry of the judgment. As to the periodic-alimony provision of the 2005 judgment—paragraph 18—the trial court ordered the language “under his employer's Neptune Technology Group, Inc.'s ‘Management Incentive Plan’ (as defined by Husband's employer for all covered management and staff)” and “from Neptune Technology Group, Inc.,” to be stricken. The husband also was ordered to provide the wife with 25% of the frequent-flier and hotel-discount points he had earned in the three years preceding the entry of the judgment. The husband appeals.

The husband argues that the trial court abused its discretion by finding him in contempt for his alleged failure to comply with requirements that were not included in the 2005 judgment. This court's standard of review in contempt cases is well settled.

“The issue whether to hold a party in contempt is solely within the discretion of the trial court, and a trial court's contempt determination will not be reversed on appeal absent a showing that the trial court acted outside its discretion or that its judgment is not supported by the evidence. Brown v. Brown, 960 So.2d 712, 716 (Ala.Civ.App.2006) (affirming a trial court's decision not to hold a parent in contempt for failure to pay child support when the parent testified that he had deducted from his monthly child-support payment the amount he had expended to buy clothes for the children).”

Poh v. Poh, 64 So.3d 49, 61 (Ala.Civ.App.2010).

“Rule 70A, Ala. R. Civ. P., has governed contempt proceedings in civil actions since July 11, 1994. Rule 70A(a)(2)(D) defines ‘civil contempt’ as a ‘willful, continuing failure or refusal of any person to comply with a court's lawful writ, subpoena, process, order, rule, or command that by its nature is still capable of being complied with.’ ”

Stamm v. Stamm, 922 So.2d 920, 924 (Ala.Civ.App.2004). To hold a party in contempt under either Rule 70A(a)(2)(C)(ii) (criminal contempt) or (D)(civil contempt), Ala. R. Civ. P., the trial court must find that the party willfully failed or refused to comply with a court order. T.L.D. v. C.G., 849 So.2d 200, 205 (Ala.Civ.App.2002).

Specifically, the husband contends that the 2005 judgment did not require him to maintain a life-insurance policy naming the wife as his beneficiary unless his employer offered the insurance. The husband also contends that, pursuant to the 2005 judgment, he was not required to pay the wife a 25% share of any bonus he received from any entity other than Neptune.

In analyzing whether the trial court abused its discretion in finding the husband in contempt in this case, we look first to the language included in the 2005 judgment.

“In R.G. v. G.G., 771 So.2d 490 (Ala.Civ.App.2000), this court stated:

“ ‘ “[A] settlement agreement which is incorporated into a divorce decree is in the nature of a contract.” Smith v. Smith, 568 So.2d 838, 839 (Ala.Civ.App.1990). A divorce judgment should be interpreted or construed as other written instruments are interpreted or construed. Sartin v. Sartin, 678 So.2d 1181 (Ala.Civ.App.1996). “The words of the agreement are to be given their ordinary meaning, and the intentions of the parties are to be derived from them.” Id. at 1183. Whether an agreement is ambiguous is a question of law for the trial court. Wimpee v. Wimpee, 641 So.2d 287 (Ala.Civ.App.1994). An agreement that by its terms is plain and free from ambiguity must be enforced as written. Jones v. Jones, 722 So.2d 768 (Ala.Civ.App.1998). An ambiguity exists if the agreement is...