Lelux v. Chernick
Decision Date | 20 March 1997 |
Docket Number | No. 96APE05-628.,96APE05-628. |
Citation | 119 Ohio App.3d 6,694 NE 2d 471 |
Parties | LELUX, Appellant, v. CHERNICK, Exr., Appellee. |
Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
Law Office of James R. Nein, James R. Nein and Matthew R. Copp, for appellant.
Arter & Hadden, Michael W. Currie and Laura Hauser, for appellee.
This matter is before this court upon appeal from a judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in which the court granted summary judgment in favor of defendant-appellee, Leslie Chernick, executor of the estate of Lisa Lelux, and against plaintiff-appellant, Keith Lelux. Appellant has assigned the following as error:
"The trial court committed error by granting the cross-summary judgment request of the defendant-appellee, Leslie Chernick, Executrix, and denying the motion for summary judgment of plaintiff-appellant, Keith Lelux."
The undisputed facts of this case are as follows. Lisa LeLux and appellant were married on May 4, 1984. On June 24, 1985, Lisa completed the forms necessary to obtain retirement benefits through her employer, designating appellant as primary beneficiary of those benefits and her mother as contingent beneficiary. On December 9, 1985, Lisa completed the forms necessary to obtain life insurance through a group insurance policy issued by John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company ("John Hancock") through her employer. Appellant was designated as beneficiary of the insurance policy.
Subsequently, the parties filed a petition for dissolution of their marriage. The dissolution was granted on September 22, 1993, and included a separation agreement. Appellant's lawyer drafted the separation agreement; Lisa was not represented by counsel. The separation agreement set forth the parties' rights and obligations regarding their retirement accounts and life insurance policies, as follows:
The separation agreement also contained a more general clause entitled "Mutual Releases," in which the parties declared:
Lisa died on October 16, 1994, without having filed a change of beneficiary with either her retirement account or her life insurance policy. Lisa's will contained no provision for the disposition of either the retirement benefits or the life insurance proceeds.
On June 2, 1995, appellant filed a complaint for declaratory relief against appellee and John Hancock, demanding that the court order the insurance company to pay the proceeds of the life insurance policy to appellant. The complaint also demanded that the court declare that appellant is entitled to retain possession of the retirement benefits already paid to him by Lisa's employer.
Appellee's answer and counterclaim, filed on June 23, 1995, denied that appellant was entitled to the benefits from the retirement plan and proceeds of the life insurance policy, and sought a declaratory judgment that appellee, and not appellant, was entitled to all funds.1
On November 27, 1995, and February 29, 1996, respectively, appellant and appellee filed motions for summary judgment. By judgment entry dated April 11, 1996, the trial court found no genuine issue of material fact to exist and awarded judgment to appellee as a matter of law. Appellant timely appeals.
Denial of a motion for summary judgment is not a final, appealable order. State ex rel. Overmeyer v. Walinski (1966), 8 Ohio St.2d 23, 37 O.O.2d 358, 222 N.E.2d 312. Thus, the only issue for review is whether the trial court properly granted appellee's motion for summary judgment. Upon a summary judgment motion, the movant must demonstrate "(1) that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact; (2) that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law; and (3) that reasonable minds can come to but one conclusion, and that conclusion is adverse to the party against whom the motion for summary judgment is made, who is entitled to have the evidence construed most strongly in his favor." Harless v. Willis Day Warehousing Co. (1978), 54 Ohio St.2d 64, 66, 8 O.O.3d 73, 74, 375 N.E.2d 46, 47.
Where the movant has made this tripartite demonstration, an appellate court will not disturb a trial court's granting of summary judgment.
Separation agreements are subject to the same rules of construction as any other type of contract, and the construction of unambiguous written contracts is a matter of law. See Graham v. Drydock Coal Co. (1996), 76 Ohio St.3d 311, 313, 667 N.E.2d 949, 951-952; Brown v. Brown (1993), 90 Ohio App.3d 781, 784, 630 N.E.2d 763, 765. "Unlike determinations of fact which are given great deference, questions of law are reviewed de novo." Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. Guman Bros. Farm (1995), 73 Ohio St.3d 107, 108, 652 N.E.2d 684, 686. Contracts are to be interpreted so as to carry out the intent of the parties, as that intent is evidenced by the contractual language. Skivolocki v. E. Ohio Gas Co. (1974), 38 Ohio St.2d 244, 67 O.O.2d 321, 313 N.E.2d 374, paragraph one of the syllabus. If a term of a contract is ambiguous, the meaning of the term is a question of fact calling for a determination of the parties' intent. See Inland Refuse Transfer Co. v. Browning-Ferris Industries of Ohio (1984), 15 Ohio St.3d 321, 322, 15 OBR 448, 448-449, 474 N.E.2d 271, 272-273. Ambiguous contractual language will be construed against the drafter of the contract. Cent. Realty Co. v. Clutter (1980), 62 Ohio St.2d 411, 413, 16 O.O.3d 441, 442, 406 N.E.2d 515, 517. In the instant case, neither party has alleged the language of the separation agreement to be ambiguous. Rather, the parties maintain that this case presents purely legal issues for this court's consideration. The issue is whether the language of the separation agreement "plainly indicates" the elimination of appellant as the named beneficiary from all rights to the insurance proceeds and retirement benefits.
Appellant concedes that the separation agreement specifically addresses both the life insurance policy and retirement account but argues that under Phillips v. Pelton (1980), 10 Ohio St.3d 52, 10 OBR 314, 461 N.E.2d 305, Grelle v. Nationwide Life Ins. Co. (1979), 63 Ohio App.2d 144, 17 O.O.3d 338, 409 N.E.2d 1056, and Richardson v. BancOhio Natl. Bank (Oct. 11, 1990), Franklin County, No. 90AP-283, unreported, 1990 WL 152929, the language in the separation agreement is insufficient to eliminate appellant as beneficiary.
In Phillips, the Supreme Court reaffirmed its earlier holding in Cannon v. Hamilton (1963), 174 Ohio St. 268, 22 O.O.2d 331, 189 N.E.2d 152, and held:
"Where the parties to a separation agreement which is incorporated into a decree of dissolution specifically direct their attention to the issue of life insurance and express their intent to release all rights which each may have as beneficiary under the policies of the other, such language is sufficient to eliminate each party as beneficiary of the other notwithstanding the fact that no specific change of beneficiary is made." Id. at syllabus.
The court reasoned:
(Citations omitted.) Id., 10 Ohio...
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