Lyons v. Sloop

• Decision Date: 13 February 2001
• Citation: 40 S.W.3d 1
• Parties: (Mo.App. W.D. 2001) . Linda Lucille (Sloop) Lyons, Respondent, v. David Bruce Sloop, Appellant. WD58434 Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Handdown Date: 0
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

40 S.W.3d 1 (Mo.App. W.D. 2001)

This slip opinion is subject to revision and may not reflect the final opinion adopted by the Court.

Linda Lucille (Sloop) Lyons, Respondent, v. David Bruce Sloop, Appellant.

WD58434

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District

Handdown Date: 02/13/2001

Appeal From: Circuit Court of Adair County, Hon. Jerri Cook Bush

Counsel for Appellant: Seth D. Shumaker

Counsel for Respondent: Edward Leon Campbell

Opinion Summary: David Sloop (Father) appeals from two separate judgments of civil contempt and the two warrants for commitment issued in conjunction with those judgments. One judgment of contempt was issued in response to a motion filed by the Adair County Prosecutor's Office on behalf of the Division of Child Support Enforcement relating to Father's failure to pay child support. The other judgment of contempt was issued in response to a motion filed by Linda Lyons (Mother) for Father's failure to comply with a court order that he reimburse her for medical expenses incurred for the benefit of the children.

REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS.

Special Division holds: (1) The circuit court's docket entry of January 21, 1999, related to the consent judgment agreed upon between Father and Mother, did not serve to bar the court's current judgment related to the Division's motion where the current order relates solely to arrearages accruing after January 21, 1999, and where Father's attorney failed to challenge the circuit court's statement at the hearing that no judgment had ever been entered on the Division's previous motion.

(2) The circuit court misstated and misapplied the law when it found that Section 452.340.5 was not relevant to determining Father's child support obligation under the divorce decree after the children's eighteenth birthdays. The judgment and order of commitment must be remanded for consideration of those issues.

(3) Father may not collaterally attack the consent judgment entered by the trial court on March 31, 1999.

(4) The emancipation of a child does not extinguish the obligation of a parent to pay any amount of child support in arrearage at the time of emancipation.

(5) The failure of a child to provide the documentation required by section 452.340.5 does not result in the emancipation of the child.

(6) The circuit court did not err in finding Father in contempt of the March 31, 1999 order where Father failed to prove that he was unable to pay the $5,000 judgment and that his inability to do so was not the result of his own intentional and contemptuous conduct.

(7) The circuit court erred in ordering Father's commitment without making a specific finding regarding Father's present ability to purge himself of his contempt, and the circuit court's findings that Father "had" or "has had" the ability to pay the judgment in the past are not sufficient to support commitment.

Opinion Author: Joseph M. Ellis, Judge

Opinion Vote: REVERSED IN PART AND REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS. Ulrich, P.J., and Smith, J., concur.

Opinion:

David Sloop (Father) appeals from two separate judgments of civil contempt and the two warrants for commitment issued in conjunction with those judgments. One judgment of contempt was issued in response to a motion filed by the Adair County Prosecutor's Office on behalf of the Division of Child Support Enforcement relating to Father's failure to pay child support. The other judgment of contempt was issued in response to a motion filed by Linda Lyons (Mother) for Father's failure to comply with a court order that he reimburse her for medical expenses incurred for the benefit of the children.

During their marriage, Father and Mother had two children: Angela Sloop, born on August 23, 1976, and Laura Sloop, born on February 28, 1979. On August 12, 1988, the Circuit Court of Adair County entered its decree dissolving the marriage. Mother was awarded custody of the two children, and Father was ordered to pay child support in the amount of $162.50 per child each month.

On October 24, 1994, the Circuit Court modified the original decree and changed Father's child support obligation to $270.14 per month for both children. Father was also ordered to pay $9,310.40 in medical expenses that had been incurred on behalf of the children.

On February 24, 1998, Mother filed a Motion for Contempt against Father for his failure to pay another $5,338.96 in medical expenses incurred by her on behalf of the two children subsequent to the circuit court's October 1994 modification. Mother alleged that Father had willfully failed and refused to pay those amounts as mandated under the divorce decree.

On November 23, 1998, the Adair County prosecutor's office filed a Motion for Contempt on behalf of the Division of Child Support Enforcement ("Division") seeking back child support payments of $1,155.91. The Division also sought $825.35 in medical expenses that remained unpaid from the Court's October 1994 order. On January 21, 1999, the trial court heard argument on the Division's motion, but no judgment was ever entered on that motion by the trial court.

Mother's motion for contempt was also set for hearing on January 21, 1999. After the Division's motion was heard and taken under advisement, the court took up Mother's motion. At that time, Mother and Father notified the court that they had agreed to the entry of a consent judgment under which Father would be required to pay a total of $5,000 to Mother on or before March 15, 1999. On March 31, 1999, the trial court entered its Judgment on Motion for Contempt against Father in accordance with the stipulation of the parties.

On June 2, 1999, the prosecutor's office filed another Motion for Contempt on behalf of the Division requesting that Father be held in contempt for failure to pay back child support and for the medical bills remaining unpaid from the circuit court's October 1994 modification. The Division's motion sought payment of the money previously sought in the November 23, 1998 motion in addition to child support payments due and owing from that date through June 2, 1999.

On June 22, 1999, Mother filed another Motion for Contempt alleging that Father had willfully failed to comply with the Judgment on Motion for Contempt entered by the court on March 31, 1999. Mother requested that Father be held in contempt of court for failing to pay her the $5,000 he was ordered to pay in that judgment.

The trial court scheduled the Division's motion for contempt and Mother's motion for contempt to be heard back-to-back on February 2, 2000. In the course of the first hearing, in support of the Division's claim, the prosecutor admitted the transcript of the January 21, 1999 hearing and Mr. Sloop's payment history into evidence. He also amended the amount of delinquent child support payments to $4,937.87 and the amount of unpaid medical expenses from the 1994 judgment to $310.40. During the hearing on Mother's motion, Mother and Father both testified and various financial records were admitted into evidence.

On March 13, 2000, the trial court granted the Division's motion for civil contempt and entered its Judgment and Order of Contempt against Father. In conjunction with that judgment, the court issued a Warrant for Commitment ordering the Adair County Sheriff to take Father into custody, commit him to the county jail, and to confine him there until he purged himself of the contempt by payment of $2,980.01 in child support arrearage incurred from February 1, 1999, through February 1, 2000.

Also on March 13, 2000, the trial court granted Mother's motion for civil contempt and entered its Judgment on Motion for Contempt finding that Father had contemptuously failed to pay the $5,000 judgment previously entered in favor of Mother. In addition, the court found that Father should pay interest on that amount and Mother's attorney's fees. In conjunction with that judgment, the court also issued a Warrant for Commitment ordering the Adair County Sheriff to take Father into custody, commit him to the county jail, and to confine him there until he purged himself of the contempt by payment of $5,000 to Mother.

Father raises four points on appeal. Two of his points relate solely to the trial court's judgment and order of commitment on the Division's motion. One of his points relates solely to the court's judgment and order of commitment on Mother's motion. The remaining point challenges the court's rulings relating to both motions.¹

Father first challenges the trial court's ruling on the Division's motion. In one of his points, Father claims the trial court erred in granting the Division's June 2, 1999 motion because a docket entry from January 21, 1999, stated that the consent judgment entered between Mother and Father on Mother's motion was entered "in settlement of all issues before the court." That docket entry states:

Pet. appears in person. Attys Tony Jones & Ed Campbell appear on behalf of Pet. on their respective motions. Resp. appears in person & by atty Seth Shumaker. Evidence heard on Atty Jones' Motion, Atty Campbell's Motion & Resp's Counter Motion. At close of evidence parties enter into stipulation whereby Resp agrees to pay Pet. $2500.00 on or before 2-15-99 & $2500.00 on or before 3-15-99 in settlement of all issues before the court. Costs taxed equally to parties. JMO.

Father contends that this docket entry constitutes a judgment on the Division's motion and that the Division cannot now reargue the same issues contained in its original motion.

This argument is disingenuous at best. First, the judgment of civil contempt and order of commitment issued on the Division's motion found Father in arrears for child support payments due from February 1999 through February 2000. Arrearages for this period of time could not have been before the court on January 21, 1999. Moreover, at the start of the February 2, 2000 hearing, the court noted that no judgment had ever been entered...