Massimi v. Massimi
Decision Date | 18 November 2008 |
Docket Number | 2008-01682 |
Citation | 869 N.Y.S.2d 558,56 A.D.3d 624,2008 NY Slip Op 09043 |
Parties | RICHARD P. MASSIMI, Respondent, v. MELISSA MASSIMI, Appellant. |
Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs, and the motion to hold the defendant in contempt is denied.
(Matter of McCormick v Axelrod, 59 NY2d 574, 583 [1983] [citations and internal quotation marks omitted]). The burden of proof is on the proponent of the contempt motion, and the contempt must be established by clear and convincing evidence (see Rienzi v Rienzi, 23 AD3d 447, 448-449 [2005]).
As the defendant correctly contends, the plaintiff failed to sustain his burden in this case. While a finding of contempt requires the violation of a clear and unequivocal mandate set forth in an order or judgment of the court (see Raphael v Raphael, 20 AD3d 463 [2005]), the provision of the amended divorce judgment upon which the plaintiff relies did not meet that standard. Rather, it provided that the defendant was to deliver certain items of personal property to the plaintiff unless the parties disagreed as to their proper distribution, in which case either party could request a hearing to resolve the dispute. Since the provision contemplated further legal proceedings if the items were not distributed, it did not constitute a clear and unequivocal mandate of the court upon which a finding of contempt could be based (see generally Rienzi v Rienzi, 23 AD3d 447 [2005]; Ottomanelli v Ottomanelli, 17 AD3d 647 [2005]; Glassman v Glassman,...
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