Onaka v. Onaka
| Decision Date | 30 August 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 24463.,24463. |
| Citation | 146 P.3d 89 |
| Parties | Clarence S. ONAKA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Allyson L. ONAKA, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Hawaii Supreme Court |
Terry L. Day, on the briefs, for defendant-appellant, Allyson Lesli Onaka.
Joy Yanagida, on the briefs, Wailuku, for plaintiff-appellee, Clarence Shizuo Onaka.
Allyson Lesli Onaka [hereinafter "Allyson"] appeals from twenty-four orders of the second circuit family court1 concerning the division of property and debts. On appeal, this court is faced with the following two issues: (1) Clarence Shizuo Onaka's [hereinafter "Clarence"] argument that this court lacks jurisdiction inasmuch as Allyson's multiple notices of appeal were either invalid or untimely; and (2) Allyson's contention that the family court violated her due process right to be present at trial by denying her motions to continue, which were based upon her alleged inability to travel due to her pregnancy. Although Allyson presents other points of error on appeal, they fail to comply with the mandatory requirements of the Hawai`i Rules of Appellate Procedure [hereinafter "HRAP"] Rule 28(b)(4). Accordingly they have not been properly preserved for appeal and we do not address them.
Based upon the following analysis, we conclude that Allyson's August 3, 2001 notice of appeal vested this court with jurisdiction and that the family court did not violate Allyson's due process right to be present. Accordingly, we affirm the orders appealed from.
Allyson and Clarence resided on Maui and were married on August 1, 1986. Clarence's primary income was derived from Tasty Crust Restaurant [hereinafter "Tasty Crust"], an establishment that he purchased in August 1982. Clarence also owned a business known as Quality Lighting and Supply Co. [hereinafter "Quality Lighting"]. Allyson managed Quality Lighting from approximately 1989 to 1996. Allyson also helped Clarence manage several real estate properties located in Hawai`i and Nevada, which were acquired during the pendency of the marriage.
In March 1996, Allyson and Clarence separated. Allyson thereafter moved to Las Vegas, Nevada.
On August 27, 1996, Clarence filed a complaint for divorce in the second circuit family court. The court entered a divorce decree on December 30, 1999, bifurcating the proceedings and reserving the property division issues for trial.
Amidst chaotic pretrial proceedings, Allyson filed a motion to continue trial, which was scheduled to commence on January 20, 2000. Her initial motion, filed on November 19, 1999, requested a continuance to permit her attorneys more time to obtain and review additional documents and potentially depose persons identified on Clarence's witness list. On November 29, 1999, Allyson filed a supplemental affidavit offering an additional, more compelling reason to continue trial. Therein, she claimed that she was pregnant2 and that the high-risk nature of her pregnancy made it impossible for her to travel to Hawai`i to attend trial. Allyson thus requested that the court continue trial until after her date of delivery, approximated to occur on May 22, 2000. The court thereafter ordered Allyson to submit to an independent medical examination to verify her medical condition.
On January 5, 2000, the court conducted an evidentiary hearing, at which Allyson's treating physician, Dr. Richard Litt, testified by telephone in support of Allyson's motion, stating that "[s]he is a high risk patient because of her age, the fact that she's had two ectopic pregnancies, one (inaudible) resection, and she's had some recent vaginal bleeding (inaudible) unknown etiology[,]" and that she should "[s]tay off her feet as much as possible, no travel, no exercise, no intercourse, no stress, no strain, to lead as quiet a time as she can until the baby is delivered." To the contrary, the doctor who conducted the independent medical examination, Dr. Benjamin Berry, testified that traveling to Hawai`i for trial during the second trimester of pregnancy would not increase the risk of harm to either Allyson or her unborn child. The court considered the testimony of both doctors, but concluded that Dr. Berry was more credible and denied Allyson's motion on the basis of her pregnancy. Nevertheless, the court continued trial until February 17, 2000, based upon Allyson's attorney's representation that approximately eight-thousand pages of documents had yet to be reviewed.3
On February 15, 2000, Allyson filed another motion for a continuance alleging a medical relapse and degenerating health. She asserted that because the family court ordered her to be present at a pretrial conference on February 15, 2000, she attempted to comply by traveling from Las Vegas, Nevada to Los Angeles, California on February 13, 2000. She further alleged that she suffered an episode of elevated blood pressure while in transit and subsequently visited Dr. Robert Karns, a physician located in Beverly Hills. Dr. Karns determined that she was "too brittle" to travel, and that "[s]uch an elevated blood pressure was consistent with preeclampsia, and could pose great danger to both mother and child." Also, Dr. Litt was dismayed when he discovered Allyson's attempt to travel to Hawai`i, and stated, by letter, that Allyson suffered from anxiety attacks, preeclampsia, and gestational diabetes.
On February 17, 2000, the first day of trial, the family court denied Allyson's February 15, 2000 motion to continue. The court first noted that the parties had stipulated to the fact that Allyson was, at that time, unable to fly from Las Vegas, Nevada to Maui, Hawai`i. However, balancing the rights of the parties, and based upon a consideration of the record, the court determined that trial should commence. In order to mitigate the prejudice to Allyson, the court ordered that she be permitted to participate de bene esse, by videotaped deposition. Allyson nevertheless declined to take advantage of the court's accommodation because of the alleged "dangers that such a procedure would create for [her] and her baby."
Trial commenced on February 17, 2000 and concluded on February 24, 2000, without Allyson's presence.4
On June 8, 2000, the family court filed its findings of fact and conclusions of law. The court also filed its property division order, inter alia, (1) awarding title and possession of all of the marital real estate properties to Clarence, subject to all indebtedness secured by the properties and owed on account of the use and ownership thereof, (2) quashing all of the lis pendens filed by Allyson in connection with other civil actions filed by her, (3) ordering Clarence to assume and pay all current debts owed to his parents, Tsuneo and Nancy Onaka, and his sister, Karen Burry-Onaka, (4) ordering Allyson to pay Clarence the amount of $227,178.96 for the wasting of assets belonging to Tasty Crust and Quality Lighting, and (5) awarding Clarence attorneys' fees and costs based upon multiple sanctions imposed on Allyson.5
On June 20, 2000, Clarence filed a motion requesting that the family court adopt three additional findings of fact—clarifying whether the family court adjudicated Allyson's claim that Clarence wasted marital assets— for the benefit of the circuit court judge presiding over a separate civil proceeding filed by Allyson.6
On June 23, 2000, Clarence filed a motion for fees and costs in the amount of $262,181.15, pursuant to Hawai`i Family Court Rules [hereinafter "HFCR"] Rule 68.7
On October 1, 2000, Clarence filed a motion to amend the family court's findings of fact to reflect that Allyson moved her residence from Las Vegas, Nevada to Cedar City, Utah on February 28, 2000.
On November 13, 2000, the family court filed three post-decree orders granting each of the foregoing motions.8
Allyson filed a petition for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah on June 20, 2000.
Clarence thereafter filed a motion in the bankruptcy court requesting relief from the automatic stay triggered by Allyson's bankruptcy petition. On September 20, 2000, following a hearing held on September 5, 2000, the bankruptcy court granted Clarence's motion and lifted the stay for the limited purpose of enforcing the June 8, 2000 property division order.
On September 26, 2000, Clarence filed a complaint for an adversary proceeding in the bankruptcy court, arguing that (1) the obligations imposed by the June 8, 2000 property division order were not dischargeable pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(15), and (2) Allyson failed to fully and accurately disclose her assets and liabilities, and therefore should be denied discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(4).
On July 11, 2001, the bankruptcy court filed an "Order Discharging Debtor." Thereafter, on July 27, 2001, the bankruptcy court filed an order entitled, "Final Decree And Case Closed."
On August 3, 2001, Allyson filed a notice of appeal, thereby initiating the present appellate proceedings.9
On August 21, 2001, the bankruptcy court commenced a separate, two-day trial to adjudicate whether Allyson's debt to Clarence was dischargeable. On September 18, 2001, the court filed a judgment discharging Allyson's debts to Clarence as established in the June 8, 2000 property division order.
We review questions of constitutional law de novo, under the right/wrong standard. See State v. Friedman, 93 Hawai`i 63, 67, 996 P.2d 268, 273 (2000) ( ...
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