Pumo v. Pumo, 80-2068

• Decision Date: 13 October 1981
• Docket Number: No. 80-2068,80-2068
• Parties: Anne PUMO, Appellant, v. Benjamin PUMO, Jr., Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 224

405 So.2d 224

Anne PUMO, Appellant, v. Benjamin PUMO, Jr., Appellee.

No. 80-2068.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

Oct. 13, 1981.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 16, 1981.

Barrett & Rogers and William L. Rogers, Miami, for appellant.

A. J. Barranco, Jr., Steven Kellough, Horton, Perse & Ginsberg and Mallory H. Horton, Miami, for appellee.

Before BARKDULL, BASKIN and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.

BASKIN, Judge.

In this appeal, Anne Pumo challenges a declaratory judgment which she contends invalidates a prior decision by another trial judge. She maintains that the declaratory action was barred by the earlier decision of the trial court under the doctrine of res judicata. We agree and reverse.

After twenty-two years of marriage, the parties were divorced in 1970. Their Property Settlement Agreement contained the following provision:

5. Each of the parties hereto grants, releases and quit-claims unto the other party his or her heirs, personal representatives and assigns, all right, title or interest which he or she has or may have in and to the property and estate, real and personal of the other party, whether now existing or hereafter acquired, arising either during his or her lifetime or after, or by reason of his or her death, except as herein specified. Each of the parties hereto will, upon being requested by the other party, execute such other and further instruments as each may reasonably require in order to carry out this agreement, including releases of real and personal property now owned or hereafter acquired by the other party.

In 1977 Ben Pumo requested the court to compel Mrs. Pumo to convey to him her interest in certain commercial property. He argued that paragraph five of the Property Settlement Agreement required Anne Pumo to relinquish her interest in the commercial property they both owned. The trial court disagreed and denied the motion.

Subsequently, Mrs. Pumo sued for partition of the jointly held property and for an accounting. Mr. Pumo filed a separate declaratory action seeking reformation of the Property Settlement Agreement, claiming that the parties had intended by their Property Settlement Agreement to transfer Mrs. Pumo's interest in the disputed property to him. ¹ Mr. Pumo had managed the rental property in which, as tenants by the entireties, the couple owned a half interest. Mr. Pumo eventually purchased the remaining half interest in his own name.

The meaning of paragraph five was disputed by the parties during the proceedings for declaratory relief. Mr. Pumo maintained that the intent behind the Agreement was to afford him control of business activities and to furnish Mrs. Pumo the marital home, child support, and alimony. In accordance with the agreement, he obtained a mortgage on the property as security for the payment of alimony. Mr. Pumo argued that his wife had not planned to retain any interest in the property in question; however, Mrs. Pumo asserted that under paragraph five she had relinquished only her interest in that portion of the property owned by her husband and not her interest in the portion she owned. The trial court decided in favor of Mr. Pumo, ruling that the Property Settlement Agreement was ambiguous and construing the Agreement to require Mrs. Pumo to relinquish her interest in the property. This appeal ensued. ²

We disagree with the court's rulings. The Agreement indicates that the wife released only her interest in the property of the other party and not her interest in her property. The language of paragraph five is clear and unambiguous. See Sosnowitz v. Sosnowitz, 342 So.2d 524 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 352 So.2d 174 (Fla.1977). We need not delve into the question of the proper interpretation of the Agreement, however, because we find the court should not have entertained a declaratory action.

A final judgment of dissolution settles the property rights of the parties and bars any subsequent action to determine the question of property rights. Finston v. Finston, 160 Fla. 935, 37 So.2d 423 (Fla.1948); Diejuste v. Davis, 400 So.2d 981 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981); Simon v. Simon, 293 So.2d 780 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974). The doctrine of res judicata precludes litigation of property rights which could have been litigated whether or not they were litigated in the divorce action, Cooper v. Cooper, 69 So.2d 881 (Fla.1954); compare Vandervoort v. Vandervoort, 277 So.2d 43 (Fla. 3d DCA), cert. denied, 287 So.2d 682 (Fla.1973), unless the court reserves jurisdiction either to determine property rights after entry of the judgment of dissolution, Diejuste v. Davis, supra, or to enforce the final judgment. Finston v. Finston, supra.

In the case before us, however, Mr. Pumo filed a post-judgment Motion to Compel. The motion was not a pleading seeking to determine property rights: these had been decided in the dissolution proceeding. Instead, Mr. Pumo asked the court to interpret the existing agreement and to rule that by its terms, Mrs. Pumo conveyed her interest to him. It is the court's denial of this motion ³ which serves as a bar to relitigation of the meaning of paragraph five.

Under the doctrine of res judicata, a final judgment or...