Raley v. Raley, 21453

• Decision Date: 23 November 1993
• Docket Number: No. 21453,21453
• Citation: 190 W.Va. 197,437 S.E.2d 770
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: Ethelyn Lou RALEY, Plaintiff Below, Appellant, v. Ross J. RALEY, Defendant Below, Appellee.

Page 770

437 S.E.2d 770

190 W.Va. 197

Ethelyn Lou RALEY, Plaintiff Below, Appellant, v. Ross J. RALEY, Defendant Below, Appellee.

No. 21453.

Supreme Court of Appeals of

West Virginia.

Submitted Oct. 3, 1993.

Decided Nov. 23, 1993.

Syllabus by the Court

"The doctrine of equitable distribution permits a spouse, who has made a material economic contribution toward the acquisition of property which is titled in the name of or under the control of the other spouse, to claim an equitable interest in such property in a proceeding seeking a divorce. Because these are economic contributions, the right to claim such equitable relief is not barred because the party seeking them may be found at fault in the divorce action itself." Syl. pt. 2, LaRue v. LaRue, 172 W.Va. 158, 304 S.E.2d 312 (1983).

Robyn Ruttenberg, Wheeling, for appellant.

Paul C. Camilletti, Camilletti, Sacco & Pizzuti, Wheeling, for appellee.

PER CURIAM:

This action is before this Court upon an appeal from the March 19 and March 26, 1992, orders of the Circuit Court of Marshall County, West Virginia. The circuit court awarded the appellant, Ethelyn Lou Raley, an additional four percent distribution from the appellee's, Ross J. Raley, investment account, which brings the appellant's total share of the investment account to eighteen percent. On appeal, the appellant asks that this Court reverse the orders of the circuit court and award the appellant fifty percent of the appellee's investment account value as of March 17, 1983, plus interest at the rate the investment has earned since that date. For the reasons stated below, the judgment of the circuit court is reversed.

The parties were married on September 1, 1948, and they separated in January of 1978. Two children were born of the marriage, who are now emancipated. The appellant sought a divorce from the appellee, and on March 17, 1983, the parties were granted a divorce. The appellant was awarded one-half of the joint savings account, however, she was denied any interest in the United States Savings Bonds or the investment account, Continental Oil Company Stock.

The investment account in question is a voluntary, contributory plan offered by Consolidation Coal Company to its salaried employees. The contributions were made through payroll deduction, and Consolidation Coal Company matched the appellee's contributions on a percentage basis. The method of payment chosen by the appellee was known as the fixed payment option. This simply means at the commencement of the appellee's retirement, over a ten-year period, the appellee would receive $910 per month, but he is precluded from making any further contributions to the plan once he retires. At the expiration of the ten-year period, the appellee would receive the remainder of the money. Each year, the appellee may make a maximum of two lump-sum withdrawals per year, however, he also has the right to withdraw all of the money from the plan at any time. It should be noted that all contributions to the plan, titled in the appellee's name, were made during the marriage.

This is the second sequel to this Court's original opinion, Raley v. Raley, 175 W.Va. 694, 338 S.E.2d 171 (1985) (hereinafter "Raley 1"). The progression of events leading up to this most recent Raley decision is as follows.

The first petition for appeal, which ultimately led to Raley 1, was filed on May 16, 1983. On May 25, 1983, this Court rendered its decision in the landmark case of LaRue v. LaRue, 172 W.Va. 158, 304 S.E.2d 312 (1983) in which this Court adopted the doctrine of equitable distribution of marital property upon divorce. In Raley 1, we recognized that the principles enunciated in LaRue were applicable to the facts of Raley 1. However, we also recognized, in note 1 of Raley 1, the unavailability of the equitable distribution amendments to our divorce statute, W.Va.Code, 48-2-32 [1984], as the effective date of such amendments was June 8, 1984.

Beyond discussing the applicable laws to Raley 1, we pointed out that the contributions made to the investment account were clearly marital property pursuant to W.Va.Code, 48-2-1 [1985]. Accordingly, in Raley 1, we cited and relied upon syllabus point 2 of LaRue, which held:

The doctrine of equitable distribution permits a spouse, who has made a material economic contribution toward the acquisition of property which is titled in the name of or under the control of the other spouse, to claim an equitable interest in such property in a proceeding seeking a divorce. Because these are economic contributions, the right to claim such equitable relief is not barred because the party seeking them may be found at fault in the divorce action itself.

Thus, based upon this rule of law, we specifically held in Raley 1: "As with the savings account which was distributed equally between the parties, the trial court in the instant proceeding should have distributed the appellee's investment or thrift account, which was merely another type of savings." 175 W.Va. at 697, 338 S.E.2d at 174-75. Therefore, the case was remanded for an equitable distribution of the present value of the investment account at the time of the divorce. Following that opinion, it was stipulated by the parties that the value of the investment account on the date of divorce equaled $208,526.62. The trial court subsequently awarded the appellant fourteen percent of the investment account based upon her economic contribution to the marriage.

Then came Raley v. Raley, 181 W.Va. 254, 382 S.E.2d 91 (1989) (hereinafter "Raley 2"), the first sequel to Raley 1. In Raley 2, we once again began our discussion by pointing out a recent decision by this Court and its applicability to Raley 2, that case being Cross v. Cross, 178 W.Va. 563, 363 S.E.2d 449 (1...