Ryan v. Ryan, 97,756.
| Decision Date | 16 September 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 97,756.,97,756. |
| Parties | Keith Gene RYAN, Plaintiff/Appellee, v. Nancy Karen RYAN, now Hinch, Defendant/Appellant. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma |
R. Wayne Patterson, Tulsa, OK, for Plaintiff/Appellee.
Thomas M. Askew, John L. Randolph, Jr., Pray, Walker, Jackman, Williamson & Marlar, Tulsa, OK, for Defendant/Appellant.
Released for Publication by Order of the Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, Division No. 4.
Opinion by KEITH RAPP, Judge:
¶ 1 The trial court defendant, Nancy Karen Ryan, now Hinch (Hinch), appeals an order overruling her motion for new trial following the trial court's decision in favor of the trial court plaintiff, Keith Gene Ryan (Ryan), to terminate alimony following her remarriage.
BACKGROUND
¶ 2 The parties were divorced in 1996. The decree resulted from a settlement agreement, although a separate agreement is not in the record. The decree provides that Hinch would receive the residence "subject to the mortgage indebtedness thereon." The decree's specific provisions for payment of the parties' debts do not assign responsibility for payment of the mortgage indebtedness.1 The Decree further provides that Ryan will pay to Hinch a sum equal to the mortgage payment and specified the sum as support alimony.2 The wording of the Decree is:
THE COURT FURTHER FINDS that Plaintiff shall pay taxable support alimony to Defendant in the total sum of $308,428.00, payable in a monthly amount equal to the current mortgage payment at 9203 South Erie of $929.00 per month. In the event of sale of the house before the mortgage is paid in full, or in the event of the destruction of the house due to casualty, the Plaintiff agrees to make continuing support payments of $929.00 per month up to the amount equal to the current balance on the amortization schedule of the mortgage when the event occurs, as if the sale or destruction had not occurred.... Such payments shall be deemed support alimony and treated as such for income tax purposes by both Plaintiff and Defendant in the year(s) of payment. Support alimony in all circumstances will cease upon the earlier of repayment of the mortgage or upon the death of the Defendant.
¶ 3 Subsequently, Hinch decided to remarry and did so. Ryan then ceased further payments of the support alimony asserting that her remarriage statutorily terminated the obligation. 43 O.S.2001, § 134(B). Hinch cited Ryan for contempt and Ryan moved to terminate the obligation.
¶ 4 Hinch asserted that the parties did not intend to terminate the payments upon remarriage because they desired that their child be able to remain in the residence. Thus, the absence of any specific provision concerning marriage is consistent with that intent. Alternatively, Hinch argued that the Decree is ambiguous because of the absence of the provision and that construing it with the aid of additional evidence establishes her position.3
¶ 5 Ryan argued that the Decree had to specifically exempt remarriage, failing to do so, the statute operated to terminate the obligation. Alternatively, Ryan argued that construction of an ambiguous Decree was limited to a review of the judgment roll and this review did not support Hinch's argument.
¶ 6 The trial court ruled in favor of Ryan and overruled Hinch's motion for new trial. Hinch appeals.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
¶ 7 As a general rule, a motion for new trial is addressed to the trial court's sound discretion and, absent error as to a pure and unmixed question of law, or arbitrary and capricious action, every presumption should be indulged in favor of the trial court's ruling on appeal. Bennett v. Hall, 1967 OK 122, ¶ 5, 431 P.2d 339, 340-41.
¶ 8 The underlying dispute involved construction of the statute pertaining to termination of support alimony and of the Decree and thus a question of law. Whether there is existence of ambiguity contained in the language of the decree is a decision made by the trial court. See Mercury Inv. Co. v. F.W. Woolworth Co., 1985 OK 38, 706 P.2d 523. If the court determines that the language is not ambiguous, the construction of the decree is also a matter of law for the court. See Ferrell Constr. Co., Inc. v. Russell Creek Coal Co., 1982 OK 24, 645 P.2d 1005. The appellate court has the plenary, independent and nondeferential authority to reexamine a trial court's legal rulings. Neil Acquisition, L.L.C. v. Wingrod Investment Corp., 1996 OK 125, 932 P.2d 1100 n. 1. Matters involving legislative intent present questions of law which are examined independently and without deference to the trial court's ruling. Keizor v. Sand Springs Ry. Co., 1993 OK CIV APP 98, ¶ 5, 861 P.2d 326, 328.
ANALYSIS AND REVIEW
¶ 9 The statute makes a divorce-related award of support alimony terminate by force of law on the contingencies of death or remarriage of the party recipient.4 43 O.S.2001, § 134(B); Dickason, 1980 OK 24 at ¶ 1, 607 P.2d at 675-76. Thus, when an unambiguous decree not subject to modification or correction is silent regarding these contingencies, then the occurrence of such contingencies terminates the support alimony award by force of law. Dickason, 1980 OK 24 at ¶¶ 1, 13, 607 P.2d at 675-76, 678.
¶ 10 Moreover, parties to a divorce may agree to modify the application of the statute. However, such agreement must be expressly provided in the decree inasmuch as the parties' agreement is both subject to the applicable law and enforceable only when it has received the approval of the court. Dickason, 1980 OK 24 at ¶¶ 9-10, 607 P.2d at 677.
¶ 11 However, if a decree suffers ambiguity, then the court may construe it but, in doing so, the court is limited to the judgment roll.
Once a judgment has become final for want of an appeal or in consequence of an appellate court's decision, any controversy over the meaning and effect of that judgment must be resolved by resorting solely to the face of the judgment roll. The meaning of a judgment is to be divined from the terms expressed in its text, which is to be construed with the other parts of the judgment roll. Only if a judgment is ambiguous on the face of the record proper may the court reach it for construction. When called upon to so do, the court stands confined to an inspection of the judgment roll. It cannot extend its inquiry dehors the instruments that comprise the roll.
Stork v. Stork, 1995 OK 61, ¶ 15, 898 P.2d 732, 739.
¶ 12 A judgment roll consists solely of the decree and the pleadings, process, reports, verdicts, orders, judgments, and all material acts or proceedings of the trial court. Timmons v. Royal Globe Ins. Co., 1985 OK 76, ¶ 7, 713 P.2d 589, 591 n. 5. The court's inquiry into a judgment's meaning cannot extend beyond the judgment roll and proceedings outside the record or not apparent on the face of the record may not be considered. Id. Thus, documents offered below by Hinch, such as letters and affidavits, may not be considered if the decree is subject to construction.5
¶ 13 The Ryan-Hinch decree is silent regarding the remarriage contingency and its affect on the alimony support obligation. However, examination of the entire decree discloses that the alimony support obligation is tied to the parties' mortgage indebtedness on the residence. The decree makes no provision to assign responsibility, as between the parties, for payment of that debt. The judgment roll does not, upon review, resolve any question regarding the absence of provision for payment of that debt or any question about the silence regarding the remarriage contingency. However, the parties are on notice of the provisions of the statutes.
¶ 14 Thus, the decree, in its incorporation of the parties' agreement, suffers from a latent ambiguity concerning responsibility for payment of the mortgage debt but not concerning support alimony which terminates by force of law. A "latent ambiguity" is one not evident from the face of the instrument alone but becomes apparent when applying the instrument to the facts as they exist. In re Estate of Kirk, 127 Idaho 817, 907 P.2d 794, 800 (1995); In re Marriage of Holloway, 299 Mont. 291, 999 P.2d 980, 983 (2000); see In re Estate of Eversole, 1994 OK 114, 885 P.2d 657, 662 n. 20. Black's Law Dictionary defines "latent ambiguity" as a defect which does not appear on the face of language used or an instrument being considered. It arises when language is clear and intelligible and suggests but a single meaning, but some extrinsic fact or some extraneous evidence creates a necessity for interpretation or a choice between two or more possible meanings. A patent ambiguity is one that clearly appears on the face of the document. Black's Law Dictionary, p. 80 (West Group 7th ed.1999). "Where a writing contains a reference to an object or thing, such as a pump, and it is shown by extrinsic evidence that there are two or more things or objects, such as pumps, to which it might properly apply, a latent ambiguity arises." Williams v. Idaho Potato Starch Co., 73 Idaho 13, 245 P.2d 1045, 1048-49 (1952).
¶ 15 Here, a latent ambiguity arises when the facts at hand create an issue about responsibility for a common obligation, the mortgage debt. On the one hand it would appear that Hinch would be responsible to make the debt payments, with money supplied by Ryan in a form structured as support alimony. However, when the support alimony obligation ceases by force of law, then that extrinsic fact creates a necessity here for an interpretation or a choice between two or more possible meanings as to whether Ryan or Hinch is responsible for the mortgage payments, or some combination of responsibility results.
¶ 16 If the parties' relationship were simply contractual, the court could resort to parol evidence to assist in its resolution of the latent ambiguity. Where the meaning of an ambiguous contract is in dispute, evidence of extrinsic facts is admissible and construction of the contract becomes a mixed question of law...
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