Witowski v. Roosevelt, 06-141.

• Decision Date: 27 April 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-141.,06-141.
• Citation: 2007 WY 70,156 P.3d 1001
• Parties: Thomas WITOWSKI, Appellant (Defendant), v. Gayle (Witowski) ROOSEVELT, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

156 P.3d 1001

2007 WY 70

Thomas WITOWSKI, Appellant (Defendant), v. Gayle (Witowski) ROOSEVELT, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 06-141.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

April 27, 2007.

Representing Appellant: Robert E. Schroth of Schroth & Schroth, LLC, Jackson, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee: David G. Lewis, Jackson, Wyoming.

Before VOIGT, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, KITE, and BURKE, JJ.

HILL, Justice.

[¶ 1] Appellant, Thomas Witowski (Father), seeks review of district court orders that granted two partial summary judgments in favor of his former wife, Gayle Roosevelt, fka Gayle Witowski, (Mother). Mother filed a complaint on October 27, 2004, seeking to recover $18,000.00 in child support arrearages, as well as other relief. We will dismiss the appeal because the order from which the appeal is taken is not a final order as contemplated by W.R.C.P. 54(b), it is not otherwise an appealable order as contemplated by W.R.A.P. 1.05, and it is not a matter that this Court will treat as a petition for writ of review.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] Because we conclude that this appeal must be dismissed, we will not set out the issues raised by Father. The only matters we will address are those which relate to whether or not this Court will take cognizance of this appeal and decide the issues raised by the parties. These matters we raise on our own motion.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

[¶ 3] As noted above, Mother filed her complaint on October 27, 2004. The parties were married in the state of Wisconsin on August 4, 1973. Lacey Witowski (Child) was born on April 22, 1984. By decree entered on August 24, 1992, in the state of Virginia, the parties were granted a divorce. The divorce decree incorporated an agreement/stipulation that settled all issues between the parties. Pertinent to this appeal, the agreement provided:

3. Child Support:

Husband shall pay to Wife the sum of Six Hundred Dollars ($600.00) per month, for the support and maintenance of the minor child, with [sic] payable on the first day of each month, commencing the first day of June 1992, agreement [sic] and continuing in a like sum until the minor child reaches the age of 18 years or completes high school, whichever event shall last occur, and/or while the child is a full-time college student until age 23 years.

5. College Education of Child:

Husband and Wife shall each pay one-half of the expenses of said child's college education which shall include costs of books, tuition, lodging, meals, and related fees, provided that the limit of each party's liability for each academic year involved shall be one-half of the charge of suggested costs for that same academic year as set out in the published catalogue of the University of Virginia.

8. Medical, Dental, Hospitalization Expenses:

Husband shall provide military/Champus health, hospitalization and dental coverage for Wife, until such time as a final Decree of Divorce is entered and for the child until his obligation to support and educate the child has terminated. Husband will obtain and maintain a Champus supplement insurance (health) policy for said child during the same period of time and each party will pay half of all future and necessary medical and dental expenses for treatment, examination and/or care of child not covered by Champus or provided by military facilities and/or insurance.

[¶ 4] Following entry of the Virginia divorce decree, Mother and Child moved to Jackson, Wyoming. Although Father continually paid his monthly child support payments, as well as his share of Child's medical and educational expenses, these payments ceased in June of 2002 when Child graduated from high school. After finishing high school, Child attended the University of Wyoming as a full-time student.

[¶ 5] Mother filed this action on October 27, 2004, seeking, inter alia, child support arrearages and reimbursement for one-half of Child's medical and educational costs for the time period after graduation from high school, but during the time Child was a university student and under age 23. Mother's complaint asked the district court: (1) To give full faith and credit to the Virginia divorce; (2) to enforce the parties' agreement with respect to child support; (3) to award Mother $18,000.00 in present arrearages, as well as any further arrearages that accumulated; and (4) that Father be ordered to pay Mother "such other damages, including incidental and consequential damages, as are awardable for breach of contract under the laws of the State of Wyoming or Virginia." Mother's pleadings included a request for attorney's fees and costs associated with the prosecution of this matter.

[¶ 6] By order dated October 24, 2005, the district court granted partial summary judgment to Mother. The district court found that, pursuant to the divorce decree, Father's child support obligations were clear and unambiguous, and he was required to fulfill his monetary duties until Child attained her twenty-third birthday, so long as she remained a full-time, college student. The district court also held that the precise amount owed by Father for the unpaid child support, medical and education costs, and Mother's attorney's fees, would be determined at a later date.

[¶ 7] Adding somewhat more to the procedural confusion, on November 21, 2005, Father filed a Petition to Modify Child Support, essentially asking that the district court undo what it had done to date.

[¶ 8] On May 5, 2006, the district court issued an "Order Granting [Mother] Further Partial Summary Judgment." This order was issued after a trial to the court. The transcript of the proceedings is not included in the record on appeal. Documentary evidence introduced by Mother at the trial is contained in Volume II of the record on appeal. This documentary evidence is the source for the district court's findings of exactly what expenses Mother had paid, for which Father was required to reimburse her. In this Order, the district court determined, inter alia, that Father's motion to modify support should be denied, that Father's child support arrearages were $25,800.00, and his share of Child's educational and medical costs totaled $7,990.51. The district court further ordered: (1) That Father must...