Wright v. Zielinski

• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: PER CURIAM.
• Citation: Wright v. Zielinski, 824 A.2d 494 (R.I. 2003)
• Decision Date: 11 June 2003
• Docket Number: No. 2001-57-Appeal.,2001-57-Appeal.
• Parties: Leonard C. WRIGHT v. Mary Anita ZIELINSKI

824 A.2d 494

Leonard C. WRIGHT v. Mary Anita ZIELINSKI

No. 2001-57-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

June 11, 2003.

Michael Ahn, for Plaintiff.

William J. Balkun, Cranston, for Defendant.

Present: WILLIAMS, C.J., FLANDERS, and GOLDBERG, JJ.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

After the entry of a final judgment of divorce, can one of the parties maintain a lawsuit alleging breach of their prenuptial agreement? Not under the circumstances of this case, we hold, because the doctrine of res judicata bars such post-divorce litigation.

The plaintiff-husband, Leonard C. Wright, appeals from a Superior Court summary judgment in favor of defendantwife, Mary Anita Zielinski, dismissing the husband's claims for (1) breach of contract, (2) abuse of process, and (3) intentional infliction of emotional distress. This Court directed both parties to show cause why we should not resolve this appeal summarily. Because they have not done so, we proceed to decide the appeal at this time.

This is a controversy over a prenuptial agreement that the parties entered into in 1980 to "determine the rights and claims that will accrue to each of them * * by reason of their marriage [1" They agreed "to accept the provisions of this Agreement in lieu of and in full discharge, settlement and satisfaction of, all such rights and claims [.1" The agreement provided, in part, that the parties waived their right to claim alimony or other divisions of property if they were divorced.

On November 16, 1995, however, the wife filed a complaint for divorce and a motion for temporary allowances in Family Court. In her complaint, she requested an equitable distribution of marital assets, a health-care allowance, assignment of the estate, and other forms of financial relief. In her motion for temporary allowances, which the Family Court granted, the wife requested that her husband be restrained from alienating or transferring his assets. She also asked for various financial allowances from him. None of the wife's filings, however, mentioned the prenuptial agreement. Eventually, however, she dropped these claims and agreed to a divorce from her husband pursuant to the terms in their prenuptial agreement. On February 28, 1997, the Family Court entered the final judgment of divorce, including a provision that incorporated the terms of the prenuptial agreement into the judgment.¹

Less than a week later, however, on March 6, 1997, the husband filed a complaint against his former wife in the Superior Court. He alleged that by her actions in initially seeking to evade the validity of the prenuptial agreement, by requesting financial relief in the divorce complaint, and by seeking to enjoin him from alienating or transferring his assets in the motion for temporary allowances, the wife was liable to him for: (1) breach of contract, (2) abuse of process, and (3) intentional infliction of emotional distress. In response, the wife moved for summary judgment, arguing that the doctrine of res judicata barred the breach-of-contract claim. Furthermore, she contended, she was not guilty of abuse of process because she legitimately was seeking a divorce by obtaining appropriate financial relief under the applicable matrimonial laws. Finally, the wife contended, the husband could not prove the asserted tortious infliction of emotional distress because he did not allege physical ills or demonstrate that the wife's conduct caused him to suffer any physical or psychological ills.

The motion justice granted the wife's motion for summary judgment. She reasoned that the breach-of-contract claim was barred because it was a compulsory counterclaim that should have been brought in the divorce action. She also rejected the abuse-of-process claim because it appeared to her that the wife filed her compliant of divorce to terminate the marriage and not for an improper ulterior motive. Furthermore, she ruled, the wife's alleged attempt to avoid the prenuptial contract via the divorce action was not an abuse of process because the inherent purpose of the divorce action was to settle the parties' various rights and liabilities as a divorcing married couple, including whatever rights and obligations they might have under any valid prenuptial agreement. Finally, the motion justice found that there was no issue of material fact concerning the emotional-distress claim because the husband had not introduced any expert medical evidence demonstrating a causal connection between the wife's alleged tortious misconduct and the husband's asserted physical symptomology.

On appeal, the husband argues that res judicata should not bar his breach-of-contract claim because the breaches of contract for which he sought relief occurred after the divorce action began. Furthermore, he reiterates that the wife was guilty of abuse of process in asserting financial claims in her divorce complaint and in her motion for temporary allowances because she allegedly knew that she was not entitled to obtain such relief under the prenuptial contract. In addition, he argues, the wife filed an ex-parte motion for temporary allowances to tie up his assets and to leverage her bargaining power in the divorce case. Finally, he alleges, the wife intentionally inflicted emotional distress on him in suing him for divorce when she knew that her conduct was causing problems between him and his son, who ultimately committed suicide.

Summary judgment is a drastic remedy that should be granted cautiously. ElGabri, v. Lekas, 681 A.2d 271, 275 (RI. 1996). This Court reviews a motion for summary judgment on a de novo basis and views the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. DiBattista v. State, 808 A.2d 1081, 1085 (R.I.2002). Summary judgment should be granted only if "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as [a] matter of law." Super.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

The question of whether a previous final judgment results in any claim preclusion in a later case between the same parties generally presents an issue of law. ElGabri, 681 A.2d at 275. Res judicata applies to those claims already litigated between parties and to those that a party could have litigated at the time of a previous action. DiBattista, 808 A.2d at 1086 ("[A]ll claims arising from the same transaction or series of transactions which could have properly been raised in a previous litigation are barred from a later action."); see also ElGabri, 681 A.2d at 275-76. A party could have litigated a claim if it derives from "`all or any part of the transaction, or series of connected transactions, out of which the action arose.'" El-Gabri, 681 A.2d at 276. Res judicata will extinguish a plaintiff's claim against a defendant even though the plaintiff would be prepared to present evidence or theories of the case not presented in a previous action. Id.

Here, we conclude, the husband could have and should have brought his breach-of-contract claim as a compulsory counterclaim in the divorce suit because the alleged breaches already had occurred when the prenuptial agreement ultimately formed the basis for the terms of the divorce.² Once the wife asked for relief in divorce action that was inconsistent with the prenuptial agreement, the husband should have counterclaimed that the wife breached the agreement in failing to abide by its provisions and by seeking a divorce on different terms than those in the agreement. Because the husband failed to assert breach of contract as a counterclaim in the divorce proceedings and allowed a final judgment of divorce to enter that included the terms of the prenuptial agreement, but that failed to mention any previous breaches thereof, the motion justice properly precluded him from recovering on that theory in the later lawsuit.

The husband also contends that res judicata does not apply to his breach-ofcontract claim because the breaches for which he sought relief occurred after the wife began the divorce action. But this contention does...