COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present: Judges Humphreys, Malveaux and Fulton

Argued at Fredericksburg, Virginia

EILEEN BOBSIN

MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY

v. Record No. 1389-22-4 JUDGE MARY BENNETT MALVEAUX

AUGUST 1, 2023

GEOFFREY BOBSIN

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF FAIRFAX COUNTY

Brett A. Kassabian, Judge1

John S. Koehler (The Law Office of James Steele, PLLC, on briefs), 

for appellant.

Robert M. Worster III (Worster Law PLLC, on brief), for appellee.

Eileen Bobsin (“wife”) appeals the circuit court’s denial of her motion to reconsider after the 

court conducted an equitable distribution hearing in her absence and entered a final order of divorce. 

She contends that the circuit court erred by denying her motion and refusing to reopen the record so 

that she could present evidence on the valuation of the marital accounts. Finding no error in the 

circuit court’s decision, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

“When reviewing a [circuit] court’s decision on appeal, we view the evidence in the light 

most favorable to the prevailing party, granting it the benefit of any reasonable inferences.”

* This opinion is not designated for publication. See Code § 17.1-413(A).

1

Judge Daniel E. Ortiz briefly participated in this case in the circuit court. Subsequently 

elected to this Court, Judge Ortiz did not participate in the consideration or resolution of this 

appeal.

UNPUBLISHED
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Nielsen v. Nielsen, 73 Va. App. 370, 377 (2021) (quoting Congdon v. Congdon, 40 Va. App.

255, 258 (2003)).

On June 18, 2020, Geoffrey Bobsin (“husband”) filed a complaint for divorce in the 

circuit court. Trial was set originally for August 24, 2021, but was continued three times 

between August 2021 and July 2022 due to changes of counsel by wife and an emergency 

motion for continuance by wife. On July 13, 2022, wife’s sixth attorney filed a motion to 

withdraw as counsel stating that wife had informed counsel of her intent to find a new attorney.

2

 

On July 14, 2022, the circuit court entered an order granting the motion. At that time, trial was 

scheduled for July 18, 2022.

On that date, wife appeared in court without counsel and stated that she had fired her 

attorney on July 1. Nevertheless, she claimed that she was unaware of her attorney’s withdrawal

from the case. Counsel for husband stated that he had been present when the court heard the 

motion to withdraw, but that wife had not been present. He informed the court, however, that 

wife’s attorney had said she had noticed wife about the proceeding by mail, email, and service of 

process. Counsel for husband further noted the numerous attorneys wife had previously 

discharged and that the court had already granted wife two continuances over husband’s 

objections. He argued against a further continuance, stating that the case had been pending for 

more than two years and that “[i]t wasn’t because of COVID. It was because of the 

continuances.” Counsel for husband also noted that the continuances he had objected to had 

been brought “on . . . the Friday before a Monday trial,” and contended that husband had been 

significantly prejudiced by the continuances.

2 Counsel for husband represented that wife had employed nine attorneys by that point. 

We note the presence of at least six attorneys representing wife in the record. 
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The circuit court found that wife had had notice of her attorney’s withdrawal.

3

 It then 

told wife that, “I haven’t heard a continuance request, but even if there was one, I am disinclined 

to grant it because . . . it was incumbent upon you to be ready for today or to continue the case 

before today rather than making the parties show up.” Accordingly, the court announced its 

intention to proceed. However, before husband could present his opening statement, wife 

announced that she was not feeling well and stated that she had been having chest pains since 

having surgery in March 2022. Wife then requested a continuance “for a week, at least” so that 

she could go to the hospital. When the circuit court ruled that wife appeared able to proceed, 

wife said, “No. I’m holding my chest. I’m physically holding my chest. It’s killing me right 

now.” Wife continued to maintain she was experiencing chest and head pains and was “not well 

enough to do this now,” and said she could summon her daughter to take her to the hospital. The 

court stated that it could call rescue personnel to come and examine wife, so that “if everything is 

fine, we can continue,” but wife insisted she needed to go to the hospital with her daughter. 

The circuit court summoned paramedics and continued the case to August 24, 2022. In 

its continuance order, the court noted that trial was continued “based on claimed medical 

emergency of [wife] for which emergency transport was called.” It ruled that trial would not be 

continued again based upon wife’s lack of counsel and required wife to “produce medical 

discharge [records] from 7/18/22 hospital admission not later than 8/18/22 to counsel for 

[husband].”

On August 24, 2022, wife failed to appear for trial. Husband informed the circuit court that 

wife had been served notice of the new trial date on July 18, 2022, and introduced into evidence a 

copy of the return indicating that notice had been posted on wife’s front door. The court held that it 

3

In addition to the representations of husband’s counsel, the circuit court also considered 

the certificate of service of the motion to withdraw that was part of the record.
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was “satisfied” that wife “has notice of today’s [court] date based upon service” and that it had 

“waited as long as it’s going to wait for her appearance physically here.” After further noting that 

there was “no record . . . of any request for a postponement of the case,” the court expressed that it 

was ready to proceed and commenced trial in wife’s absence. At the conclusion of trial, the court 

entered a final order of divorce valuing the marital assets based on husband’s evidence and dividing 

the marital assets equally. The court noted in its order that wife had been “given active notice by 

posting and did not appear.” 

On September 9, 2022, wife filed a one-page motion for an “emergency case continuance / 

reconsideration,” but offered no reason for her absence at trial. On September 13, 2022, wife filed a 

motion for reconsideration of the final order of divorce and asked that the order be “extended” for 

four weeks. For the first time, wife cited “emergency medical reasons” for her requests and asserted 

that she was at a hospital emergency room on August 24 and 25, 2022. On September 14, 2022, the 

circuit court entered an order suspending its final judgment for thirty days. In its order, the court 

directed wife to submit a brief in support of her motion “that evidence[d] her purported medical 

emergency.” 

On September 23, 2022, wife filed a “Motion for Reconsideration . . . Respecting Medical 

Emergency” and an accompanying brief. In her motion, she asked the circuit court to reconsider its 

final decree because a medical emergency had “rendered [her] medically unable to attend and 

participate in” the proceedings on August 24, 2022. She argued that the court should reconsider its 

ruling “for a few separate and distinct reasons to prevent manifest injustice . . . and to correct a clear 

error in the Order.” Wife did not specify the “reasons” or the “error” in the order; instead, she 

simply requested “additional time to provide those details.” Wife did not request a hearing on her 

motion or ask that the circuit court reopen the record.
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In her accompanying brief, to which she attached copies of some of her medical records, 

wife stated that in the early morning of August 24, 2022, she experienced “an urgent medical 

emergency[] with extreme chest and eye/head pains.” Wife was “unsuccessful in calling and 

reaching 911,” but the pain “decreased a little” after she rested for a while, so wife called her 

physician and set up an appointment for 1:00 p.m. Wife stated that she and her physician “were 

both concerned about a heart attack,” but the only medical record wife provided from her

doctor’s visit was a photocopy of a prescription instructing her to take ibuprofen alternating with 

Tylenol. The prescription did indicate that wife was to have an MRI scan of her head “to 

evaluate retroorbital pain,” but provided that this should be done at the same appointment as a 

previously scheduled chest MRI set for the following week. Wife further stated that her 

physician suggested she go to the emergency room if her pain persisted, but no such 

recommendation is reflected in wife’s medical records. 

Wife indicated that her pain abated after visiting with her physician and going home to 

rest, but that she then “decided to be pro-active” by going to the emergency room. There, she 

“requested a cardiac workup” and was administered several tests, but was released some hours 

later. Wife’s medical records from the emergency room indicate diagnoses of “[c]hest pain, 

unspecified type,” “[a]cute non intractable tension-type headache,” and knee pain and that wife

was given Benadryl and anti-anxiety and anti-migraine medications while at the hospital. 

Also in her brief, wife alleged that she had called the circuit court on the morning of August 

24, 2022, as well as husband and his attorney, and left messages informing them that she could not 

attend trial. Wife further alleged that she had called the police regarding “non-receipt of [c]ourt 

documents posted to my house front door” and that they had told her to call after she returned home 
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from her doctor’s appointment or the emergency room “so they could come by my house and take

the full police report.”4

Husband filed a response to wife’s motion stating that he had not been served with a copy of 

the motion and that wife had not complied with the court’s order that she provide him with medical 

documentation supporting her claim of a medical emergency on July 18, 2022. Husband also noted 

that wife’s motion did not specifically identify what “she wants reconsidered and on what basis,” 

and asserted that nothing in the motion established good cause to modify the final order of divorce. 

On September 29, 2022, the circuit court entered an order summarily denying wife’s motion 

to reconsider and vacating its suspension order. The order made clear that the court had considered

the parties’ briefs, wife’s accompanying medical records, and the entire record of the case in making 

its determination. This appeal followed. 

II. ANALYSIS

Wife argues that the circuit court abused its discretion by denying her motion to 

reconsider based upon a medical emergency, because “[t]he record . . . amply demonstrates that 

wife has had extreme difficulty” due to a “documented history of medical issues[,] including 

surgeries” in 2021 and 2022. She contends that she made a good faith effort to request 

reconsideration and provided the court with documentation of her reason for not being present at 

the August 24, 2022 hearing, as well as of her efforts to inform the court and counsel she would 

be absent. Wife argues that the circuit court’s decision deprived her of the opportunity to have 

the court consider her evidence alternately valuing the marital accounts.5

4

In her opening brief, wife represents that “while she was receiving emergency medical 

treatment on July 18, 2022, her home was burglarized and [she] did not find the notice [of the 

new trial date of August 24, 2022] that had been posted.” 

5 To the extent that wife argues that the circuit court erred by failing to reopen the record 

to allow her to present additional evidence, she has waived that argument because she did not 

request that relief below. See Rule 5A:18. Additionally, wife does not ask that we consider this 
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“Motions to reopen an evidentiary record or to reconsider a prior ruling involve matters 

wholly in the discretion of the [circuit] court,” Thomas v. Commonwealth, 62 Va. App. 104, 109 

(2013), and such motions “are generally ‘not favored,’” Everett v. Tawes, 298 Va. 25, 40 (2019)

(quoting Hechler Chevrolet, Inc. v. General Motors Corp., 230 Va. 396, 403 (1985)). The 

principal ways in which a circuit court may abuse its discretion are when “a relevant factor that 

should have been given significant weight is not considered[,]” “an irrelevant or improper factor 

is considered and given significant weight[,]” or “all proper factors, and no improper ones, are 

considered, but the court, in weighing those factors, commits a clear error of judgment.” 

Lambert v. Sea Oats Condo. Ass’n, Inc., 293 Va. 245, 253 (2017) (quoting Manchester Oaks 

Homeowners Ass’n, Inc. v. Batt, 284 Va. 409, 429 (2012)). We will find an abuse of discretion 

only when “reasonable jurists could not differ.” Hicks v. Commonwealth, 71 Va. App. 255, 275 

(2019) (quoting Campos v. Commonwealth, 67 Va. App. 690, 702 (2017)). 

“In order to demonstrate an entitlement to a rehearing, a [party] must show either an 

‘error on the face of the record, or . . . some legal excuse for his failure to present his full defense 

at or before the time of the entry of the decree.’” Holmes v. Holmes, 7 Va. App. 472, 480 (1988) 

(second alteration in original) (quoting Downing v. Huston, Darbee Co., 149 Va. 1, 9 (1927)). 

Moreover, a ruling denying a motion for reconsideration that alleges error or legal excuse, like 

all circuit court rulings, “come[s] to an appellate court with a presumption of correctness.” Sobol 

v. Sobol, 74 Va. App. 252, 272 (2022) (quoting Wynnycky v. Kozel, 71 Va. App. 177, 192 

(2019)). 

Here, in denying wife’s motion for reconsideration, the circuit court rejected wife’s 

contention that she was “medically unable to attend and participate in” the trial on August 24, 

argument under one of the exceptions to Rule 5A:18, and “this Court will not invoke an 

exception to Rule 5A:18 sua sponte.” Beasley v. Commonwealth, 60 Va. App. 381, 399 (2012).
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2022. Based on the record before us, we conclude that the court did not abuse its discretion in 

denying wife’s motion. 

We first note that prior to August 24, 2022, wife, having received two previous 

continuances based on changes of counsel, sought another continuance to secure new counsel at 

the original trial date on July 18, 2022; when the court announced its intention to proceed, wife 

alleged a medical emergency based on headache and chest pains she had been experiencing since 

a surgery the previous March. The court summoned paramedics and granted wife another 

continuance, setting a new trial date of August 24, 2022, and requiring wife to document for 

husband a hospital visit relating to the alleged medical emergency. Wife does not dispute 

husband’s representation that she never provided documentation corroborating her claimed 

medical emergency, despite the circuit court’s order to do so. Wife then failed to appear for trial 

on August 24, 2022. She later asserted both that she did not receive notice of the new trial date 

and, conversely, that she called the court, husband, and husband’s counsel that morning to 

explain that she would be absent due to a new medical emergency. The record does not support 

either of wife’s assertions.

Additionally, the record does not support wife’s assertion that she was unable to attend 

court due to a new medical emergency on August 24, 2022. Wife claimed that when she began 

to experience an “urgent medical emergency” that morning, she was “unsuccessful in calling and 

reaching 911.” Nothing in the record supports wife’s contention that she was unable to 

successfully contact emergency services. Although wife contended that during a doctor’s visit 

later that day, both she and her physician were “concerned about a heart attack,” again, the 

record does not support this. The only medical record from that visit indicates that wife’s 

physician instructed her to take Tylenol and ibuprofen, and although he did indicate that wife 

was to have an MRI to evaluate her head pains, he scheduled that MRI for one week later. Wife 
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did not allege that her physician sent her to the emergency room, and in fact admitted that she 

went to the emergency room on her own initiative, “to be pro-active.” She further acknowledged

that she, and not her attending physicians at the hospital, “requested a cardiac work up,” and her 

medical records indicate that she was released from the hospital some hours later after receiving 

a diagnosis of knee pain, chest pain of an “unspecified type,” and “non intractable tension-type 

headache.” The record is also devoid of any doctor’s note or other documentation that wife 

could have obtained to excuse her absence from court due to an “urgent medical emergency.” 

Wife has alleged no “error on the face of the record,” and the record evidence discussed 

above does not demonstrate “some legal excuse for [her] failure to present [her] full defense” on 

August 24, 2022, or otherwise “before the time of the entry of the decree.” Holmes, 7 Va. App. 

at 480 (quoting Downing, 149 Va. at 9). The circuit court did not commit a clear error of 

judgment or otherwise abuse its discretion by denying wife’s motion for reconsideration. See 

Lambert, 293 Va. at 253. Accordingly, we affirm the ruling of the circuit court.6

Husband’s Request for Appellate Attorney Fees

On brief, husband requests this Court to award appellate attorney fees and remand to the 

circuit court for a determination of such fees. He contends that wife’s “contumacious behavior” 

6 Wife supports her argument by contending that this case is similar to Seeraj-Montague 

v. Friendly Ride Access, LLC, No. 180166 (Va. Mar. 14, 2019) (order), but that case is readily 

distinguishable. In Seeraj-Montague, there were three continuances prior to the ultimate trial 

date, but the two granted to the plaintiff were given to allow her to respond to a late disclosure by 

the defendant. Id. at *2. Here, by contrast, the three continuances between the initial trial date 

and July 18, 2022, were all attributable to wife. Further, when the plaintiff’s counsel in SeerajMontague became ill, he notified opposing counsel, and when he realized that he would be 

unable to appear at trial, he notified both opposing counsel and the circuit court. Id. at *2, 4 n.4. 

Additionally, the plaintiff went to court on the trial date to request a continuance, although she 

arrived late and after the court had adjourned. Id. at *2 n.3. Additionally, the Court in SeerajMontague noted that there was “certainly no indication in the record that counsel’s illness was 

feigned or that a continuance was sought solely ‘to delay or evade a trial, and not to prepare for 

it.’” Id. at *4 (quoting Myers v. Trice, 86 Va. 835, 838 (1890)). Accordingly, appellant’s 

reliance on Seeraj-Montague is misplaced. 
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has “insult[ed] the dignity of the Court and deprived [him] of an efficient and economic divorce 

free from needless delay and expense,” and asserts that only an award of fees “will partially 

compensate him for his wasted time and money.” 

“The decision to award attorney’s fees and costs incurred on appeal is within the sound 

discretion of the appellate court.” Marinaro v. Marinaro, 73 Va. App. 424, 435 (2021); see also 

Rule 5A:30(b) (authorizing this Court to grant such fees). “The appellate court has the 

opportunity to view the record in its entirety and determine whether [an] appeal is frivolous or 

whether other reasons exist for requiring additional payment.” Rainey v. Rainey, 74 Va. App. 

359, 391 (2022) (alteration in original) (quoting O’Loughlin v. O’Loughlin, 23 Va. App. 690, 

695 (1996)). “In determining whether to make such an award, [this Court] shall not be limited to 

a consideration of whether a party’s position on an issue was frivolous or lacked substantial 

merit but shall consider all the equities of the case.” Id. (alteration in original) (quoting Rule 

5A:30(b)(3)). Finding no insult to the dignity of this Court, and after considering the record and 

all the equities of the case before us, we deny husband’s request for appellate attorney fees.

III. CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the circuit court’s judgment.

Affirmed.