Title: Crowe v. De Gioia
Citation: 102 N.J. 50, 505 A.2d 591
Docket Number: N/A
State: new-jersey
Issuer: new-jersey Supreme Court
Date: March 12, 1986

102 N.J. 50 (1986) 505 A.2d 591 ROSE K. CROWE, A/K/A ROSE K. DE GIOIA, PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT AND CROSS-APPELLANT, v. SERGIO DE GIOIA, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT AND CROSS-RESPONDENT. The Supreme Court of New Jersey. Argued February 3, 1986. Decided March 12, 1986. *51 Gary N. Skoloff argued the cause for appellant and cross-respondent (Skoloff and Wolfe, attorneys). Anthony B. Vignuolo argued the cause for respondent and cross-appellant (Borrus, Goldin, Foley, Vignuolo, Hyman, and Stahl, attorneys; Anthony B. Vignuolo, Martin S. Goldin, and Leslie Jeddis Lang, on the brief). PER CURIAM. The judgment of the Appellate Division is affirmed, substantially for the reasons expressed in the opinion of Judge Long, reported at 203 N.J. Super. 22 (1985). STEIN, Justice, concurring in part and dissenting in part. I agree with the Court's disposition of all of the issues in this litigation, except for its affirmance of the Appellate Division's determination that the trial court was precluded from awarding a counsel fee to plaintiff. As noted by the Appellate Division, the trial court found that defendant had agreed to support Mrs. Crowe for the remainder of her life in consideration of her performance of a variety of services during the twenty years that she lived with him. The trial court established an appropriate annual-support figure. The court then arrived at a one-time lump-sum judgment in an amount predicated upon the present value of the reasonable future support defendant promised to provide, computed by reference to plaintiff's life expectancy as shown by the tables referred to in Rule 1:13-5. Plaintiff applied to the trial court for an award of counsel fees. At the conclusion of the trial, her counsel fees amounted to approximately $55,000 or about one-third of her lump-sum award. The trial court clearly expressed its regret over its perceived lack of discretion to award counsel fees: The Appellate Division reviewed the Rule changes enacted in 1983 regarding the new Family Part and the correlative amendments to the counsel-fee Rule, R. 4:42-9, but concluded that our Court's prior decision, Crowe v. DeGioia, 90 N.J. 126, 136 (1982) (Crowe I), precluded an award of counsel fees because an action for support between unmarried cohabitants is a "nonmatrimonial action." 203 N.J. Super. 22, 38-39 (1985). I do not regard our holding in Crowe I as to the availability of counsel fees pendente lite to be determinative of the issue now before us. That issue should be resolved in the context of the significant amendments to the Rules of Court that have occurred since our decision in Crowe I. In establishing the Chancery Division, Family Part, we adopted Rule 5:1-2, which defines that court's jurisdiction as follows: In addition, because the prior counsel-fee Rule referred to an award of counsel fees in a "matrimonial action" as previously defined in Rule 4:75, a Rule deleted in December 1983 and replaced by the new Part V, we amended Rule 4:42-9(a)(1) in order to take into account the establishment of the Family Part and coordinate its jurisdiction with the counsel-fee Rule. The amended counsel-fee Rule provides in part as follows: The Comments to Rule 5:1-2 plainly demonstrate that an action for support between unmarried cohabiting adults is one cognizable by the Family Part of the Chancery Division and, accordingly, constitutes a "family action," which is encompassed by the amended counsel-fee Rule: Therefore, the specific question that we must decide is whether the reference in Rule 4:42-9(a)(1) to the words "claim for * * * support * * *" is restricted to actions for support among married persons. Read literally, the Rule does not call for so narrow a construction. The claim of Mrs. Crowe in this case was pursued as a breach-of-contract action to enforce defendant's agreement to support her for the remainder of her life. Accordingly, it can fairly be denominated as a claim for support *54 in a family action, thereby encompassed within the discretionary authority conferred by the counsel-fee Rule. The Comments to the amended Rule 4:42-9 and the new Rule 5:1-2 are inconclusive as to the intent of the amendment. In pertinent part, the Comment to Rule 4:42-9 states: In comparison, the Comment to Rule 5:1-2 states: A fair reading of the new Family-Part Rule and the amended counsel-fee Rule is that the question of the availability of counsel fees in a support action between unmarried cohabitants was not resolved by the Rule changes. Accordingly, it is for this Court to determine whether the objectives of Rule 4:42-9 would be offended by an interpretation that permits a trial court, in its discretion, to award counsel fees in appropriate cases involving unmarried cohabitants. Although the practice of awarding counsel fees in matrimonial actions had its historical origins in our chancery courts, the discretion of the chancery courts regarding counsel fees was superseded as a result of the rulemaking power granted to the Supreme Court by the 1947 Constitution. As we noted in State v. Otis Elevator, 12 N.J. 1 (1953): Nevertheless, in applying our Rules governing the award of counsel fees in matrimonial actions, we have been guided by the same factors that impelled the award of counsel fees in our chancery courts. Under our practice, which has been followed since the mid-1800s, See Marker v. Marker, 11 N.J. Eq. 256, 258 (Ch. 1856); Shaffer v. Shaffer, 154 N.J. Super. 491, 494 (App.Div. 1977). In a suit between unmarried cohabitants, recovery of support depends on proof of the existence of an agreement between the parties. Kozlowski v. Kozlowski, 80 N.J. 378, 387 (1979). However, once such an agreement has been established, as it has in this case, the factors pertinent to the claimant's need for an award of counsel fees are virtually indistinguishable from the factors that are controlling in a matrimonial action. Although reluctantly declining to grant counsel fees, the trial court in this case reviewed the appropriate factors including the plaintiff's need, the defendant's ability to pay, and the good faith of both parties in instituting or defending the action. Williams v. Williams, supra, 59 N.J. at 233 *56 Rule 4:42-9(a)(1) commits the award of counsel fees in a family action to the discretion of the trial court. I can perceive no substantial reason why this Court should construe its own Rules, which, read literally, would permit an award of counsel fees in a support action involving unmarried cohabitants, so narrowly as to prohibit a trial court from exercising its discretion to determine if, based on the material facts, a counsel-fee award is appropriate. We recognized in Crowe I the substantial similarity, in the issues and proofs involved, between matrimonial litigation and suits involving unmarried cohabitants. For that reason we remanded this case for trial to the Chancery Division, reversing the Appellate Division's decision that the case, as a contract action, should be tried in the Law Division. Crowe I, supra, 90 N.J. at 138 We reinforced our conclusion that these cases are analogous to matrimonial litigation by including them within the jurisdiction of the new Family Part. R. 5:1-2. Consistently, we should now recognize that in some cases involving unmarried cohabitants the need for a counsel-fee award may be just as compelling as it is in most matrimonial cases, requiring the proper exercise of a trial court's discretion to determine the appropriateness of such an award. Such recognition would neither demean marriage nor exalt unmarried cohabitation. It would simply reflect a pragmatic acknowledgment that after a prolonged cohabitation, whether solemnized by marriage or not, one party's economic condition may be so dependent on the other party as to make the availability of a counsel-fee award a virtual prerequisite to judicial relief. In a matrimonial action, a wife who must sue to enforce her statutory right of support may be entitled to an award of counsel fees so that the support to which she is lawfully entitled is not substantially diluted by the legal expenses incurred to enforce her right. There is scant justification for our Court Rules to treat differently an unmarried cohabitant, similarly situated, seeking to enforce a contractual rather than a statutory right of support. In a matrimonial case *57 we acknowledge the need for trial courts to be able to award counsel fees, in their discretion, to avoid inequitable results. The same discretionary power should be available in litigation between unmarried cohabitants where the facts and circumstances, as in this case, require a counsel-fee award to avoid an unjust result. The Court would be well advised to heed the admonition of Justice Jacobs, expressed in dissent two decades ago in Grober v. Kahn, 47 N.J. 135 (1966): Accordingly, I would construe Rule 4:42-9(a)(1) to permit the trial court, in its discretion, to allow counsel fees in actions for support between unmarried cohabitants. In this respect, I respectfully dissent from the Court's affirmance of the judgment of the Appellate Division. I would remand to the trial court for consideration of the counsel-fee issue. For affirmance Justices CLIFFORD, HANDLER, POLLOCK, O'HERN and GARIBALDI 5. Opposed None.