Court Opinion

ID: 9583968
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:43:22.873524+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:06:10.949809
License: Public Domain

McCULLOUGH, Judge,
concurring in the result.
I would also reverse the trial court’s order, but on the grounds of equitable estoppel. The 6 June 1991 judgment was explicitly recognized as a child support order by both parties who were present when it was entered. Defendant also signed the order, thereby acknowledging his awareness of its contents. Both plaintiff and defendant reared their children and otherwise managed their affairs for seven years as if a valid order were in place. A subsequent order filed 12 January 1998 also acknowledged the 6 June 1991 order as a valid child support order. In his reply to plaintiffs Motion to Show Cause, defendant stated that he had “not willfully refused to make monthly child support payments as required under the previous and last order in this matter of June 6, 1991” and further, that “the parties both did not modify or change the previously entered court order, but rather, worked with one another based upon verbal agreement and physical locality of the child.”
Under the facts of this case, defendant is equitably estopped from denying the validity of the 6 June 1991 order regarding defendant’s duty to pay child support. In Chance v. Henderson, 134 N.C. App. 657, 663, 518 S.E.2d 780, 784 (1999), this Court held that, although the consent order entered by the trial court was invalid, defendant’s subsequent actions “ratified and validated the Order,” such that defendant was estopped from challenging the judgment. Where a party engages in positive acts that amount to ratification resulting in prejudice to an innocent party, the circumstances may give rise to estoppel. Howard v. Boyce, 254 N.C. 255, 265-66, 118 S.E.2d 897, 905 (1961). Further, “ ‘[a] party who, with knowledge of the facts, accepts the benefits of a transaction, may not thereafter attack the validity of the transaction *510to the detriment of other parties who relied thereon.’ ” Yarborough v. Yarborough, 27 N.C. App. 100, 105-06, 218 S.E.2d 411, 415, cert. denied, 288 N.C. 734, 220 S.E.2d 353 (1975) (quoting 3 Strong’s N.C. Index 2d Estoppel § 4); see also Amick v. Amick, 80 N.C. App. 291, 294-95, 341 S.E.2d 613, 615 (1986) (defendant estopped from denying validity of separation agreement where plaintiff relied upon and performed obligations pursuant to terms thereof). In the instant case, defendant explicitly recognized and complied with (at least to some extent) the terms of the 6 June 1991 order for seven years. Nothing in the record indicates that defendant objected to or repudiated the order before the trial court, sua sponte, rejected the judgment as invalid as to child support.
Further, it is a well-established principle of law in North Carolina that no appeal lies from one superior court judge to another. Smithwick v. Crutchfield, 87 N.C. App. 374, 376, 361 S.E.2d 111, 113 (1987). The same rule also applies to district court judges. Johnson v. Johnson, 7 N.C. App. 310, 313, 172 S.E.2d 264, 266 (1970). Accordingly, one district court judge may not correct errors of law committed by another; such errors may only be corrected by an appellate court. See id. The 12 January 1998 order clearly recognized the validity of the 6 June 1991 child support order. By rejecting the 6 June 1991 order as invalid as to child support, the trial court also implicitly and unacceptably modified the 12 January 1998 order regarding defendant’s child support obligations. Defendant did not appeal the 12 January 1998 order, which specifically references defendant’s child support obligations under the previous 6 June 1991 judgment.
Upon fully reviewing the pleadings, the orders, and the parties’ subsequent behavior pursuant to the orders, it is clear that both parties intended that defendant should pay monthly child support. I would hold that defendant is equitably estopped from denying the validity of the 6 June 1991 order and accordingly reverse the trial court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s motion for contempt.