Court Opinion

ID: 9755206
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:30:07.502662+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:04.963999
License: Public Domain

DEL SOLE, Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
Although I agree with President Judge Cirillo’s disposition of the issues raised by Appellant pertaining to alimony and equitable distribution of certain real property, I find it necessary to join Judge Wieand with regard to the Texas counsel fee award. Further, I dissent from that portion of President Judge Cirillo’s Opinion which addresses the pension award.
The trial court held that, because of particular uncertainties, it would not distribute the pension at the time of its ruling, but instead would elect to provide for a deferred distribution settlement. The courts and authors in this area have recognized deferred distribution as an alternative method to immediate offset as a means for effectuating benefit settlements. Flynn v. Flynn, 341 Pa.Super. 76, 491 A.2d 156 (1985); Troyan, Pension Evaluation and Equitable Distribution, 10 Fam.L.R. 3001 (1983). While deferred distribution is a recognized option, the court in this case set forth an incorrect formula for determining the ultimate award.
The trial court stated that it was applying the formula detailed by this court in King v. King, 332 Pa.Super. 526, 481 A.2d 913 (1984). In King it was held that a “coverture” fraction was to be applied to the benefit when it entered pay status. “The numerator of the fraction is the total period of time the employee spouse was participant in the plan from date of marriage until date of separation, and the denominator is the total period of participation in the pension plan.” Id., 332 Pa.Superior Ct. at 533, 481 A.2d at 916. When the pension enters pay status, the coverture fraction is to be multiplied by the benefit. The result will yield the portion of pension benefits entitlement which is marital property. It is for the court to determine how the sum available for equitable distribution is to be apportioned between the spouses. See: Troyan, Pension Evaluation and Equitable Distribution, supra, at 3007.
*487In the instant case, the trial court correctly created the “coverture fraction”. The numerator was found to be 5.917, the number of years that Appellee participated in the plan from the date of marriage until the date of separation. The denominator was yet to be determined by the court since it represented Appellant’s total number of years as a participant in the plan. However, the court erred when it stated that this fraction equaled “Defendant’s % share of pension.” The coverture fraction does not determine one spouse’s share of that pension. The coverture fraction is to be multiplied by the actual benefits. The resulting figure will equal, not Mrs. Mantell’s share but, the portion of the pension which is marital property.
The task of equitable dividing the actual portion of the pension which is marital property is a separate matter for the court to determine. In some cases this task too is done . at a latter date, when the plan enters pay status. However, I believe it would be a better practice for the court, at the time of equitable distribution to assign the nonemployeespouse a percentage to be received from whatever amount is latter determined to represent the marital property portion of the pension. By predetermining the nonemployeespouse’s percentage share, the trial court will be one step further in ending the parties legal entanglements. At the time of retirement all that will remain for the court is an exercise in simple mathematics. The potential for lengthening the hostilities between the parties will be minimized. I hasten to point out that the use of the “deffered distribution” method in pension matters should be a last resort tactic. Trial court’s should seek immediate offset of pensions and utilize actuarial values whenever possible. These methods would have the salutary benefit of ending the parties’ litigation and of providing certainty for the nonemployee-spouse. See: Flynn v. Flynn, supra (Concurring and Dissenting Opinion by Beck, J. 491 A.2d at, 164).
The master in this ease recommended such a percentage. He suggested that wife be entitled to receive one-half of the monthly retirement pay which is determined to be marital property. Under the circumstances of this case, I believe *488that such an award would be fair and equitable. Accordingly, I believe the court should set forth a percentage, such a the 50% recommended by the master. This figure can later be applied to the coverture fraction multiplied by Mr. Man-tell’s monthly retirement benefits to calculate the amount Mrs. Mantell shall receive each month.
In conclusion, I believe the case should be remanded to the trial court to correct the pension award which will ultimately be received by Mrs. Mantell. It is also my position that the trial court should, at the time when it sets forth the known figures for the pension calculation, determine what percentage Mrs. Mantell is equitably entitled to enjoy for that portion of the pension which is eventually determined to be marital property.
WIEAND, Judge:
I agree with President Judge Cirillo that, except for the trial court's award of counsel fees in the Texas action, the decree of divorce and order of distribution must be affirmed. The award of counsel fees in the Texas action, however, was improper and must be vacated.
In 1982, Francis P. Mantell, husband, filed a divorce action against his wife, Eiko Mantell, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. While that action was pending, the husband moved to Texas and there commenced a second divorce action. Wife challenged the jurisdiction of the Texas court, and that court eventually dismissed the divorce action there filed on grounds that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction. When a divorce decree was subsequently entered in Pennsylvania, the Cumberland County court made an award to wife for counsel fees which she had incurred in defending the action in Texas. This was unwarranted and improper.
The general rule is that the parties to litigation are responsible for their own counsel fees and costs unless otherwise provided by statutory authority, agreement of the parties, or some other recognized exception. Chatham Communications, Inc. v. General Press Corp., 463 Pa. 292, 300-301, 344 A.2d 837, 842 (1975); Shapiro v. Magaziner, 418 Pa. 278, 280, 210 A.2d 890, 892 (1965). Section *489401(b) of the Divorce Code1 in Pennsylvania authorizes a court to award reasonable counsel fees in a divorce action. However, such fees must arise as a direct result of the divorce action under consideration by the court. See generally: McNulty v. McNulty, 347 Pa.Super. 363, 374, 500 A.2d 876, 882 (1985). See also: Padezanin v. Padezanin, 341 Pa.Super. 26, 491 A.2d 130 (1985) (counsel fees attributable to present divorce action may be recovered, but fees arising from prior support action and prior divorce action are not recoverable). Section 401(b) does not authorize an award for counsel fees incurred in a separate action.
Whether counsel fees were recoverable in the Texas action was determinable according to Texas law. If they were recoverable, they could be allowed only as an incident of the action in Texas. They could not be awarded by the courts of another state in a separate action. See: Williams v. Williams, 373 Pa.Super. 143, 540 A.2d 563 (1988) (Concurring and Dissenting Opinion by Wieand, J.).
It is elementary that the judgment of every court on matters within its jurisdiction is conclusive on every other court. See: 20 P.L.E. Judgments § 251. “The doctrine of res judicata precludes the parties from relitigating controversies which have been settled by a valid final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction____” Id. The final judgment of a court having competent jurisdiction is final not only as to matters which were actually raised therein but also as to matters which might have been raised. The right to recover counsel fees, where recoverable, is a part of the principal action and must be asserted therein. A separate action to recover counsel fees is not permitted; it constitutes an impermissible splitting of a single cause of action. Goldberg v. Goldberg, 306 Pa.Super. 504, 506, 452 A.2d 838, 839 (1982); Leomporra v. American Baking Co., 198 Pa.Super. 545, 549-550, 178 A.2d 806, 807 (1962). “A single claim or demand cannot be divided and made the subject of several actions, and if actions are brought for different parts of a single demand a judgment on the merits in one is available as a bar to the *490others.” 20 P.L.E. Judgments § 258. See: Spinelli v. Maxwell, 430 Pa. 478, 243 A.2d 425 (1968). So it is with a claim for counsel fees. It is a part of the claim which inures to a party, where permitted, as a part of the principal action. It cannot be split from the principal action. If counsel fees are not claimed in the principal action, the judgment entered therein is a bar to a subsequent action for such counsel fees.
This is particularly so where a second action for counsel fees is brought in a state different from that in which the principal action was litigated. The allowance of counsel fees in the principal action must be determined by the law of the state in which that action was brought, and when that issue has been determined, whether in contested-proceedings or because a claim therefor was not made, the determination is final. It cannot be relitigated in collateral proceedings brought in another state.
There is neither statutory authorization nor principle of common law which permits a Pennsylvania divorce court to award counsel fees incurred by a party in prosecuting or defending a separate action in another jurisdiction. For this Court to adopt a rule permitting “Pennsylvania courts to second guess the courts of another jurisdiction with respect to counsel fees incurred in litigation pursued in the courts of such other jurisdiction would be improvident, unwieldy, and unwise and would violate principles of res judicata.” Williams v. Williams, supra, 373. Pa.Superior Ct. at 163, 540 A.2d at 573 (Concurring and Dissenting Opinion by Wieand, J.). There is no good reason for allowing a cause of action to be split and a separate action maintained for counsel fees. Counsel fees must be recovered, if at all, in the action in which such fees were incurred by a party.
Even if counsel fees incurred in Texas could be recovered in this action, the wife-appellee failed to introduce evidence sufficient to sustain the court’s award. The only evidence offered in support of the wife-appellee’s claim was a copy of a bill prepared by Texas counsel in the amount of $7,762.50. There was no testimony regarding the nature of *491the services rendered, the time spent, or the reasonableness of the charges. The trial court deemed the charges excessive and reduced the amount by one-half. The allowance of this amount, however, was arbitrary and wholly unsupported by evidence.
For these reasons, the part of the trial court’s order which made an award to the wife-appellee for counsel fees incurred in the separate action in Texas must be and is reversed. The case will not be remanded for another hearing to permit the wife-appellee a second opportunity to prove the reasonable amount of counsel fees incurred in such action.
CIRILLO, President Judge, files a dissenting opinion.

. Act of April 2, 1980, P.L. 63, No. 26, § 101, 23 P.S. § 101 et seq.