Court Opinion

ID: 9712485
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:55:00.632959+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:12.524133
License: Public Domain

PAIR, Associate Judge, Retired,
dissenting:
The only issue of substance in this case is whether, subsequent to the judgment of absolute divorce on January 3, 1976, the Family Division retained jurisdiction to adjudicate (1) the claim of appellee (wife) against appellant (husband) involving joint and several obligations of the parties incurred during their marriage, and (2) the claim of appellee against appellant for additional counsel fees.1 After reviewing the record and the controlling law in this jurisdiction, I am satisfied that a negative answer is compelled.
By D.C.Code 1981, as recodified most recently, it is provided:
§ 16-914. Retention of jurisdiction as to alimony and custody of children.
(a) After the issuance of a decree of divorce granting alimony and providing for the care and custody of children, the case shall be considered open for any future orders relating to those matters .... [Emphasis supplied.]
In the case at bar no child was involved and the trial judge determined on the basis of specific findings that appellee was not entitled to alimony as a matter of law. Consequently, with the entry on January 3, 1976 of the final decree of divorce, this case was closed for all purposes with the exception of the enforcement of so much of the decree as awarded counsel fees.
Reason and authority support this view. The settled law in this jurisdiction is that a judgment of absolute divorce entered by a court having subject matter jurisdiction and jurisdiction of the parties is, as to them, final and conclusive for all purposes. Jackson v. Jackson, D.C.App., 200 A.2d 380, 382 (1964); Holmes v. Holmes, 81 U.S.App.D.C. 132, 134, 155 F.2d 737, 739, 166 A.L.R. 1000 (1946). Thus, without more, any such judgment terminates the husband’s duty of support and is res adjudicata as to every claim and demand put in issue and adjudicated2 as well as every claim and demand which might have been but was not put in issue *671and adjudicated. Jackson v. Jackson, supra; Holmes v. Holmes, supra. M.A.P. v. Ryan, D.C.App., 285 A.2d 310, 312 (1971), mandates that we honor the doctrine of Jackson and Holmes as imperative authority until overruled by this court en banc. See also in this connection 24 Am.Jur. Divorce and Separation § 662 (1966).
It is against this background that the October 1980 judgment order can be viewed in proper perspective. That order awarded appellee additional counsel fees of $3,879.16 for legal services rendered subsequent to the November 15, 1978 judgment order,3 thereby increasing appellant’s liability for counsel fees from $865.00 owed on that date, to $4,754.16.4
The jurisdiction of the Family Division to award counsel fees in a divorce case is clearly defined by D.C.Code 1981, § 16-911, where it is provided:
During the pendency of an action for divorce ... the court may:
(1) require the husband ... to pay alimony ... and suit money, including counsel fees, ... and enforce any order relating thereto by attachment, garnishment and/or imprisonment for disobedience ....
In Meyers & Batzell v. Moezie, D.C.App., 208 A.2d 627, 629 (1965), appellants sought to maintain against the husband an independent action for counsel fees incurred by his wife in defending an action for divorce which was abated by her death. In affirming the dismissal of the action, this court declared that, what is now the Family Division of the Superior Court, may award counsel fees in a divorce case only during the pendency of the divorce proceedings, and that D.C.Code 1981, § 16-911, is the exclusive authority for any such award since
[o]nly under the statute does a court have power to grant such fees, wholly or partially, or to deny them completely. The congressional intent to have the equities of each case considered would be frustrated if actions such as this were permitted. We hold that a husband can be held liable for the legal expenses incurred by his wife in a divorce action only if the divorce court so orders during the pend-ency of the action. [Id. at 629; emphasis supplied.]
In the case at bar, the divorce proceedings were abated January 3, 1976, more than four years before the entry on October 24, 1980 of the judgment order awarding additional counsel fees.
The motions judge in the 1980 proceedings and likewise my colleagues seem to have thought that Junghans v. Junghans, 72 App.D.C. 129, 112 F.2d 212 (1940), was supporting authority for the order. But only a casual reading of Junghans is required to disclose its inapplicability in the factual setting which is the record we review. During the pendency of the divorce proceedings in Junghans, there was an award of alimony for the support of the wife and child involved and an award of counsel fees in connection with the collection of the amount awarded. In the case at bar, there was neither an award of alimony nor provision for child support or custody. See and compare Holmes v. Holmes, supra. Clearly, therefore, the doctrine of Junghans was wholly without application in the October 24, 1980 proceedings.5 Cf. Wood v. Wood, D.C.App., 360 A.2d 488, 492 (1976).
*672In an effort to buttress the position they have taken respecting the Family Division’s jurisdiction to award additional counsel fees, my colleagues have seized upon language employed by the judge in a bankruptcy proceeding in which appellant was involved, to the effect that the 1978 judgment order requiring appellant to reimburse appellee was comparable to an award of alimony. My colleagues reason from this that the October 1980 judgment order awarding $8,879.16 in additional counsel fees was an “order relating to such matters” for purposes of D.C.Code 1981, § 16-911. This, of course, is sophistry.
As pointed out above, the Family Division has jurisdiction to award alimony only during the pendency of a divorce proceeding and this divorce case was abated by a judgment of absolute divorce more than four years before the entry of the October 24, 1980 judgment order. Moreover, the trial judge in the final divorce proceeding concluded as a matter of law that appellee was not entitled to alimony.
But more than this, elementary rules of statutory construction require that the words “orders relating thereto" in D.C.Code 1981, § 16-911, be read and considered in their proper context. See 2k Sutherland Statutory Construction § 47.02 (4th ed. 1972). The reason for this is stated in the text as follows:
§ 47.02. The pertinent context.
Inherent in the use of textual considerations as resource materials for the interpretation of statutes is the problem of determining how much of the statutory context of the particular word or passage to be construed is relevant and probative for that purpose. The deceptive potential of taking part of a statement out of context is well known in regard to all kinds of verbal expression. The risk of misunderstanding as a result of allowing irrelevant portions of a text to influence the meaning attributed to the segment of text being construed is probably no less.
Thus, the words “order relating thereto” when read in the pertinent context of D.C. Code 1981, § 16-911, could have no sensible meaning except in reference to an action for divorce, during the pendency of which provision was made for alimony and/or child care or custody.
It follows from all of this that after the judgment of absolute divorce on January 3, 1976, no action was pending in this case except that involved in the collection of unpaid counsel fees awarded during the pendency of the divorce proceedings. The Family Division was therefore without subject matter jurisdiction of any claim of ap-pellee thereafter asserted except for unpaid counsel fees which at the time of the November 15, 1978 proceedings amounted to $865.00.6 Holmes v. Holmes, supra; Meyers & Batzell v. Moezie, supra, by which this Division is controlled. See M.A.P. v. Ryan, supra.
Much of what has been said regarding the October 24,1980 judgment order applies with equal force to the November 15, 1978 judgment order. In that proceeding it was urged that the trial judge’s failure to incorporate in the final divorce decree the reimbursement provision of the limited divorce decree was the result of oversight within the purview of either Super.Ct.Civ.R. 60(a) or 60(b)(3).7 Because of the absence of any record support for this contention the inap-. plicability of the rules is too clear for discussion. My colleagues apparently agree because they rest on the assertion that there was no appeal from the November 15, *6731978 judgment order.8 See, nevertheless, Colbert Refrigeration Co. v. Edwards, D.C.App., 356 A.2d 331 (1976); Harris v. Harris, D.C.App., 304 A.2d 635 (1973).
For all the reasons set forth above, I would reverse in this case and remand with directions to vacate for want of subject matter jurisdiction (1) the October 24, 1980 judgment order, (2) so much of the November 15, 1978 judgment order as adjudicated appellee’s claim for reimbursement, and (3) for such further proceedings not inconsistent herewith, as may be required to enforce the judgment for the balance of counsel fees awarded during the pendency of the divorce proceedings.

. When this case was first submitted the Division, as then constituted, was so concerned because of the inadequacy of the briefing, that it appointed as amicus curiae Charles Mayer, Esquire, a distinguished member of the bar with considerable expertise in family law. Mr. Mayer, as requested by the Division, addressed the jurisdictional questions apparent on the record and filed a statement of his views with the court. Mr. Mayer’s statement was most helpful in the preparation of this dissenting opinion and I personally thank him.

. In the final divorce proceedings, appellee urged the court to continue in full force and effect the alimony provision of the limited divorce decree and to “reaffirm” the other provisions of that decree. The trial court declined sub silentio to do so and concluded as a matter of law that appellee was not entitled to alimony.

. Aside from the fact that the award was without a base in any legitimate Family Division proceeding, it constituted, in my opinion, a gross abuse of discretion because of its lack of proportion to the amount in controversy ($2,224.67) of which amount $1,359.67 was of questionable validity on the face of the record. See Carr v. Haynes, D.C.App., 374 A.2d 868, 870 (1977).

. True it is that appellant has been a most difficult litigant and he and his ex-wife have troubled the judicial process in the Family Division for more than four years. Yet I cannot in all faithfulness join my colleagues in approving this unusual judicial exercise.

.What the court said in Junghans, supra 72 App.D.C. at 130, 112 F.2d at 213, was:
The District Code authorizes the court to award counsel fees “during the pendency of a suit for divorce.” It also provides that “after a decree of divorce in any case granting alimony and providing for the care and custody of children, the case shall still be considered *672open for any future orders in those respects.” An order for the payment of counsel fees, in connection with the collection of alimony and support, is an order “in those respects.” It follows that the case was “open” for the purposes of this order. [Footnotes omitted.]

. Appellee could have quickly resolved the matter of unpaid counsel fees by the simple expedient of invoking the Family Division’s contempt powers conferred by D.C.Code 1981, § 16-911. In fact, she did just that with respect to the limited divorce decree.

. Without ruling specifically on the Rule 60 motion, except to say that the oversight, if any, was that of appellee, the motions judge substituted his judgment for that of the trial judge.

. Certainly there was no appeal from the 1978 judgment order, but since the Family Division was without jurisdiction in the first place, Holmes v. Holmes, supra, it is a nullity. See In re Banks, D.C.App., 306 A.2d 270, 273 (1973); Whitman v. Noel, D.C.Mun.App., 53 A.2d 280 (1947).