Court Opinion

ID: 9722436
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:30:57.835629+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:06:51.766496
License: Public Domain

WIENER, Acting P. J.
I dissent. The majority rest their decision to affirm the order extending Lee’s obligation to pay spousal support on what they describe as the parties’ mutual mistake. They say, “In construing the modification decree, the court took into account this mutual mistake of the parties and extended the spousal support by four months to effectuate the intent of the parties. Unlike Foreman, jurisdiction was retained by the court to modify the decree in the event Nancy failed to carry out her scholastic obligations.” (Maj. opn. ante.) Although the logic of this reasoning may be compelling there is no legal or factual basis for its application. Even Nancy does not suggest the trial court’s power to modify spousal support is tied to the parties’ mutual mistake as to when she was to obtain her graduate degree. She argues the trial court’s power to modify rests on two separate theories. The first is based on Vomacka and its progeny. The second is on a *635unique cost/benefit analysis where the error is not prejudicial because the cost to Lee of four months additional support is insignificant compared to his benefits when he no longer is obligated to pay spousal support.
This latter argument asks us to not only ignore the law, but it turns the rule of prejudicial error on its ear. Our responsibility is to first determine whether the trial court erred, and if so, whether that error is prejudicial. Prejudice frequently will be determined from the nature of the error itself. The case before us is illustrative. Here, I believe the error is so fundamental, i.e., the court acted in excess of its jurisdiction, its order is necessarily prejudicial. And in any event even though the dollar has been declining, I think $8,000 can hardly be viewed as de minimis.
Obviously I believe In re Marriage of Foreman (1986) 183 Cal.App.3d 129 [228 Cal.Rptr. 4] controls this case and our obligation to follow precedent overrides whatever personal view I or the other members of this panel may have as to the fairness of what the trial court attempted to accomplish.
Lee and Nancy negotiated a spousal support agreement which could be modified only on certain conditions. The parties said that except as to those conditions “spousal support shall be non-modifiable as to term and amount.” I believe their intent is clear. Their earlier dealings caused Lee to have a jaundiced view of his wife’s good faith in pursuing her education. He wanted to be assured that if without good cause she failed to attend her scheduled classes he would be able to either modify his spousal support obligation or terminate it entirely. There is nothing in the law which invalidates this provision. As a result of the give and take of negotiations the parties can agree to limit the circumstances in which spousal support can be modified. There is also nothing in the law to preclude those circumstances from affecting only one of the parties and not both. A unilateral change of circumstances rather than bilateral is a permissible bargain.
Here the parties through their counsel agreed that Lee would be able to modify spousal support for specified reasons. The parties agreed that Nancy would not have a comparable right. The fact that I think I know the reasons why Lee insisted on this bargain is unimportant. What is important is that our analysis of the trial court ruling must rest on the express language of the agreement and not on our retrospective belief of what may be in the parties’ best interests. Here the only interpretation of the agreement is that Nancy gave up her right to modify spousal support in exchange for the promises contained in their stipulation. To affirm the trial court ruling the majority not only overlook the text of the parties’ stipulation, but reject the reasonable inference that if the parties wanted Nancy to retain the right to modify spousal support their agreement would have so provided.
*636Even if I am wrong in my conclusion that Nancy did not have the right to modify spousal support, I could not join the majority in this case. Modification of spousal support orders rests on legal doctrine—change of circumstances. Here there are none. The only change of circumstances is the parties’ mutual mistake, an event which occurred before and not after the spousal support order. By definition the requisite change of circumstances must involve events which follow the order sought to be modified.
Moreover, there is nothing in this record to suggest the final date of support, December 31, 1986, was anything other than a carefully negotiated term which we must honor. While Nancy may have erred in computing the termination date of her educational quest, her unilateral error cannot be construed as a mutual error and also a change of circumstances in the context of the trial.
Appellate courts should be chary in remaking negotiated bargains based upon personalized retrospective perception of past events. Parties who negotiate their contracts do so based on their prospective view of what they think is in their best interest. Whether a party’s prospective view is accurate is inherent in the risk associated with the negotiating process. When a court remakes a bargain at the request of one party for no other reason than that party’s later dissatisfaction with the agreement, a court not only diminishes the bargaining process itself, but strays from the judicial restraint essential to a rational judicial process. Thus my concern in this case is not merely with an alleged $8,000 error. I am concerned because the majority have failed to respect the integrity of the contract-making process and have decided this case on subjective considerations which should be irrelevant to the dispute resolution process.
Because of my conclusion the court prejudicially erred in modifying the spousal support order, I would also reverse the order for attorneys’ fees.