Scott T. Horn

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Here’s a reminder. Look over the “boilerplate” counsel-fees-on-default provision of your settlement agreements; and re-read them when resolving enforcement proceedings.

Take a lesson from the July 25, 2018 decision of the Appellate Division, Second Department, in Posner v. Posner. There, The parties’ 2010 judgment of divorce incorporated, but did not merge, their stipulation of settlement. That stipulation provided that where one of the parties commences litigation to enforce it, and that litigation does not “result in a judgment or order in favor of the party” who commenced the litigation, that party shall reimburse the other party for any and all expenses, including attorney’s fees.

In 2011, the husband commenced litigation in the Family Court to enforce certain stipulation provisions. Thereafter, the wife filed a contempt motion under a separate docket number. After eight days of trial over nine months, the parties agreed to withdraw their respective petitions with prejudice. The parties nevertheless “reserve[d] all other rights provided for” in the 2010 stipulation of settlement.

In January 2014, the wife filed a motion in the Supreme Court seeking an award of attorney’s fees pursuant to the parties’ 2010 stipulation of settlement for the 2011 Family Court litigation. Westchester County Supreme Court Justice Francis A. Nicolai granted the wife’s motion to the extent of finding that the wife was entitled to an award of attorney’s fees and set the matter down for a hearing as to the appropriate amount. In a judgment entered September 27, 2016, after a hearing, Justice Janet C. Malone awarded the wife a judgment for attorney’s fees in the sum of $224,287. The husband appealed.Continue Reading Counsel Fees Per Divorce Settlement For Withdrawn Enforcement Proceedings

In its July 25, 2018 decision in Cravo v. Diegel, the Appellate Division, Second Department, affirmed a counsel fee award to a wife, the monied spouse in this divorce action. Supreme Court Kings County Justice Esther M. Morganstern had awarded the wife 55% of her total counsel fees. Upholding the award, the Second Department noted:

In its determination of a counsel fee application, the trial court must consider the relative financial circumstances of the parties, the relative merit of their positions, and the tactics of a party in unnecessarily prolonging the litigation. Although the defendant correctly contends that he is the less monied spouse, the Supreme Court’s award to the plaintiff of 55% of her total counsel fees, upon its determination that the defendant’s obstructionist conduct unnecessarily prolonged the pretrial motion practice and the trial, was not an improvident exercise of discretion.

The Second Department cited Meara v. Meara, 104 A.D.3D 916, 960 N.Y.S.2d 911 (2013) in which the financial circumstances of the parties was not discussed, and Quinn v. Quinn, 73 A.D.3d 887, 899 N.Y.S.2d 859 (2010), in which the parties were described as being on equal footing.

However, a counsel fee award to the monied spouse is contrary the rule in the First Department as announced in Silverman v. Silverman, 304 A.D.2d 41, 47-49, 756 N.Y.S.2d 14, 19-21 (1st Dept. 2003). Below, Supreme Court New York County Justice Marilyn Diamond had awarded the husband $50,000 in attorney’s fees, out of a total of over $ 200,000 incurred, based upon the dilatory conduct of the wife and her then counsel. Eliminating the award, the First Department held:

This award of attorney’s fees was not proper under Domestic Relations Law §237, because awarding attorney’s fees to the monied spouse does not comport with the purpose and policies of that section of the Domestic Relations Law.

Continue Reading Awarding Counsel Fees to the Monied Spouse: Conflict in the Departments