Lynn v. Lynn

SPRIGG LYNN v. CHRISTINA LYNN

No. 2026

COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND

September Term, 2015

March 24, 2017

UNREPORTED

Graeff, Beachley, Eyler, James R. (Senior Judge, Specially Assigned), JJ.

Opinion by Graeff, J.

*This is an unreported opinion, and it may not be cited in any paper, brief, motion, or other document filed in this Court or any other Maryland Court as either precedent within the rule of stare decisis or as persuasive authority. Md. Rule 1-104.

This appeal arises from the October 28, 2015, ruling of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County granting a Judgment of Absolute Divorce to Sprigg Lynn, appellant, and Christina Lynn, appellee. Mr. Lynn presents several questions for this Court's review, which we have reordered and rephrased, as follows:

1. Did the circuit court abuse its discretion in granting Ms. Lynn a $300,000 monetary award?

2. Did the circuit court abuse its discretion in making its child support award?

3. Did the circuit court err or abuse its discretion in awarding Ms. Lynn indefinite alimony?

4. Did the circuit court err in ordering Mr. Lynn to pay attorney's fees?

For the reasons set forth below, we shall affirm, in part, and reverse, in part, the judgment of the circuit court.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On June 24, 2000, the Lynns were married. The parties have two children, S.L., who was 13 years old at the time of trial, and J.L., who was 11 years old at the time of trial. On August 26, 2013, the parties separated. Prior to their separation, the parties reached an agreement providing that they would have shared physical custody of the children.

On March 12, 2014, Ms. Lynn filed a complaint for absolute divorce. She sought divorce, custody, child support, attorney's fees, indefinite alimony, and a monetary award. Mr. Lynn subsequently filed a counter complaint for limited divorce, child support and other related relief. The parties later filed amended complaints.

On May 12, 2014, Ms. Lynn filed a Motion for Court Appointed Business Valuation Expert and for Other Appropriate Relief, requesting that an independent expert witness be appointed to perform a valuation of Mr. Lynn's interest in Universal Floors, Inc. ("UFI"), a wood flooring sales and installation business established by his father, and to determine the marital value of his interest. By agreement of the parties, the court appointed David DeJong, to perform the business valuation. On February 20, 2015, Mr. DeJong issued his report, finding that the marital value of Mr. Lynn's 39.51% interest in UFI, as of November 30, 2014, was $491,000.

On July 15, 2014, the court held a hearing on Ms. Lynn's request for pendente lite alimony and attorney's fees. The court subsequently awarded Ms. Lynn pendente lite alimony in the amount of $3,300 per month and attorney's fees in a total amount of $25,000. The court stated that it had considered Ms. Lynn's obligation toward the children's expenses and lowered the pendente lite alimony award in lieu of a child support award to Mr. Lynn.¹ All other requests for relief were deferred until the trial on the merits.

The parties subsequently filed their respective Statements Concerning Marital, Non-Marital and Disputed Property. In Ms. Lynn's statement and amended statement, she designated Mr. Lynn's interest in both UFI and Lynn Realty, Inc. ("Lynn Realty") as marital property. Lynn Realty owned two buildings used by UFI, a showroom and a garage, and was owned 50% by Mr. Lynn and 50% by his brother, South Lynn, Jr. Mr. Lynn disputed that his interests in UFI and Lynn Realty were marital property.

On November 5, 2014, the parties entered into a Consent Custody Order, which provided for joint physical and legal custody of the children. Despite the agreement and the Consent Custody Order, however, Ms. Lynn did not have any time with her children, as they refused to see her.

On April 20 - 23, and May 12, 2015, the court held a trial on the merits. The court initially ordered the parties to work together to submit a Joint Statement Concerning Marital, Non-Marital and Disputed Property, which subsequently was admitted as Joint Exhibit #1. With respect to UFI, Mr. Lynn asserted that his interest was acquired before marriage, and it was nonmarital property; Ms. Lynn argued that it was marital property. With respect to Lynn Realty, Mr. Lynn asserted that "41st street [was] acquired before marriage and garage [was] acquired with non-marital funds." Ms. Lynn asserted that the property was marital, with a value of $1,310,000.

Ms. Lynn, who was 44 years old at the time of trial, has a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Tech in Health & Physical Education, and a Master of Education Degree from the University of Virginia in Exercise Science, Health & Physical Education. Prior to having children, Ms. Lynn worked full time at Mid-Atlantic Medical Services ("MAMSI"), earning approximately $39,000 per year. When she was pregnant with S.L., however, Mr. Lynn, whom Ms. Lynn described as "a very controlling, manipulative person," was "very adamant" that she not work.

Thus, after the birth of her children, Ms. Lynn primarily was a "stay at home mother, wife, caretaker of the home," and she "took care of the children, supported [her] husband in his career, did the cooking, cleaning, basically anything pertaining to the children,doctor's appointments, anything related to school, volunteering."² She also attended all of the children's school meetings and field trips, and she helped Mr. Lynn with health benefits and paperwork for UFI. Ms. Lynn described her non-monetary contributions as taking care of the children, cleaning, doing laundry, cooking, working for UFI, handling all of Mr. Lynn's scheduling of doctor and dental appointments, and preparing Mr. Lynn for business trips. She also hosted "a couple of very large parties for a number of years" for 300 people, so Mr. Lynn could network with customers.

Ms. Lynn testified that Mr. Lynn was the "financial provider. He was the breadwinner," and he wanted Ms. Lynn to be a stay-at-home mother. Mr. Lynn worked very long hours, leaving the house at 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. and getting home at 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. Ms. Lynn stated that Mr. Lynn's job "was always the primary focus of his life," and he was "very proud of his company," working "very hard to make sure that the reputation of the company is stellar." She stated that Mr. Lynn was "always networking," was "very involved with the National Wood Flooring Association," and had taken many courses "to improve his education in the area of wood flooring." Mr. Lynn was "definitely the driving force behind . . . improvements to the company, getting their name out there." UFI had been awarded the Floor of the Year award many times, and Mr. Lynn had been featured inarticles in the Washingtonian Magazine and the Washington Post. Mr. Lynn was "absolutely" involved in UFI's day-to-day decisions.

Ms. Lynn described the parties' standard of living during the marriage as "very good," "upper middle class." The parties had a "nice home, investment property, a townhouse, and [they] belonged to a country club." They went on vacations to the Caribbean, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and other resorts. They went "out to nice dinners" and to "lots of nice events." The parties "were very free to spend money." At the time of trial, Ms. Lynn lived in a rental home.

In 2012, Ms. Lynn began working as a personal trainer with one or two clients. At the time of trial, she was employed with Gold's Gym as a personal trainer, where she worked approximately 30 hours per week. She also had five or six private clients who she trained five to six hours per week, and she worked for Foundry Fitness doing administrative work for one or two hours per week. Between all three jobs, Ms. Lynn was working fulltime and earning approximately $40,000 per year.

Trudy Koslow, Mr. Lynn's vocational expert, testified that Ms. Lynn has an earning capacity of between $60,000 and $80,000 per year. She stated that Ms. Lynn could do a number of things, including that she "could be a manager . . . . She could be an executive assistant. She's got clerical skills. She's got all kinds of knowledge. She could go back into the insurance industry where she worked before and be a manager again. Any of those kinds of things." Ms. Koslow testified that Ms. Lynn could make up to $109,200 per year doing personal training, although she agreed that this conclusion did not take into consideration unbilled travel time between clients or client cancellations. Ms. Koslow alsoagreed that the most Ms. Lynn had ever earned was $39,000 per year. Ms. Koslow did not speak to any of Ms. Lynn's former employers, nor did she specifically look for jobs that Ms. Lynn could obtain.

Mr. Lynn, who was 51 years old at the time of trial, has a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Shephard University. At the time of the marriage, Mr. Lynn worked as a salesman at UFI, and he was a 27.14% owner of UFI.³ By the time the parties separated, Mr. Lynn's interest in UFI had increased to 39.51%, through stock redemption.

Mr. DeJong testified that, from his review of the corporate records, Mr. Lynn received his interest in UFI prior to the marriage in multiple increments, with the last increment occurring in 1997. He stated that the increase in Mr. Lynn's interest occurred through the "redemption of the interest of certain people no longer involved," and "multiple redemptions" occurred during the marriage. On March 31, 2000, three months prior to the marriage, UFI's gross revenue was $1.864 million. On November 30, 2013, UFI's gross revenue was $4.784 million.

At the time of trial, Mr. Lynn had a base salary of $600 per week, with commissions on jobs that were completed. He also received bonuses. Between his base salary, commissions, and bonuses, along with other various earnings, as compiled by Leslie Leonard, UFI's Certified Public Accountant, Mr. Lynn's yearly income from 2007 through 2013 was as follows:...