In re Marriage of Stockton

SUPREME COURT CASES

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State: Illinois

Court: 2nd District Appellate

Docket No: 2-09-0594 Rel

Case Date: 05/28/2010

Preview:No. 2-09-0594 Filed: 5-28-10 ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS SECOND DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ In re MARRIAGE OF WENDY STOCKTON, n/k/a Wendy Sharp, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court ) of De Kalb County. ) Petitioner and Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ) and ) No. 94--D--25 ) JOHN STOCKTON, ) ) Respondent ) ) (Rockwell Trucking, Inc., and Mark Davis, ) Honorable Individually and as President of Rockwell ) James Donnelly, Trucking, Inc., Defendants-Appellees). ) Judge, Presiding. _____________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE JORGENSEN delivered the opinion of the court: Petitioner-appellant Wendy Stockton and respondent John Stockton divorced in 1994. At that time, John was employed by defendant-appellee Rockwell Trucking, Inc. (Rockwell). In 1994, the court entered a withholding order under the Income Withholding for Support Act (Withholding Act) (750 ILCS 28/1 et seq. (West 2006)), mandating Rockwell to withhold $60 per week from John's income. John left Rockwell in June 1995. At that time, nine outstanding payments remained under the 1994 withholding order, totaling $540. John returned to Rockwell in December 1997. On January 9, 1998, the court entered the withholding order at issue in this appeal (the 1998 withholding order), mandating Rockwell to withhold $120 per week from John's income. On March 31, 2000, John again left Rockwell. On

No. 2--09--0594 April 3, 2000, a week in advance of its April 11, 2000, due date, Rockwell submitted its last withheld payment under the 1998 withholding order. Although John again returned to Rockwell in 2002, this December 1997 to March 2000 employment term is at the center of the instant appeal. On January 8, 2007, Wendy filed a complaint under the 1998 withholding order, alleging that Rockwell failed to withhold and submit payments in a timely manner, hence accruing a number of penalty days. Wendy further argued that at least one outstanding payment continued to cause penalty days to accrue. The parties disagreed as to whether one outstanding payment remained under the 1998 withholding order or whether, despite Rockwell's untimeliness, it had ultimately submitted all payments due and cured any arrearage under the 1998 withholding order. The cause of this disagreement was a "problematic line" on a printout from the State Disbursement Unit (SDU printout), which detailed a certain disbursement, listed as due January 5, 2000 (the contested disbursement). The trial court found that the record did not show that an outstanding payment remained under the 1998 withholding order (and implicitly found that penalties therefore did not continue to accrue beyond the term of John's employment), found that the last payment was made April 3, 2000, found that either a two-year or a five-year statute of limitations applied, and found that, therefore, Wendy's action was time barred. Wendy appealed. We affirm. I. BACKGROUND Wendy and John were married in 1988. They had two children, Tiffany (born February 2, 1990) and Colton (born December 8, 1992). The parties divorced in 1994. Wendy was named the residential custodian and John was to pay child support. At the time, John was employed by Rockwell. Defendant-appellee Mark Davis was the president of Rockwell and was also John's brother-in-law. Aside from one contested payment to be elaborated below, the parties stipulate to

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No. 2--09--0594 the following facts regarding John's employment with Rockwell and withheld payments by Rockwell to the State Disbursement Unit (SDU). The withheld payments were tracked by both the SDU (and information regarding the disbursements was contained in the SDU printout) and the De Kalb County clerk's office (and information regarding the disbursements was contained in the clerk's printout). On July 1, 1994, Rockwell received via certified mail a withholding order requiring it to withhold $60 per week from John's paycheck. In June 1995, John left Rockwell. At that time, there were nine outstanding payments of $60, totaling $540, that had not been submitted by Rockwell to the SDU. From June 1995 to December 1997, John worked for employers other than Rockwell, and these employers received new withholding orders. In December 1997, John returned to Rockwell's employ after 2

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