Levine v. Levine

Syllabus

The plaintiff appealed following the trial court's denial of his motion to open the dissolution judgment to allow discovery of the defendant's allegedly fraudulent financial disclosure of the value of her share in her employer's medical practice. The plaintiff claimed that the trial court improperly deter- mined that he failed to establish a preliminary showing of probable cause concerning fraud and made erroneous findings of fact. Held: The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the plaintiff's motion to open, as the plaintiff had failed to establish probable cause that the defen- dant had committed fraud to warrant discovery and further proceedings. The plaintiff failed to establish that the defendant knew as untrue at the time of her financial disclosure that her interest in her employer's medical practice was zero and that the defendant intended to cause his detrimental reliance on said disclosure. The trial court's findings regarding whether the plaintiff read certain provisions in the defendant's employment agreement and the defendant's testimony as to whether the value of her share in her employer's medical practice could be quantified at the time of the financial disclosure were not clearly erroneous, and any error was harmless. Argued January 5—officially released April 28, 2026