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Home My WebLink About2002-5738 LEE WOODALL, : IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF Plaintiff/Respondent : CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA : : NO. 02-5738 v. : : : TAMRA WOODALL : CIVIL ACTION - LAW F/K/A TAMRA BEDFORD, : N/K/A TAMRA GOINS, : Defendant/Petitioner : IN RE: PETITION TO ENFORCE THE AGREEMENT INCIDENT TO DIVORCE FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Lee Woodall (hereinafter “Respondent”) and Tamra Goins (hereinafter “Petitioner”) were married for six years prior to their divorce in 2003. The docket transcript reveals 48 entries relating to their divorce and division of assets, as Respondent was a football player for the National Football League (NFL) from 1994 to 2002, thereby accumulating significant assets. On September 5, 2007, The Honorable J. Wesley Oler signed a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) which divided the benefits and rights between Respondent and Petitioner with respect 1 to the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan (hereinafter “Bell/Rozelle Plan”). The QDRO awarded a 25% interest from the Bell/Rozelle Plan to Petitioner. In December 2014, Petitioner received notice from the NFL that the benefits received under the Bell/Rozelle Plan was being transferred to the NFL Player and Disability and Neurocognitive Benefit Plan (hereinafter “Neurocognitive Plan”). The letter, which began with “Dear Player” stated: 1 Judge Oler also signed two other QDROs that day, providing Petitioner with 25% of the account balance of Respondent’s NFL Player Annuity Program, and awarding Petitioner with 25% of total balance in Respondent’s NFL Player Second Career Savings Plan, plus the amount of $30,215.00. You receive line-of-duty (“LOD”) benefits from the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan (“Retirement Plan”). Beginning January 1, 2015, all LOD benefits are being transferred from the Retirement Plan to the NFL Player Disability & Neurocognitive Plan (“Disability Plan”). Thus, beginning with your January 2015 payment, your LOD benefits will be paid from the Disability Plan instead of the Retirement Plan. The transition of benefits to does not change the Disability Plan the total amount of your monthly payment. December 2, 2014 Letter from Michael B. Miller to Petitioner (emphasis in original). Also in that notification, Petitioner was advised that her monthly benefit amount would be $2,500 per month as “\[t\]he approved executed Qualified Domestic Relations Order filed on September 5, 2007 has awarded you 25% of Mr. Lee Woodall’s monthly disability benefits under the NFL Player & Neurocognitive Benefit Plan.” Id. On February 8, 2016, Petitioner received another notice from the NFL advising her that the QDRO had not been administered correctly, that she had been overpaid in the amount of $15,625.00, and that she should properly be receiving $1,000 per month pursuant to the 2007 QDRO. Specifically, the letter stated “\[t\]his QDRO awarded 25% ($1,000.00 per month) of Mr. Lee Woodall’s disability benefits under the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan to you, but you have been receiving 25% of the total disability benefit payable.” February 8, 2016 Letter from Lashay Rose to Petitioner. Petitioner filed a “Petition to Enforce the Terms of an Agreement Incident to Divorce” on June 8, 2016, seeking a new QDRO, costs, attorneys fees and expenses, including two days of lost wages in the amount of $1,230.78. A hearing was held on this matter on August 24, 2016. ANALYSIS The determination of the outcome in this case revolves around a review of the marital settlement agreement between Petitioner and Respondent, the QDRO relating to the Bell/Rozelle 2 Plan, and the transition of the Bell/Rozelle Plan to the Neurocognitive Plan. According to the parties’ marital settlement agreement, termed by them as an “Agreement Incident to Divorce” (hereinafter “Agreement”), the following assets were given to Petitioner: Twenty Five percent (25%) of all sums accumulated, whether matured or unmatured, accrued or unaccrued, vested or otherwise, together with all increases thereof, the proceeds therefrom and any other rights related to any profit-sharing plan, retirement plan, Keogh plan, pension plan, employee stock option plan, 401(k) plan, employee savings plan, accrued unpaid bonuses, severance package, player’s annuity benefits, or other benefits existing by reason of the husband’s past or present employment, arising out of Lee Woodall’s employment with the NFL; that portion being 25 percent and more particularly defined in a Qualified Domestic Relations Order signed by the Court on the day the Final Decree of Divorce is signed. Agreement Incident to Divorce, Section1.3, W-5 (emphasis in original). The QDRO that was signed on September 5, 2007 and which relates to the Bell/Rozelle Plan, states in relevant part: The \[Petitioner\] is hereby awarded twenty five (25%) percent of the Player’s \[Respondent’s\] accrued benefit under the Retirement Plan \[Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan\], based on the Player’s Credited Seasons earned as of the date of this order and the term of the Plan in effect as of the date of this order…. The \[Petitioner\] is hereby awarded twenty five (25%) percent of any disability benefits otherwise payable to the Player on or after the date of this order under the Retirement Plan. The \[Petitioner\] may only receive disability benefits when and if the Player becomes eligible to receive such disability benefits under the Retirement Plan…. All benefits payable under the NFL Player Retirement Plan other than the benefits hereby assigned to the \[Petitioner\] will be payable to the Player or his beneficiaries at such time, manner and form as he may elect in accordance with the terms of the Plan, except as may be provided in another Qualified Domestic Relations Order…. ….This order will not require the Savings Plan to provide increased benefits (determined on the basis of actual value) or any rights not otherwise available under the terms of the Retirement Plan…. 3 Qualified Domestic Relations Order, September 5, 2007, ¶7. Under the term of the parties’ agreement, Petitioner is entitled to 25% of several sums “existing by reason of the husband’s past or present employment, arising out of Lee Woodall’s employment with the NFL…” As the Neurocognitive Plan began in 2015, it was not “existing,” or even possible of contemplation, at the time that the parties signed the Agreement in 2003. Instead, the Agreement provided for the distribution of any of the assets then existing at the time of the divorce and any increases that resulted therefrom, which arose from Respondent’s employment as an NFL player. As a result, Petitioner is not entitled to receive any portion of this new benefit provided to Respondent now, over ten years after the parties divorced. Under the terms of the QDRO, Petitioner was entitled to 25% of the disability payments under the Bell/Rozelle Plan, while all other benefits were payable to Respondent. Furthermore, the QDRO did not provide for any rights “not otherwise available” under the Bell/Rozelle Plan; the Neurocognitive Plan is exactly that, and thus under the terms of the September 5, 2007 QDRO, Petitioner should not receive a portion of that Plan. Finally, in addition to the language contained within the Agreement, and the language of the QDRO, the information provided by the NFL indicates that the benefits payable under the Bell/Rozelle Plan were merely transitioned to the Neurocognitive Plan, and that the transition did not change the amount of the benefits. As a result, Respondent’s benefits under the Bell/Rozelle Plan, which existed at the time of the Agreement, and which were the subject of the September 5, 2007 QDRO, have not changed, and thus neither should Petitioner’s benefits change. 4 ORDER th AND NOW, this 30 day of August, 2016, after hearing, Petitioner’s Motion to Enforce DENIED the Terms of an Agreement Incident to Divorce is . Each party is responsible for his or her own costs. BY THE COURT, __________________________ Jessica E. Brewbaker, J. 5 LEE WOODALL, : IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF Plaintiff/Respondent : CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA : : NO. 02-5738 v. : : : TAMRA WOODALL : CIVIL ACTION - LAW F/K/A TAMRA BEDFORD, : N/K/A TAMRA GOINS, : Defendant/Petitioner : IN RE: PETITION TO ENFORCE THE AGREEMENT INCIDENT TO DIVORCE ORDER th AND NOW, this 30 day of August, 2016, after hearing, Petitioner’s Motion to Enforce DENIED the Terms of an Agreement Incident to Divorce is . Each party is responsible for his or her own costs. BY THE COURT, __________________________ Jessica E. Brewbaker, J. Lee Woodall, Pro Se 21 Dunminning Road Newtown Square, PA 19073 Melissa P. Greevy, Esquire 301 Market Street Lemoyne, P A 17043 For the Defendant/Petitioner :rlm