Moore v. Moore

779 S.E.2d 533 (2015)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

H and W were married on June 9, 2001, and lived throughout the marriage. The parties separated in March 2011. W graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the early 1990s with a four-year degree in textile products marketing and a minor in business. W was employed with Belk department store in its two-year executive training program, which she described as 'kind of extended schooling,' through which she learned the 'ins and outs of retailing' and 'shadow[ed] everybody from the bottom to the top.' W held various positions within the Belk company, including area sales manager, assistant buyer, a position with the payroll and productivity department, and a 'co-op' position through which W was employed by both Belk and clothing vendor Tommy Hilfiger. During her employment with Belk and Tommy Hilfiger, her responsibilities involved scheduling/staffing; budgeting; managing sales, costs, and shrinkage; creating purchase orders; building and enhancing working relationships with vendors; selecting product from various lines and vendors; determining the amount of product needed at various stores; conducting sales and product merchandising seminars throughout a ten-store area; and assisting with the development of a special productivity initiative designed to more effectively manage staffing costs and enable further reductions in product pricing. H studied corporate communications at the College of Charleston, where he also played baseball. He was drafted to be a pitcher for the Florida Marlins in 1995, but injuries early on foreclosed the opportunity for a major league career. H then worked for a golf facility on Hilton Head Island for a few months before taking a sales position with Alltel Communications in Charlotte. H accepted a position selling medical supplies to nursing homes and prisons for Neighborcare, which required him to relocate to Charleston. W followed H to Charleston in late 1999 and briefly held a commission-only position selling fashion eyewear to optometrists throughout South Carolina before opening her own lighting and design business in April 2001, just before the parties married. H traveled frequently throughout the state and earned $170,000 to $185,000 per year. W drew some money out of Candelabra in the early years to contribute to household expenses, but H paid the bulk of them. Candelabra sells trendy, high-end boutique lighting, home furnishings, and home accessories in a retail showroom. It also has a developing base of internet sales. Candelabra does not manufacture any products. Candelabra is an S-Corp, with 51% of the stock titled in w's name and 49% titled in H's name. W is President. W is an experienced, successful businesswoman with an exceptional 'eye for design,' a knack for selecting specific products that appeal to her customers and consistently generate sales, and the ability to create long-term, positive relationships with vendor and manufacturer representatives. H was not actively involved in the business prior to 2005. W had become pregnant and was having a difficult pregnancy. Neighborcare was bought by another company, and H's position was eliminated. H began spending more time at Candelabra such that he considered his work there to be his full-time employment, and he did not seek any other type of employment. H began chasing down large contracts and landed them. Goff the person responsible for the contractor business left the company and Candelabra lost business. Marital discord was abound. H had a violent temper. He threw a drink glass at W, narrowly missing her. H then grabbed the couple's child, who witnessed the incident, and locked himself and the child in the child's bedroom. The parties separated for several months but reconciled. W was pregnant again and had another child. H urged W to sell Candelabra. A buyer agreed to purchase Candelabra with the intent of turning it into a website business. The sale fell through. Candelabra had a website, but it was very simplistic. They began aggressively pursuing a website business to counteract the drop in sales from the downturn in the economy, and Candelabra refocused its efforts towards creating a better sales and distribution network via the internet. They created a good e-commerce site and implemented a robust online marketing campaign to increase the website's online presence. As much as 80% of Candelabra's total sales were generated by the website. H claims the website was his idea and that he had to drag W kicking and screaming into the technological age. W says she was the one who found the first website builder in 2005 and claimed she was the decision maker as to the website design and content. The court found that H vastly overstates his contributions to the implementation and management of the website development and that W is the party with industry knowledge, design background, and work ethic that brought the website to fruition. Strife in the marriage was growing. W terminated H's employment. The family court litigation commenced in June 2011. The primary matter in dispute was the value of Candelabra. A battle of the experts ensued. The court found the value of Candelabra as of June 30, 2012, was $2,960,000, the majority of which was comprised of enterprise goodwill. The family court determined that, of the company's overall goodwill, 10% represented Wife's personal goodwill, and as a result, that percentage was excluded from the marital estate. The remaining 90%, excluding the fixed assets, constituted enterprise goodwill and was included in the marital estate, for it inhered to the business itself and was unrelated to the individual efforts of any single person. The family court granted W the first option to purchase H's interest in Candelabra, including a five-year period to pay H his share, [together with interest. Both parties appealed.