Tevolini v. Tevolini

Argued May 3 Opinion The plaintiff, Gennaro Tevolini, appeals from the judgment of the trial court dissolving his marriage to the defendant, Pamela J. Tevolini. On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court (1) abused its discretion in making its financial orders after it had precluded him from contesting the defendant's assertion as to the condition of her health, which was a material fact in the court's fashioning of its alimony order, and had created an irrebuttable presumption that the defendant was disabled, and (2) improperly denied his motion for a physical examination of the defendant where she claimed that she was disabled and thus incapable of being employed. We reverse in part the judgment of the trial court. 1 The following facts are relevant to our disposition of the plaintiff's appeal. The plaintiff, age forty-three, and the defendant, age forty-nine, were married on June 16, 1990, in Rhode Island. 2 No children have been born to the defendant since the marriage. The plaintiff, a high school graduate, was, and still is, a hairdresser. He has a fourteen year old daughter from a prior marriage for whom he pays $100 per week in child support, and he is responsible for 50 percent of her nonreimbursed medical expenses. The defendant was a secretary who had an earning capacity at the time she married the plaintiff. 3 In 1995, she became certified as a fitness instructor and continues in that occupation on a parttime basis earning $30 for each class. At the time of the trial,the defendant was receiving social security disability benefits of $910 per month.