Marriage of Braendle

Dina (plaintiff) and Ruediger Braendle (defendant) divorced in December 1991, with Ruediger awarded American Overseas Airfreight (American) stock worth $1,438,651, despite owing American $58,000 — a debt never assigned to either spouse in the dissolution judgment. To equalize the property division (Dina having been awarded less valuable property), the trial court ordered Ruediger to pay Dina $483,393 and to turn over the stock certificates as security, held until he paid; Ruediger delivered the certificates to the court clerk. In 1994, American separately sued Ruediger for breach of contract and won a $70,842.52 judgment, obtaining a writ of execution and lien against the stock certificates, which were transferred to the sheriff for possible sale; Dina obtained a court order returning the certificates to her, and when American asked the divorce court to assign the debt to Dina as a community debt, the trial court instead ruled Dina's security interest had priority over American's lien and ordered the stock transferred to her. American appealed.