O'CONNELL v. Corcoran

Because the Vermont court expressly declined to adjudicate the issue of equitable distribution, I would affirm the order of the Appellate Division.

Plaintiff Maureen O’Connell and defendant John J. O’Connell were married in 1959. She was a nurse and he was, as he described, a laborer at a beer brewing company. When the company closed in the early 1960s, defendant was vice-president of the company. Defendant then went to work for an energy company where he remained until his retirement in 1994.1 Plaintiff, by contrast, became a homemaker about a year after the marriage, raising the first of…