Abolafia v. Reeves
| Decision Date | 26 April 2012 |
| Docket Number | No. 38189–2010.,38189–2010. |
| Citation | 152 Idaho 898,277 P.3d 345 |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
| Parties | Joseph Michael ABOLAFIA, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Rebecca REEVES, Defendant–Respondent. Kenneth Paul Adler, Guardian ad Litem, Appellant. |
Charles B. Bauer and Margalit Z. Ryan, Bauer & French, Boise, argued for appellant.
Suzanne Fegelein, Powell & Reed, Sandpoint, argued for defendant-respondent.
Glorianne Gooding–Jones, Sandpoint, argued for plaintiff-respondent.
The appellant in this case had been appointed as a guardian ad litem for children whose parents were involved in a proceeding to modify the custody provisions of their divorce decree. After the parties reached an agreement to resolve their dispute and the magistrate court terminated the appellant as the guardian ad litem, the appellant sought to appeal, challenging his termination. The district court held that he did not have standing to appeal, and it dismissed the appeal and awarded attorney fees to the parents pursuant to Idaho Code section 12–121.
Joseph M. Abolafia (Father) and Rebecca Reeves–Abolafia (Mother) were divorced by a decree entered on August 29, 2006. The decree awarded the parties joint legal and physical custody of their two minor children, with the children's primary residence being with Mother. On May 9, 2007, Mother filed a petition to modify the decree by granting her sole legal custody of the children with respect to health and education issues. On May 15, 2007, Father filed a motion to appoint a guardian ad litem for the children, and at the hearing on that motion the parties orally stipulated that a guardian ad litem be appointed.
By order entered on June 12, 2007, the magistrate court appointed Kenneth Adler as the guardian ad litem. He was ordered to "prepare a written report for the Court concerning the child [sic] and his [sic] present circumstances and submit the report to the Court and counsel." Each party was to pay one-half of the cost of Adler's services. During the ensuing eight months, Adler did not submit any report to the court.
On January 18, 2008, Adler filed a motion to join the children as parties to the action, to be permitted to file an independent claim on their behalf, and to require Mother to respond to discovery promulgated by Adler. Mother filed a motion to terminate the appointment of Adler as guardian ad litem on the grounds that the parties had negotiated a settlement to resolve the issues between them and that the continued appointment of Adler would increase the fees for all parties. The parties also filed their written stipulation to modify the child custody provisions of the divorce decree.
The various motions were scheduled for hearing at the pretrial conference on February 4, 2008, which was three weeks before the trial. Before deciding which motion to take first, the magistrate court addressed the parties regarding the stipulation to resolve the motion to amend the decree. Under the stipulation, the decree would not be modified as to joint legal custody, but it would be modified as to the times Father would have physical custody of the children. Counsel for both parties stated that they agreed to the stipulation and that the parties' abilities to communicate had improved during the process. In fact, counsel stated that it was the parties who negotiated the stipulation between themselves. The parties also stated to the magistrate that they were communicating much better. The court went over the terms of the stipulation, and Adler stated that in his opinion there was nothing wrong with the schedule the parties had agreed upon. When asked whether, considering the best interests of the children, Adler approved of the structure of the visitation schedule, he stated that he did. His objections were that he had not been consulted regarding the stipulation and that he wanted the parties to litigate other issues not covered by the stipulation.
After considering the comments by the parties and their respective counsel and Adler's comments, the magistrate court stated that it accepted the stipulation, and it orally granted the motion to terminate Adler as guardian ad litem. On February 15, 2008, the court entered the order terminating Adler as guardian ad litem and the order modifying the divorce decree pursuant to the parties' stipulation.
On March 21, 2008, Adler, acting pro se, filed a notice of appeal, stating that he was appealing from the order modifying the divorce decree and from the order terminating him as guardian ad litem. The issues that he sought to raise on appeal were:
Adler sought to be reinstated as the guardian ad litem, to be "joined and named as an Independent Claimant," to be permitted to file his independent claim, and to have the order entered pursuant to the parties' stipulation vacated.
After hearing oral argument on the appeal, the district court remanded the case to the magistrate to make further findings in the following issues:
On August 11, 2010, the magistrate entered additional findings as requested by the district court. In those findings, the magistrate stated that the only authority for the appointment of a guardian ad litem in the case was the consent of the parties pursuant to the local practice in Bonner County and that, upon the court's acceptance of the parties' stipulation to resolve the matter, continued involvement of Adler as guardian ad litem became moot.
On September 7, 2010, the district court entered its decision on appeal. The court held that Adler did not have the authority to litigate the interests of the children; that the primary purpose of Adler's appointment was to conduct an investigation and to report to the court regarding facts relative to the best interests of the children; that Adler served at the pleasure of the magistrate; and that the magistrate properly terminated Adler's appointment on February 15, 2008. The district court also held that Adler did not have the authority to appeal his termination, that the order terminating him was not an appealable order, that Adler had no standing to bring the appeal, and that his appeal was brought unreasonably and without foundation. It therefore awarded Father and Mother attorney fees pursuant to Idaho Code section 12–121. Adler then appealed to this Court.
"Standing is a preliminary question to be determined by this Court before reaching the merits of the case." Young v. City of Ketchum, 137 Idaho 102, 104, 44 P.3d 1157, 1159 (2002). "The doctrine of standing focuses on the party seeking relief and not on the issues the party wishes to have adjudicated." Miles v. Idaho Power Co., 116 Idaho 635, 641, 778 P.2d 757, 763 (1989). To satisfy the requirement of standing, "litigants generally must allege or demonstrate an injury in fact and a substantial likelihood that the judicial relief requested will prevent or redress the claimed injury." Id. The alleged injury must be to the litigant whose standing is at issue. Troutner v. Kempthorne, 142 Idaho 389, 392, 128 P.3d 926, 929 (2006).
The magistrate court appointed Adler as guardian ad litem for the children of the parties in connection with Mother's proceedings to modify the custody provision of the divorce decree. The children were not parties to the litigation, and Adler was not appointed to be their legal counsel. His primary duty was to conduct an investigation and prepare a written report to the court regarding the best interests of the children. During the eight months of his appointment, Adler did not manage to prepare the report. Ultimately, the parties agreed to a resolution of their dispute and the magistrate court determined that it no longer needed Adler's services.
Because Adler served at the pleasure of the magistrate court, it could terminate his appointment at any time when the court, in its sole discretion, determined that it no longer needed his services. The court's decision to terminate his services did not have to be supported by any factual findings, nor did the court have to give a reason. All that was required was for the court to decide that it no longer desired Adler's services. Once the court made that decision and entered the order terminating him as a guardian ad litem, he ceased to be the guardian ad litem. Adler had no right to continue in the role of guardian ad litem for the children, nor did he have any legally protected interest that was impacted by the court...
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