Beck v. Beck
| Decision Date | 26 August 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 20446,20446 |
| Citation | 384 P.2d 731,153 Colo. 90 |
| Parties | Bonnie Jean BECK, Plaintiff in Error, v. Raymond Russell BECK, Defendant in Error. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Robert S. Wham, Frank A. Elzi, Robert A. Powell, Denver, for plaintiff in error.
Bernard D. Morley, Denver, for defendant in error.
The sole issue presented by this record is whether defendant in error, Raymond Russell Beck, was entitled to a favorable judgment on the issue of paternity of a minor child in the trial court. This in turn, however, depends upon whether a blood test considered by the court was both admissible and sufficient to overcome the presumption of legitimacy.
The evidence was conflicting § to whether the husband had access to the wife Bonnie Jean Beck during the possible period of conception. At the conclusion of the trial the court directed a verdict in favor of the mother. The husband then filed a motion for judgment non obstante veredicto attaching thereto a blood test taken after trial by agreement before trial of the parties, and which stated in pertinent part:
The trial court then granted the husband's motion and this writ of error followed.
In Lanford v. Lanford, 151 Colo. ----, 377 P.2d 115 (1962) it was said that the presumption of legitimacy is one of the strongest known to the law and can be overcome only by proof of non-access or impotency of the husband. This rule, however, does not require a husband to prove either ground to the degree of impossibility. Commonwealth v. Kitchen, 299 Mass. 7, 11 N.E.2d 482, 483 (1937). And, the rule has now been broadened by statute in some jurisdictions in regard to blood tests in order to recognize the advance of medical science in this field. See for example: Commonwealth v. Gromo, 190 Pa.Super. 519, 154 A.2d 417 (1959) and Commonwealth v. D'Avella, 339 Mass. 642, 162 N.E.2d 19 (1959). Also, see cases cited in 46 A.L.R.2d 1019 et seq. Colorado's statute on this subject provides that:
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