C.V. v. J.M.J.
| Decision Date | 17 November 2000 |
| Docket Number | 1981316 |
| Parties | Ex parte C.V. (Re: C.V. v. J.M.J. and T.F.J.) 1981316 SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
We granted C.V.'s petition for a writ of certiorari to determine whether the Court of Civil Appeals erred in affirming the decision of the trial court to terminate his parental rights. We reverse the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals and render a judgment for C.V.
N.G. (the birth mother) and C.V. (the father), Florida residents, began an exclusive relationship in February 1995. The birth mother became pregnant in July 1995. In August 1995, the father and the birth mother became engaged and moved into an apartment together.
On August 20, 1995, the birth mother called the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department. She reported that the father had pushed her down and hit her, that she had then hit the father with a "hanger," that the father had grabbed her by the throat, that she had gotten away and had run to the front door of their apartment, that the father had again pushed her down, and that she had hit her head on the couch. Based upon the birth mother's complaint, Pinellas County sheriff's deputies arrested the father for assault. The father told the deputies that the birth mother had bitten him earlier that day and that the birth mother had dislocated her shoulder when he held onto her arm as the birth mother attempted to jump out of his truck while the truck was traveling at 55 miles per hour. The birth mother did not seek medical treatment. No criminal charges were brought against the father.
In October 1995, the birth mother called the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department and reported that she "was having a verbal argument with [the father]." She also reported being scared that he might do her harm. The father left the apartment before deputies arrived at the apartment. The deputies took no action against the father.
On January 3, 1996, the birth mother and the father argued while in the father's truck on the way to a Lamaze class. The birth mother called the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department and reported that the father had assaulted her. The birth mother told a responding deputy that the father had grabbed her arm when she tried to exit the father's truck. She stated also that the father had not slapped or hit her. The deputy reported that the birth mother was uninjured and that she was unwilling to press charges against the father because she believed that the father grabbed her arm to keep her from exiting the truck while the truck was moving. The birth mother secretly "contacted" a private Florida adoption agency to arrange for the adoption of the unborn child. In late January 1996, the birth mother secretly took money from the adoption agency, left the father, and went to Colorado without informing the father of her plans. In February 1996, after the father refused to give his consent to the adoption of the unborn child, the adoption agency refused to work with the birth mother. During this time, the father searched without success for the mother.
The birth mother returned to Florida, but did not notify the father of her return. She then arranged for Adoption By Choice, Inc. (ABC), another private Florida adoption agency, to place her unborn child for adoption. She lied to ABC about the identity of the father of her unborn child. The birth mother told ABC that she did not know who was the father. After the father received a letter from the first adoption agency, but before the birth mother gave birth, the father hired an attorney. This occurred on March 11, 1996. The birth mother relinquished her parental rights to ABC on March 12, 1996, before the birth. She delivered Baby Boy G. in Pinellas County, Florida, on March 19, 1996.
On March 22, 1996, upon receipt of $17,400, ABC placed Baby Boy G. with J.M.J. and T.F.J. (the prospective adoptive parents), an Alabama couple, for the purposes of a final adoption. The prospective adoptive parents accepted Baby Boy G. with written acknowledgement that their adoption of Baby Boy G. was "at risk" because the father had not consented to the adoption. On March 25, 1996, the prospective adoptive parents returned with Baby Boy G. to the couple's home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
In April 1996, the birth mother tearfully told the father that their son had been stillborn. The father asked the birth mother for a death certificate or documents to prove that their child had been stillborn. The birth mother did not have and could not produce any documents to support her statement that their child had been stillborn. On April 10, 1996, in the Circuit Court of Pinellas County, Florida, the father filed a paternity and custody action against the birth mother. He asserted paternity of Baby Boy G. and sought custody of Baby Boy G. On May 22, 1996, in the Circuit Court of Hillsborough County, Florida, ABC petitioned the court to terminate the "unknown" father's paternal rights to Baby Boy G. During a hearing in the Pinellas County Circuit Court in June 1996, the birth mother admitted that she had given birth to a live baby boy, Baby Boy G., that the father had fathered Baby Boy G., and that she had lied to the father and to ABC about Baby Boy G. On July 9, 1996, the Pinellas County Court determined the father to be Baby Boy G.'s biological father.
On August 12, 1996, the father petitioned the Pinellas County Circuit Court for an expedited determination of the temporary custody of Baby Boy G. On August 26, 1996, the prospective adoptive parents anonymously moved to intervene in ABC's Hillsborough County action to terminate the father's parental rights. The same day, in the Hillsborough County Circuit Court, the prospective adoptive parents also anonymously filed a declaratory judgment action asserting the theory of prebirth abandonment by the father as implied consent to the adoption of Baby Boy G.
On October 18, 1996, the Pinellas County Circuit Court stayed the father's paternity and custody action pending the resolution of ABC's and the prospective adoptive parents' actions in the Hillsborough County Circuit Court. On November 15, 1996, the Hillsborough County Circuit Court dismissed with prejudice the prospective adoptive parents' declaratory judgment action on the grounds that they lacked standing and that the issue of prebirth abandonment was more appropriate in an adoption proceeding. The prospective adoptive parents appealed the dismissal of their declaratory judgment action to the District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second Circuit.
On November 27, 1996, following a hearing, the Pinellas County Circuit Court entered an emergency temporary custody order finding ABC to be Baby Boy G.'s legal guardian, awarding the father temporary custody of Baby Boy G., ordering ABC to retrieve Baby Boy G. from the prospective adoptive parents, and ordering ABC to deliver Baby Boy G. to the father. The prospective adoptive parents were anonymously represented by counsel at the hearing, although they had not attempted to intervene in the father's paternity and custody action.
On December 2, 1996, the Hillsborough County Circuit Court dismissed ABC's petition to terminate the father's parental rights and denied the prospective adoptive parents' motion to intervene. ABC did not appeal the dismissal. The prospective adoptive parents appealed the denial of their motion to intervene in ABC's action.
On December 16, 1996, in the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court, ABC filed a motion seeking full-faith-and-credit enforcement of the November 27, 1996, emergency temporary custody order of the Pinellas County Circuit Court in order for ABC to comply with the requirement that it retrieve Baby Boy G. from the prospective adoptive parents and return him to his father.
On January 13, 1997, the prospective adoptive parents moved to intervene in the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court action. On January 21, 1997, the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court granted intervention and appointed a guardian ad litem to represent the interests of Baby Boy G. On January 22, 1997, the prospective adoptive parents filed an adoption action in the Tuscaloosa County Probate Court. At this time, for the first time, the father learned where Baby Boy G. lived and who had physical custody of Baby Boy G. The Tuscaloosa County Probate Court transferred the prospective adoptive parents' adoption action, pursuant to § 26-10A-24(e), Ala. Code 1975, to the Tuscaloosa County Juvenile Court. Once the father learned that the prospective adoptive parents had custody of Baby Boy G., the father attempted to see Baby Boy G. and to send him gifts. However, the prospective adoptive parents rebuffed his overtures.
On April 15, 1997, the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court denied ABC's motion for full-faith-and-credit enforcement of the November 27, 1996, emergency temporary custody order entered by the Pinellas County Circuit Court. The Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court held that the Pinellas County Circuit Court lacked jurisdiction to enter the November 27, 1996, emergency temporary custody order. Additionally, the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court ordered DNA testing to determine the parentage of Baby Boy G. and awarded the prospective adoptive parents temporary custody of Baby Boy G.
In July 1997, the father petitioned the Court of Civil Appeals for a writ of mandamus ordering the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court to give full-faith-and-credit enforcement to the November 27, 1996, emergency temporary custody order of the Pinellas County Circuit Court. On July 30, 1997, the Pinellas County Circuit Court entered an order declining to continue exercising jurisdiction over the father's paternity and custody action.
On October 17, 1997, in the Tuscaloosa County Juvenile Court, the prospective adoptive parents petitioned the court to...
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