Crain v. Crain
Decision Date | 25 April 1983 |
Docket Number | No. 14054,14054 |
Parties | , 37 A.L.R.4th 151 Billie Lou CRAIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Gary Dean CRAIN, Defendant-Respondent. |
Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
J.D. Hancock, Rexburg, for appellant.
Gary Dean Crain, pro se.
Appellant, Billie Lou Crain, married Doug Stephenson on November 16, 1974. The couple separated in February of 1975 and Billie Lou went to Salt Lake City to live with her parents. She testified that as of February 1975 she ceased having sexual relations with Doug.
Billie Lou returned to Rexburg in April of 1975 and moved into a mobile home, where she lived with her sister. Doug visited her there several times, and on occasion stayed the night. Billie Lou testified that she did not have sexual intercourse with Doug during these visits, and her sister testified that Doug and Billie Lou slept in separate rooms when he visited.
During the week of May 9-16, 1975, Billie Lou and respondent Gary Crain engaged in sexual intercourse while attending an Army Reserve training session. Later Gary moved into Billie Lou's mobile home, and in June of 1975 Billie Lou told Gary that she was pregnant.
Rebecca was born to Billie Lou on February 3, 1976. Billie Lou and Gary were then living together, but Billie Lou was still married to Doug. Gary supported Rebecca, referred to and treated her as his child, and claimed her as a dependent on his income tax returns.
Billie Lou was granted a divorce from Doug in August of 1976. In that action Billie Lou and Doug stipulated that Doug was presumptively the father of Rebecca, but that he was not her natural father. 1
Billie Lou and Gary were married in September of 1976; they lived together until they were permanently separated in July of 1978. A child, Toby, was born of this marriage, and Gary acknowledged this child as being his.
On July 7, 1978, Billie Lou instigated divorce proceedings against Gary, therein seeking child support for her two children, Toby and Rebecca. Gary denied paternity of Rebecca and at the divorce trial that issue was submitted to the court.
Prior to trial, Billie Lou had moved the trial court for an in limine ruling on the admissibility of Human Leucocyte Antigene (HLA) tissue typing tests for establishing paternity. The trial court ruled that it would exclude the HLA test results on the grounds that Idaho statutes and case law allow the admission of such tests only when the results exclude paternity. In its written memorandum order denying the admission of the HLA test results, the court stated:
At trial, an offer of proof was made by Billie Lou's attorney, who argued that her witnesses would have testified, based upon the HLA test results, that "Mr. Crain cannot be excluded as the father of that child and that the probability of his being the father is 98.98 percent and the odds are 140,000 to 1 that some other person in the male white population could be the father of Rebecca Crain other than Gary Dean Crain." Opposing counsel then argued that such tests can only be admitted into evidence if they show nonpaternity, and the trial court agreed, again meticulously detailing its reasoning:
The trial court by memorandum decision held that there was insufficient evidence to overcome the presumption that Doug was Rebecca's father and that Billie Lou had failed to establish that Gary was Rebecca's natural father. Billie Lou appeals that determination.
The HLA test is a tissue typing test which was developed as a means of reducing the incidence of rejection of organ transplants. The test is generally performed on white blood cells, but may be done with other body tissues.
Phillips v. Jackson, 615 P.2d 1228, 1230-31 (Utah 1980) (footnote omitted).
For a thorough discussion of the HLA test see Terasaki, Resolution by HLA Testing of 1000 Paternity Cases Not Excluded by ABO Testing, 16 J.Fam.L. 543 (1977-78) (hereinafter Terasaki ).
The HLA test results in this case allegedly demonstrate that the probability of Gary being the natural father of Rebecca is 98.98 percent. Without doubt, this evidence is both relevant and material to the issue of paternity. However, the trial court excluded the test results primarily on the grounds that the "Idaho statutes do not permit it and our Idaho decisions interpreting those statutes rule against its admission." The trial court was referring to the case of In Isaacson, the trial court admitted into evidence blood grouping test results which did not exclude paternity. The blood tests had been administered to the parties and the involved child in that case at the request of the alleged father and they were not ordered by the trial court pursuant to I.C. § 7-1115. The written report of the results was admitted without any accompanying testimony by the expert who performed the tests. This Court on appeal said:
[104 Idaho 669] Isaacson v. Obendorf, 99 Idaho 304, 581 P.2d 350 (1978), and to the Idaho Paternity Act, particularly former I.C. § 7-1115, 2 discussed infra in connection with Isaacson.
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