Debra H v. Janice R

Decision Date04 May 2010
Citation930 N.E.2d 184,14 N.Y.3d 576
PartiesDEBRA H., Appellant,v.JANICE R., Respondent.
CourtNew York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
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Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., New York City (Susan L. Sommer and Jeremy R. Sanders of counsel), and Cohen Hennessey Bienstock & Rabin P.C. (Bonnie E. Rabin and Orrit Hershkovitz of counsel), for Debra H., appellant.

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, New York City (Jennifer L. Colyer, Adam B. Gottlieb and Scott Thompson of counsel), and Parisi & Associates (Anthony Parisi III of counsel), for M.R., appellant.

Reiss Eisenpress LLP, New York City (Sherri L. Eisenpress, Matthew Sheppe and Audrey E. Weinberger of counsel), for respondent.

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, New York City (Eve Preminger and Jason Moff of counsel), for National Association of Social Workers and others, amici curiae.

Suzanne B. Goldberg, New York City, for Richard Allan and others, amici curiae.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, New York City (Maeve O'Connor and Patrice Sabach of counsel), and Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom LLP (Vaughn Williams, Sean Marlaire and Katrina James of counsel), for Citizens' Committee for Children and others, amici curiae.

Michael Getnick, Albany, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, New York City (Roberta A. Kaplan, Michael N. Berger and Julie E. Fink of counsel), for New York State Bar Association, amicus curiae.

Hogan & Hartson LLP, New York City (Allen A. Drexel, Hoa T.T. Hoang, Katie M. Lachter, Dennis M. Quinio, Brian G. Strand and Samuel E. Wolfe of counsel), Cynthia L. Schrock Seeley, Ann B. Lesk, Allan E. Mayefsky, Dakota D. Ramseur, Roberto Ramirez and Jonathan B. Behrins, Staten Island, for New York City Bar Association and others, amici curiae.

New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York City (Matthew Faiella, Galen Sherwin and Arthur Eisenberg of counsel), and American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (Rose Saxe of counsel), for New York Civil Liberties Union and others, amici curiae.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, New York City (Marina Tsatalis, Elizabeth Tippett and Joy Chia of counsel), for National Center for Lesbian Rights and others, amici curiae.

Alliance Defense Fund, Scottsdale, Arizona (Brian W. Raum of counsel), and Ruta & Soulios, LLP, New York City (Joseph A. Ruta of counsel), for New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, Ltd., amicus curiae.

Alan J. Pierce, Syracuse, for Single Mothers by Choice and others, amici curiae.

Law Offices of Robert W. Dapelo, P.C., Patchogue (Robert W. Dapelo of counsel), and Marriage Law Foundation, Lehi, Utah (William C. Duncan of counsel), for Family Watch International, amicus curiae.

OPINION OF THE COURT

READ, J.

Respondent Janice R. is the biological mother of M.R., a six-year-old boy conceived through artificial insemination and born in December 2003. Janice R. and petitioner Debra H. met in 2002 and entered into a civil union in the State of Vermont in November 2003, the month before M.R.'s birth. Janice R. repeatedly rebuffed Debra H.'s requests to become M.R.'s second parent by means of adoption.

After the relationship between Janice R. and Debra H. soured and they separated in the spring of 2006, Janice R. allowed Debra H. to have supervised visits with M.R. each week on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday for specified periods of time, as well as daily contact by telephone. In the spring of 2008, however, Janice R. began scaling back the visits. By early May 2008, she had cut off all communication between Debra H. and M.R.

In mid-May 2008, Debra H. brought this proceeding against Janice R. in Supreme Court by order to show cause. She sought joint legal and physical custody of M.R., restoration of access and decisionmaking authority with respect to his upbringing, and appointment of an attorney for the child. 1 After a hearing on May 21, 2008, the judge signed the order to show cause, which set a briefing schedule, and the parties, at his instance, entered into a “so-ordered” stipulation that reinstated the three-day-a-week visitation schedule previously followed. The stipulation required M.R.'s nanny or a mutually agreed-upon third party to accompany M.R. when he visited Debra H.

As Supreme Court later put it, “few facts ... [were] undisputed” at the hearings and in the parties' submissions, which “differ[ed] substantially with respect to the nature and extent of [Debra H.'s] relationship with [Janice R.] and, more significantly, with M.R.” (N.Y.L.J., Oct. 9, 2008, at 26, col. 1, 2008 WL 7675822, 2008 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 6367, *1, 5 [Sup.Ct., N.Y. County 2008] ). At the hearing on July 10, 2008, Debra H. acknowledged our decision in Matter of Alison D. v. Virginia M., 77 N.Y.2d 651, 569 N.Y.S.2d 586, 572 N.E.2d 27 (1991), which held that only a child's biological or adoptive parent has standing to seek visitation against the wishes of a fit custodial parent, but contended that Matter of Shondel J. v. Mark D., 7 N.Y.3d 320, 820 N.Y.S.2d 199, 853 N.E.2d 610 (2006) endorsed a nonbiological or nonadoptive parent's right to invoke equitable estoppel to secure visitation or custody notwithstanding Alison D. In support of this interpretation of our precedents, Debra H. emphasized that Shondel J. cited Jean Maby H. v. Joseph H., 246 A.D.2d 282, 676 N.Y.S.2d 677 (2d Dept.1998), a divorce proceeding in which the husband successfully invoked equitable estoppel to seek custody and visitation with a child born to the wife prior to the marriage, whom he neither fathered nor adopted. Debra H. also urged Supreme Court to consider the effect of the parties' civil union, and alluded to the Vermont Supreme Court's decision in Miller-Jenkins v. Miller-Jenkins, 180 Vt. 441, 912 A.2d 951 (2006) cert. denied 550 U.S. 918, 127 S.Ct. 2130, 167 L.Ed.2d 863 (2007).

In opposition to Debra H.'s application, Janice R. stressed that she had always spurned Debra H.'s entreaties to permit a second-parent adoption. She argued that Alison D., which interpreted Domestic Relations Law § 70, was not eroded or overruled by Shondel J., a case involving a filiation determination; pointed out that the Legislature did not amend section 70 after Alison D. was handed down, or elsewhere enact any provision broadening standing to seek visitation or custody; and observed that Janice R. conceived M.R. prior to entering into the civil union with Debra H. in Vermont. At the hearing's conclusion, Supreme Court reserved decision and continued visitation in a further “so-ordered” stipulation.

In a decision and order filed on October 9, 2008, Supreme Court ruled in Debra H.'s favor. The judge reasoned that “it [was] inconsistent to estop a nonbiological father from disclaiming paternity in order to avoid support obligations, but preclude a nonbiological parent from invoking [equitable estoppel] against the biological parent in order to maintain an established relationship with the child” since, in either event, “the court's primary concern should be furthering the best interests of the child” (2008 WL 7675822, 2008 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 6367, *25).

Supreme Court concluded that the facts alleged by Debra H., if true, “establish[ed] a prima facie basis for invoking the doctrine of equitable estoppel” ( id. 2008 WL 7675822, 2008 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 6367 at *25-26). In this regard, the judge considered the parties' civil union to be “a significant, though not necessarily a determinative, factor in [Debra H.'s] estoppel argument” because, under Vermont law, parties to a civil union are given the same benefits, protections and responsibilities ... as are granted to those in a marriage,” which “includes the assumption that the birth of a child during a couple's legal union is ‘extremely persuasive evidence of joint parentage’ ( id. 2008 WL 7675822, 2008 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 6367 at *26, quoting Miller-Jenkins, 180 Vt. at 466, 912 A.2d at 971).

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  • Debra H. v. Janice R.
    • United States
    • New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
    • May 4, 2010
    ...N.Y.S.2d 26314 N.Y.3d 576930 N.E.2d 184DEBRA H., Appellant,v.JANICE R., Respondent.Court of Appeals of New York.May 4, 2010.904 N.Y.S.2d 264 Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., New York City (Susan L. Sommer and Jeremy R. Sanders of counsel), and Cohen Hennessey Bienstock & Rabin......

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