Department of Human Services v. Roy

• Decision Date: 29 January 1991
• Citation: 585 A.2d 813
• Parties: DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES v. Raymond R. ROY.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 813

585 A.2d 813

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES v. Raymond R. ROY.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued Nov. 13, 1990.

Decided Jan. 29, 1991.

David R. Burtt, Jr. (orally), Asst. Atty. Gen., Augusta, for plaintiff.

Paul F. Macri (orally), Valerie Stanfill, Berman, Simmons & Goldberg, Lewiston, for defendant.

Before McKUSICK, C.J., and WATHEN, GLASSMAN, CLIFFORD, COLLINS and BRODY, JJ.

GLASSMAN, Justice.

Raymond R. Roy appeals from the judgment entered in the Superior Court (Androscoggin County, Alexander, J.) affirming the judgment of the District Court (Lewiston, Scales, A.R.J.) for the Department of Human Services (DHS), in an action brought to determine Roy's paternity of a minor child and to establish a support obligation on the part of Roy for the child. See 19 M.R.S.A. §§ 271-516 (1981 & Supp.1990). We reject Roy's contentions that the court erred in determining Roy's share of the total amount of past public assistance expended by the DHS on behalf of Roy's minor child, see 19 M.R.S.A. § 495 (Supp.1990), and in concluding that (i) the past public assistance debt is joint and several for either responsible parent and (ii) Roy's present ability to pay the past debt is immaterial to the calculation of Roy's share of that indebtedness. Finding no error or abuse of discretion, we affirm the judgment.

In 1985, the DHS sought to recover the past public assistance expended in the form of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) payments on behalf of the minor child of Raymond Roy and Karen St. Hilaire. Because neither parent had custody of the child at the time AFDC payments were made, the DHS was entitled to pursue reimbursement of past public assistance from either or both parents. See 19 M.R.S.A. § 496. By a separate administrative proceeding pursuant to 19 M.R.S.A. § 498, to which Roy was not a party, the DHS determined the portion of the past public assistance debt attributable to Karen St. Hilaire. ¹

In November 1986, the DHS filed suit against Roy in the District Court for a determination of his paternity, for the collection of Roy's share of past public assistance expended on the child's behalf and for the establishment of a current support order for the child, all pursuant to 19 M.R.S.A. §§ 271-516. During the course of a DHS enforcement agent's testimony at trial, two blue seal documents prepared by the custodian of the DHS records were produced. Both documents reported that the DHS was currently spending $326 per month in AFDC payments on behalf of Roy's minor child. The first document admitted in evidence, dated May 9, 1989, reported total arrearages of $34,276 for the past public assistance expended since November 1980. The second document admitted in evidence, dated March 22, 1989, reported an assistance figure of $26,689 for the period since November 1980. ² Although Roy objected to the admission of the first document, neither party objected to the admission of the second document. The DHS support enforcement agent could not explain why the two totals for the past public assistance differed by $7587 when, with the current assistance of $326 per month, a maximum of $652 should have been expended by the DHS in the intervening one and one-half month period. No other evidence, either documentary or testimonial, was presented as to the amount owed to the DHS.

After the close of the DHS's case, Roy moved for a directed verdict on the ground that the DHS failed to meet its burden of proof on the amount of the past debt owed by Roy. The court ruled:

With respect to this situation, the evidence that I have received is of two sorts, two amounts. They are inconsistent and I think that the Court has the prerogative and the duty to determine that inconsistency against the State. There is no reason that has been offered to disregard any arrears, and I deny your motion.

Using the assistance figure of $26,689 contained in the second blue seal document, the court added Medicaid payments made by the DHS on behalf of Trina ($5616.66), the cost of a blood test ($150), and three monthly AFDC payments ($978) for the period between March 1989 and the date of the trial in this matter. From this total of $33,433.66, the court subtracted the $9200 obligation of St. Hilaire and entered an order for the DHS for $24,233.66 as the amount of the past debt attributable to Roy. Roy appealed to the Superior Court. After a hearing, the Superior Court affirmed the judgment of the District Court, and this appeal by Roy followed.

Roy does not challenge the court's finding regarding his paternity of his minor child nor the amount of his current child support obligation. His challenge to the judgment focuses on his contention that the two blue seal documents produced by the DHS, constituting the sole evidence of the amount of past public assistance expended on behalf of his minor child, were mutually and facially inconsistent, and accordingly the trial court had no principled basis for determining that the second blue seal document was an accurate statement of that debt. We disagree.

When, as here, the Superior Court acts as an intermediate appellate court, we directly review the trial court's findings. Williams v. Williams, 444 A.2d 977, 978 (Me.1982). We will disturb the findings of the District Court only if they are clearly erroneous. Department of Human Servs. v. Hulit, 524 A.2d 1212, 1213 (Me.1987). 19 M.R.S.A. § 495 provides that "[a] payment of public assistance for the benefit of the dependent child creates a debt due the department by any responsible parent in...