Gebler v. Gatti

• Decision Date: 02 February 2006
• Citation: 895 A.2d 1
• Parties: Kelly N. GEBLER v. Gregory J. GATTI and Ray Sisson. Appeal of Gregory J. Gatti
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 1

895 A.2d 1

Kelly N. GEBLER v. Gregory J. GATTI and Ray Sisson Appeal of Gregory J. Gatti

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted August 29, 2005.

Filed February 2, 2006.

James G. Moore, Erie, for appellant.

Peter W. Bailey, Erie, for Gebler, appellee.

Frank L. Kroto, Jr., Erie, for Sission appellee.

BEFORE: KLEIN, McCAFFERY and TAMILIA, JJ.

OPINION BY KLEIN, J.:

¶ 1 Gregory J. Gatti appeals from the order entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County determining that under the doctrine of paternity by estoppel, Gatti is estopped from denying paternity and therefore he is the legal father of B.J.G., born May 25, 2001. Because we find the trial court erred in concluding that the record was devoid of evidence of misrepresentation, we reverse.¹

¶ 2 Gatti, who was never married to Kelly N. Gebler (Mother), held the child out as his own under Mother's misrepresentation that he was the only one having sexual relations with Mother at the time of conception. He ceased acting as the child's father when he learned that he was not the biological father. The child was eighteen months old at that time. Since the doctrine of paternity by estoppel is aimed at "achieving fairness as between the parents by holding them, both mother and father, to their prior conduct," it cannot be applied under these facts. Fish v. Behers, 559 Pa. 523, 741 A.2d 721, 723 (1999), quoting Freedman v. McCandless, 539 Pa. 584, 654 A.2d 529, 532-33 (1995). To do so would defy principles of equity, punishing the party that sought to do the right thing and rewarding the party that has perpetrated a fraud. See Kohler v. Bleem, 439 Pa.Super 385, 654 A.2d 569, 575-576 (1995). A full discussion follows.

Facts

¶ 3 Mother and Gatti were involved in a seven-year relationship; they never married. Toward the end of the relationship, Mother learned she was pregnant. Gatti believed that he was the father and so he helped Mother prepare for the birth, attended the birth, and had his name put on the child's birth certificate. Unbeknownst to Gatti, but certainly known to Mother, Mother had had a sexual relationship with another man around the time she conceived B.J.G.

¶ 4 By the time the child was nine months old, Gatti and Mother ended their relationship. Mother filed an action against Gatti for support. Still under the belief that he and Mother had had an exclusive relationship, Gatti entered into a stipulated support order and attended a custody conciliation conference. Gatti paid support and exercised his custody rights until February 2003, when the child was eighteen months old.

¶ 5 Thereafter, Gatti noticed that the child did not seem to resemble him and had a private DNA test performed, which excluded him as the father. In September 2004, he filed a motion to allow a second DNA paternity test, as the first would not be accepted by the court. The court ordered that: (1) putative father Ray Sisson be added as a party; (2) all parties and the child submit to DNA testing; and (3) DNA test results would not be dispositive of the issue of child support.

¶ 6 The DNA test results excluded Gatti as the biological father. Thereafter, the court held a hearing and argument. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court determined that the principle of paternity by estoppel applied and that, as a result of his actions and his failure to raise or show fraud or misrepresentation, Gatti was estopped from denying paternity. We disagree.

Discussion

A. Presumption of Paternity and Paternity by Estoppel

¶ 7 If a child is born out of wedlock, the presumption of paternity does not apply because there is no intact family to protect. Brinkley v. King, 549 Pa. 241, 701 A.2d 176 (1997). If the presumption does not apply, the putative father is entitled to a hearing on the issue of estoppel. Brinkley, supra; B.S. v. T.M., 782 A.2d 1031 (Pa.Super.2001); Barnard v. Anderson, 767 A.2d 592 (Pa.Super.2001).

¶ 8 The doctrine of paternity by estoppel is codified at 23 Pa.C.S. § 5102, where one of the statutory means of establishing paternity is holding out the child as one's own and providing support.²

B. Proof of fraud or misrepresentation precludes application of paternity by estoppel

¶ 9 Where, as here, there is no intact family unit to protect, the presumption of paternity does not apply. Whether the estoppel doctrine applies depends upon the particular facts of the case. Estoppel in paternity actions is based on the public policy that children should be secure in knowing who their parents are; if a person has acted as the parent and bonded with the child, the child should not be required to suffer the potentially damaging trauma that may come from being told that the father he has known all his life is not in fact his father. T.L.F. v. D.W.T., 796 A.2d 358 (Pa.Super.2002).

¶ 10 Here, the trial court determined that Gatti held himself out as the father for the first eighteen months of the child's life, acknowledged paternity of the child at birth, entered into a support order and exercised his custody rights. The court concluded, therefore, that under these facts estoppel was applicable and Gatti was estopped from denying paternity. See Fish v. Behers, 559 Pa. 523, 741 A.2d 721 (1999); Zadori v. Zadori, 443 Pa.Super. 192, 661 A.2d 370 (1995). Under that doctrine, the court stated, Gatti was precluded "from challenging the status that he previously accepted." (Trial Court Opinion, 1/12/05 at 4).

¶ 11 This is an accurate, though incomplete, statement of the law. The court disregards the fact that Gatti was operating under the belief that he in fact was the father, because Mother never indicated to him that it was possible that another man could be the father. That he embraced that status for a relatively short period of time solely because he was misled is a critical factor the trial court overlooks.

¶ 12 In its supplemental opinion, the trial court acknowledged that evidence of fraud is relevant to the estoppel analysis and that "a putative father will not be estopped from denying paternity when fraudulent conduct induces that putative father into treating the child as his own." (Supplemental Opinion, 3/15/05 at 1, citing J.C. v. J.S., 826 A.2d 1 (Pa.Super.2003); Doran v. Doran, 820 A.2d 1279 (Pa.Super.2003)). The court concluded, however, that Gatti presented no evidence that Mother misrepresented the fact that Gatti was the father and that he raises the issue for the first time in his Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) Statement of Matters Complained of on Appeal. We disagree. This analysis ignores both the evidence of record and the realities of the circumstances here.

¶ 13 Clearly, Mother is holding all the cards here; only she knew that another man might be the biological father and only she could inform Gatti. The mother is the only one who knows who the possible fathers are, at least until a paternity test is done. Mother's failure to provide Gatti with the information that only she knew, and which she knew if she divulged would provide Gatti with a clear understanding of the matter, lulled him into believing he was the father. Mother concealed that which should have been disclosed, and Gatti acted accordingly. The trial court noted that Mother might have thought the child was most likely Gatti's rather than the other man she was having relations with. However, she was the one that knew she was having relations with someone else and never revealed it to Gatti. This constitutes fraud or at least misrepresentation, and it is undisputed in the record:

Q: Did she say to you that you were the father?

A: Yes, she did.

Q: Based upon that information what did you do?

A: I took the role as a responsible father, and I cared for the child, thinking that it was mine. I was the only one she had relations with.

* * * *

Q: ... [Y]ou acknowledged paternity when the child was born. We just covered that, you did that, right? You acknowledged the child was yours?

A: Through what she was saying to me I believed so.

(N.T., 1/11/05 at p. 12, 21). See B.O. v. C.O., 404 Pa.Super. 127, 590 A.2d 313, 315 (1991) ("When an allegation of fraud is injected in a case, the whole tone and tenor of the matter changes. It opens the door to overturning settled issues and policies of the law.").³

¶ 14 This case is distinguishable from Zadori v. Zadori, 443 Pa.Super. 192, 661 A.2d 370 (1995), where this Court held appellant was estopped from denying paternity. There, appellant knew the child was not his on the date the child was born, and in fact acknowledged that the full term child was born only three months after the parties began sexual relations. Id. at 195, 661 A.2d 370. Despite knowing this, appellant agreed to amend the child's birth certificate to list himself as the birth father and thereafter the parties along with the child lived together as a family for almost three years after the child's birth. Id.

¶ 15 Here, by contrast, Gatti was essentially in the dark during the relevant time period and, once he learned the truth, he disengaged. He cannot, under these facts, be held to those actions.

¶ 16 We note also that even where the father and child relationship has been established, unlike the case here, evidence of fraud or misrepresentation may preclude application of the doctrine. See Doran, supra (following the DNA test that excluded the appellant as the father of the 11-year-old child, the appellant no longer held the child out as his own; this Court held estoppel did not apply); see also Moody, supra (where appellant was misled at the time he signed the agreed order of support, this Court refused to apply paternity by estoppel or res judicata); cf. V.R., et al. v. G.W., 809 A.2d 977 (Pa.Super.2002) (acknowledgement of paternity must be rescinded within two years of discovering fraud).

¶ 17 Thus, the considerations underlying the public policy that drives application of the doctrine are not present here: there is no discernible relationship between the child and Gatti;...