J.S.A. v. M.H.
| Citation | 893 N.E.2d 682 |
| Decision Date | 11 July 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 3-05-0561.,No. 3-05-0556.,No. 3-04-0908.,No. 3-04-0678.,3-04-0678.,3-04-0908.,3-05-0556.,3-05-0561. |
| Parties | J.S.A., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. M.H. and W.C.H., Defendants-Appellants. J.S.A., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. M.H. and W.C.H., Defendants-Appellants. J.S.A., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. M.H. and W.C.H., Defendants-Appellees. M.H. and W.C.H., Plaintiffs-Appellees and Cross-Appellants, v. J.S.A., Defendant-Appellant and Cross-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
This consolidated action involves both an adoption proceeding (No. 99 AD 115) and a parentage action (No. 99 F 420). Our review extends to issues raised in four appeals, including No. 3-04-0678, which is before us on remand from the supreme court's decision, J.S.A. v. M.H., 224 Ill.2d 182, 309 Ill.Dec. 6, 863 N.E.2d 236 (2007). The other appeals, Nos. 3-04-0908, 3-05-0556, and 3-05-0561, were originally dismissed by this court based on our conclusion in No. 3-04-0678. We now reverse the trial court's denial of J.S.A.'s petition to establish a parent-child relationship and remand for a hearing on his visitation request; reinstate J.S.A. as a party to the adoption action; vacate the trial court's grant of partial summary judgment in favor of M.H. and W.H. and stay that proceeding pending the conclusion of the parentage action; and affirm the finding of contempt against W.H. and the trial court's denial of the Hs.' motion to lift the stay and sever the cases and its order compelling W.H. to submit to DNA testing. The other issues raised in these appeals we determine to be moot.
The facts of this protracted and torturous litigation have been set forth in our previous decisions, as well as the supreme court's opinion. We will briefly summarize and add facts from the events which have occurred subsequent to the prior decisions. In 1993, attorneys J.S.A. and M.H. began an extramarital affair, and in January 1996, a child, T.H., was born to M.H. Her husband, W.H., was listed on the child's birth certificate as the father and M.H. and W.H. began to raise the child as their own. In 1998, M.H. ended her affair with J.S.A., and in 1999, J.S.A. insisted that the parties perform a self-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) test. In September 1999, J.S.A. filed a petition to determine the existence of a parent-child relationship pursuant to the Illinois Parentage Act of 1984 (Parentage Act) (750 ILCS 45/7(a) (West 1998)). The following month, W.H. filed a declaration of parentage and was joined as a party in the parentage action.
In October 1999, M.H. and W.H. filed a petition to adopt a related child, naming J.S.A. and T.H. as respondents. They also filed in the adoption action a petition to terminate J.S.A.'s parental rights, claiming that he was unfit. In February 2000, M.H. and W.H. filed a motion to dismiss J.S.A. from both actions per section 2-619(a)(9) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Civil Code) (735 ILCS 5/2-619(a)(9) (West 1998)) for his failure to register with the Putative Father Registry in the Adoption Act (750 ILCS 50/12.1 (West 1998)). The trial court granted the motion to dismiss in the adoption action but denied it in the parentage proceeding. J.S.A. filed a motion to reconsider his dismissal from the adoption proceedings which remained pending until June 2005.
In December 2001, following a hearing in the parentage action, the trial court dismissed J.S.A.'s petition to establish a parent-child relationship, finding that T.H.'s best interest were served by denying J.S.A.'s request for DNA testing. J.S.A. appealed and we reversed and remanded in August 2003. J.S.A. v. M.H., 343 Ill.App.3d 217, 278 Ill.Dec. 110, 797 N.E.2d 705 (2003). On remand and pursuant to our directive, the parties were ordered to submit to DNA testing. M.H. and W.H. sought injunctive relief, requesting that the DNA tests be enjoined until the adoption action concluded, and filed a motion to declare the Parentage Act unconstitutional. Their motions were denied and the adoption action was ordered to remain stayed pursuant to a prior order pending the DNA test results. J.S.A. moved to have W.H. submit to DNA testing pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 215. 210 Ill.2d R. 215. Motions by M.H. and W.H. to dismiss J.S.A.'s Rule 215 request and to sever the cases and lift the stay were denied. After their motions to reconsider were denied, M.H. and W.H. filed appeal No. 3-04-0678.
Pursuant to the court's order, J.S.A. submitted to DNA testing on September 9, 2004. M.H., W.H. and T.H. did not comply with the order. A rule to show cause issued for their failure to comply, and in November 2004, the trial court held M.H. and W.H. in contempt. The trial court fined W.H. $100 for his discovery violation and entered a finding that W.H.'s failure to submit to DNA testing constituted an evidentiary admission that testing would exclude him as T.H.'s father pursuant to section 11(a) of the Parentage Act. 750 ILCS 45/11(a) (West 2004). M.H. was sentenced to imprisonment with the sentence stayed for two weeks. On December 23, 2004, M.H. and T.H. submitted to DNA testing. M.H. and W.H. thereafter appealed the trial court's order requiring them to submit to DNA testing, the denial of their motion to declare the Parentage Act unconstitutional, and the findings of contempt against them in No. 3-04-0908.
In March 2005, following an evidentiary hearing, the trial court found the Parentage Act constitutional on its face and as applied. In April 2005, an order of parentage was entered finding J.S.A. to be T.H.'s natural father and W.H. not the natural father of T.H. The following month, the trial court held a hearing on J.S.A.'s petition to establish a parent-child relationship. The parties stipulated that the trial court would use the testimony from the original best interest hearing held in 2000 and 2001. In June 2005, the trial court entered an order finding that it was not in T.H.'s best interest to establish a parent-child relationship with J.S.A. or for J.S.A. to have custodial or visitation privileges with T.H., and denying J.S.A.'s petition to establish a parent-child relationship. The trial court further found that section 2-619 of the Civil Code was not a proper basis for J.S.A.'s dismissal from the adoption action and granted J.S.A.'s motion to reconsider, holding that J.S.A. was entitled to establish that the exceptions for failure to register with the Putative Father Registry applied. 735 ILCS 5/2-619 (West 1998); 750 ILCS 50/12.1(h) (West 2004). M.H. and W.H. responded with a motion for partial summary judgment in the adoption action. J.S.A. answered, asserting affirmative defenses regarding his failure to register.
In the parentage proceeding, J.S.A.'s motion for a new trial and his oral motion to stay the adoption pending his appeal of the dismissal of his parentage petition and visitation request were denied. He appealed in No. 3-05-0556. In August 2005, the trial court granted in part and denied in part M.H. and W.H.'s motion for partial summary judgment, holding that J.S.A.'s failure to register with the Putative Father Registry constituted abandonment and prima facie evidence of unfitness sufficient to terminate his parentage rights. J.S.A. appealed that decision and M.H. and W.H. cross-appealed in No. 3-05-0561.
In October 2005, we decided appeal No. 3-04-0678, and issued J.S.A. v. M.H., 361 Ill.App.3d 745, 299 Ill.Dec. 251, 841 N.E.2d 983 (2005), in which we dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Based on our decision in No. 3-04-0678, in November 2005, we dismissed appeals No. 3-05-0556 and No. 3-05-0561 as moot and vacated as void the contempt order in No. 3-04-0908. In February 2007, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed and remanded our dismissal of No. 3-04-0678. J.S.A. v. M.H., 224 Ill.2d 182, 309 Ill.Dec. 6, 863 N.E.2d 236 (2007). In July 2007, this court issued orders vacating the dismissal of all the appeals which we now consider on the merits.
We begin with the cause before us on remand from the Illinois Supreme Court. In this appeal, M.H. and W.H. raised three issues: whether the trial court erred in denying their motion to sever and to lift the stay in the adoption proceeding; whether the trial court erred in refusing the enjoin the DNA testing; and whether the trial court erred in compelling W.H. to undergo DNA testing pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 215. On our request, the parties briefed a fourth issue, whether J.S.A. should be barred from maintaining his parentage action and dismissed from the adoption proceeding for failing to register with the Putative Father Registry.
Because our determination of the last issue resulted in reversal and remand of this court's prior decision in this appeal, we address it first. On appeal from our decision, the supreme court held that under the specific facts of this case, J.S.A. was not required to satisfy the registry requirements before initiating his parentage action. J.S.A., 224 Ill.2d at 209, 309 Ill.Dec. 6, 863 N.E.2d at 252. The court so reasoned because T.H. was not the subject of a pending adoption action or expected to be one when J.S.A. filed his paternity action. J.S.A., 224 Ill.2d at 209, 309 Ill.Dec. 6, 863 N.E.2d at 252. The court based its conclusion on its finding that pursuant to rules of statutory interpretation, the Parentage Act and the Adoption Act are separate statutes which should not be read in tandem regarding the registry requirements. J.S.A., 224 Ill.2d at 205, 309 Ill. Dec. 6, 863 N.E.2d at 249-50. The supreme court further determined that the circumstances of this case necessitated a finding that the registry requirements should not be a bar to J.S.A.'s participation in the adoption proceedings. J.S.A., 224 Ill.2d at 206, 309 Ill.Dec. 6, 863 N.E.2d at 250. The court stated that the facts triggering application of the registry are not...
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