Johnson v. Murray, C7-01-480.

• Decision Date: 18 July 2002
• Docket Number: No. C7-01-480.,C7-01-480.
• Citation: 648 N.W.2d 664
• Parties: Aaron JOHNSON, Petitioner, Appellant, v. Kimberly Letrice MURRAY, a/k/a Kimberly Letrice Smith, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

648 N.W.2d 664

Aaron JOHNSON, Petitioner, Appellant, v. Kimberly Letrice MURRAY, a/k/a Kimberly Letrice Smith, Respondent.

No. C7-01-480.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

July 18, 2002.

Aaron Johnson, pro se.

Kimberly Letrice Murray, pro se.

Mary Catherine Lauhead, St. Paul, Michael D. Dittberner, for Family Law Section MN State Bar Ass'n.

Fredrikson & Byron, P.A., Richard D. Snyder, Minneapolis, Gail Chang Bohr, St. Paul, for Children's Law Center of MN.

Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.

ANDERSON, Paul H., Justice.

OPINION

Aaron Johnson commenced an action in Minnesota to determine the paternity and custody of Aaron Jamine Junior Johnson (A.J.). Prior to commencing the action, Johnson obtained physical custody of A.J. from A.J.'s maternal grandmother following her request that Johnson take custody. At the time, A.J. was living with his grandmother in Michigan. The district court dismissed Johnson's action on the grounds that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over A.J.'s mother. On appeal, the court of appeals reversed and remanded the case to the district court for consideration of a number of issues, including whether the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over the custody dispute under Minnesota's codification of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA).

On remand, the district court dismissed Johnson's paternity claim on the grounds that A.J. had not been joined as a party. On the custody claim, the court found that it did not have subject matter jurisdiction under the UCCJA because there was insufficient evidence to determine whether another state had jurisdiction and there was not a significant connection between A.J.'s mother and Minnesota. The court stated that it also could have declined subject matter jurisdiction under the UCCJA's unclean hands provision due to Johnson's wrongful conduct of taking physical custody of A.J. without his mother's consent. Johnson again appealed and the court of appeals reversed on the issue of paternity and affirmed on the issue of custody. Having prevailed on the issue of paternity, Johnson appealed only the matter of subject matter jurisdiction. We granted Johnson's pro se petition for review to determine whether the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over the custody dispute under the UCCJA. We reverse.

In July 1999, appellant Aaron Johnson obtained physical custody of the then 8-year-old A.J. At this time, A.J. resided with his maternal grandmother in Michigan. The grandmother had contacted Johnson about visiting A.J. Johnson subsequently went to Michigan and returned to his home in Minnesota with A.J. One month later, A.J.'s mother, respondent Kimberly Letrice Murray, a/k/a Kimberly Letrice Smith, who previously had physical custody of A.J., came to Minnesota to work as part of Austin Diversified Products' seasonal sales staff. On August 27, 1999, a Hennepin County Sheriff's employee served Murray with a summons and petition for custody determination, interrogatories, and requests for admissions on behalf of Johnson. In these documents, Johnson alleged that he was A.J.'s father and was seeking full custody of A.J. He also alleged facts supporting subject matter jurisdiction over the custody issue under the UCCJA.

On September 29, 1999, Johnson moved for default judgment. The same day, he applied for an ex parte temporary restraining order against Murray because she had threatened to take A.J. away from him and had told him that he would never see A.J. again. The district court denied the request for the temporary restraining order. On September 30, Murray and her attorney, with the assistance of the Benton County Sheriff, retrieved A.J. from Johnson's custody. Johnson has neither heard from nor seen A.J. or Murray since this date.

The day after Murray regained custody of A.J., Johnson obtained an ex parte temporary custody order. That same day, he served Murray by mail addressed to her employer with notice and motion for default judgment. On October 6, 1999, Johnson filed a notice of motion and motion for adjudication of parenthood accompanied by an affidavit in which he claimed to be A.J.'s father.

The district court held a hearing on Johnson's motion for default judgment on October 13, 1999. At the hearing, Johnson argued that the court should issue a default judgment and award him custody of A.J. because there was no response by Murray to the initial summons and complaint or petition. Murray did not appear at the hearing, but her attorney was present and contested the court's personal and subject matter jurisdiction. It was at this hearing that Murray's attorney acknowledged that Johnson had the grandmother's consent to take physical custody of A.J. On October 26, 1999, the court issued an order dismissing Johnson's motion for adjudication of parenthood on the grounds that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over Murray. The court did not address Johnson's motion that the court should issue a default judgment and award Johnson custody.

On August 7, 2000, the court of appeals reversed and remanded on the issue of personal jurisdiction. The court concluded that certain findings of fact by the district court were clearly erroneous and permitted the district court to reopen the record on remand. Further, the court of appeals ordered the district court to consider on remand Johnson's motion for default judgment and Johnson's motion to deem requests for admissions admitted. Finally, although the district court did not determine whether it or any other state had jurisdiction under the UCCJA, the court of appeals addressed the issue of subject matter jurisdiction.

The court of appeals noted that Johnson had alleged that A.J. had no permanent home, moved from state to state, never lived in a state for more than four months, attended five or more schools in one year, could not remember the names of any of his teachers or of any of the schools he attended, was in the third grade but performed at a first-grade level, and was exposed to drug use and domestic abuse. The court stated that if these allegations were true, it was in A.J.'s best interests for some state to assert jurisdiction to determine his custody status. The court went on to state that given the interstate nature of the custody dispute, the fact that Johnson, the alleged father, lives in Minnesota and the fact that A.J. lived in Minnesota and attended school in Minnesota means that Minnesota might be able to assert jurisdiction under the UCCJA. However, the court concluded that the record lacked the factual findings required to support the exercise of UCCJA jurisdiction and remanded for specific findings on this issue.

On November 15, 2000, the district court held an evidentiary hearing on the remanded issues. Johnson was represented by an attorney and testified, but neither Murray nor her attorney appeared. On January 24, 2001, the court found that Minnesota had personal jurisdiction over Murray, but dismissed Johnson's action to determine paternity due to Johnson's failure to join A.J. as a party, denied Johnson's motion for default judgment, and found that Minnesota lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the custody dispute.

The district court made the following findings of fact, some of which were phrased only in terms of what Johnson alleged or testified to. In 1988, Johnson and Murray met each other while employed at Austin Diversified Products. On June 27, 1991, Murray gave birth to A.J. in Eugene, Oregon. A.J.'s father was not identified on the birth certificate. Johnson alleged that during the next four years, Murray, Johnson, and A.J. resided together and that he helped raise A.J. Johnson testified that during those four years, Johnson and Murray were employed by Austin Diversified Products and moved from state to state selling cleaning products, living in motels, and doing drugs. Johnson testified that the longest period of time they would stay in one place was for about six months each winter when they would stay in California. However, the court also found that Johnson stated in an affidavit that to the best of his knowledge, A.J. had never lived in a state for more than four months. Johnson also stated in an affidavit that while he was employed by Austin Diversified Products and cohabitated with Murray, the longest time they lived in any one location was four months.

The district court found that in May 1995, the parties separated and A.J. remained with Murray. The court found that Johnson alleged that from October through December 1995, A.J. resided with Johnson in Oklahoma, Minnesota, and California. The court found that Johnson testified that in December 1995 he dropped A.J. off with Murray in California and then moved to Minnesota, where he has continued to reside. In July 1999, A.J.'s grandmother contacted Johnson to request that he come to Michigan to take A.J. to Johnson's home in Minnesota. The court found that Johnson traveled to Michigan to pick up A.J. based on the grandmother's consent. Johnson then took physical custody of A.J., albeit without Murray's permission. A.J. lived with Johnson until September 30, 1999, when Murray regained physical custody of A.J. with the aid of the Benton County Sheriff. The district court concluded that Johnson was the presumed father of A.J. and that in a child custody action by a presumed father, the child must be joined as a mandatory party. Because A.J. was not made a party, the court dismissed the paternity action. The court also concluded that under the UCCJA, it did not have subject matter jurisdiction to make a custody determination. Finally, the court denied Johnson's motion for default judgment.

In a memorandum attached to its order, the district court further explained its conclusions of law. With respect to the custody issue, the court stated that under the UCCJA, it can exercise jurisdiction if (a) Minnesota is the home state of the child or...