Langston v. Riffe

• Decision Date: 28 June 2000
• Docket Number: No. 137, No. 136, No. 117
• Citation: 754 A.2d 389,359 Md. 396
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals
• Parties: William Carl LANGSTON v. Alice L. RIFFE. William Carl Langston v. Sharon Locklear. Danielle R. v. Tyrone W.

754 A.2d 389

359 Md. 396

William Carl LANGSTON v. Alice L. RIFFE.

William Carl Langston v. Sharon Locklear.

Danielle R. v. Tyrone W.

Nos. 117, 137, 136, Sept. Term, 1999.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

June 28, 2000.

Dawn Marie Nee (Resnick & Abraham, L.L.C., on brief), Baltimore, for appellant in Case Nos. 117 & 137 Sept. Term, 1999.

Jane C. Murphy, Cheri Wyron Levin, Renee Bronfein Ades, Family Law Clinic, University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, Amicus Curiae, in support of the appellant in Case Nos. 117 & 136 Sept. Term, 1999.

C.J. Messerschmidt, Asst. Atty. General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. General of Maryland and Mary C. Murphy, Asst. Atty. General, on brief), Baltimore, for appellee, in Case Nos. 117 & 137 Sept. Term, 1999.

C.J. Messerschmidt, Asst. Atty. General (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. General of Maryland and Mary C. Murphy, Asst. Atty. General, on brief), Baltimore, for petitioner, in Case No. 136 Sept. Term, 1999.

Anne C. Ogletree, Denton, Suzanne L. Hood (Suzanne L. Hood, P.A., on brief), Easton, for respondent, in Case No. 136 Sept. Term, 1999.

Argued before BELL, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL and HARRELL, JJ.

CATHELL, Judge.

Three separate paternity disputes are before this Court. In each case, the man previously adjudged to be the father of a child in a prior paternity proceeding seeks to set aside that prior judgment based on alleged new evidence that he is not, or may not be, the actual father. In the first case, number 136, petitioner Danielle R. appeals from a decision of the Court of Special Appeals, which held that Tyrone R., respondent, is entitled to a court-ordered genetic or blood test and, if the test proves he is not the father of the child in question, a hearing on whether to set aside the original paternity declaration entered against him. In the cases numbered 117 and 137, appellant William Carl Langston appeals from two consolidated rulings of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City that he is not entitled to a hearing to set aside two prior paternity declarations adjudicating him to be the father of two different children. In one of those cases, he has taken a post-declaration blood test, which excluded him from being the biological father of the child in question.

I. Facts and Procedural Background

A. Case No. 136

Danielle R. and Tyrone W. were involved in a dating relationship from October 1987 to June 1988, during which time they engaged in sexual intercourse. At some point in the relationship, Danielle informed Tyrone she was pregnant and he was the father. On January 8, 1989, Danielle gave birth to a son, T.R. Based on his belief that he was the natural father of T.R., Tyrone entered into a paternity agreement on April 27, 1989, in which Tyrone acknowledged that he was T.R.'s father, without requesting a blood test to determine paternity. The Circuit Court for Talbot County subsequently entered a declaration of paternity on May 9, 1989, which included an order to pay child support.

Tyrone was not aware prior to and during the paternity proceedings that Danielle had been involved in a relationship with another man, James P., before she met Tyrone. Danielle testified at the proceedings below that her relationship with James had ended in 1986. Danielle and James began dating again when T.R. was three years old. Sometime after the paternity declaration was entered, Tyrone learned about Danielle's relations with James. Tyrone testified below that he confronted her on the telephone about the relationship and alleged that Danielle threatened him that, because of his accusation, she would seek an increase in the child support he was paying "if" T.R. was Tyrone's son.

On April 7, 1998, the Talbot County Bureau of Support Enforcement and Danielle filed a petition in the Circuit Court for Talbot County to increase the child support Tyrone was paying under the 1989 paternity declaration. Tyrone responded to the petition and filed a "Complaint to Set Aside Declaration of Paternity." The complaint was based on Maryland Code (1984, 1999 Repl.Vol.), section 5-1038(a)(2)(i)2 of the Family Law Article,¹ which allows a circuit court to set aside or modify a paternity declaration "if a blood or genetic test done in accordance with § 5-1029 of this subtitle establishes the exclusion of the individual named as the father in the order." Tyrone's complaint requested blood or genetic testing to determine whether he could be excluded as the natural father of T.R.

The circuit court referred the matter to a domestic relations master. After an evidentiary hearing, the master recommended that genetic testing be conducted. The Talbot County Bureau of Support Enforcement filed exceptions with the circuit court. Without a hearing, the circuit court rejected the master's recommendations on August 18, 1998, and dismissed Tyrone's complaint to set aside the original paternity declaration. The circuit court ruled that there was no authority in Maryland to set aside the paternity declaration absent fraud, mistake, irregularity, or clerical error. The circuit court also ruled that Tyrone had "failed to act with ordinary diligence" by waiting nine years to challenge the paternity declaration, and that Tyrone was "bound by the 1989 judgment."

Tyrone appealed to the Court of Special Appeals. That court vacated the order of the Circuit Court for Talbot County, holding that Tyrone was entitled to a blood or genetic test to determine whether he is T.R.'s biological father. The court also held that, if the tests excluded him as the biological father, he was entitled to a hearing on whether to set aside the original paternity declaration. Tyrone W. v. Danielle R., 129 Md.App. 260, 300-01, 741 A.2d 553, 575 (1999). Danielle appealed to this Court, and we granted her a writ of certiorari.

B. Case No. 117

Appellant William Carl Langston entered into a consent decree of paternity before the Circuit Court for Baltimore City on October 27, 1987. In the decree, he acknowledged that he was the father of Angela, who was born to appellee Alice Riffe, and agreed to pay child support.

Angela subsequently moved to Harford County to live with her natural grandfather, Carl Riffe. When her grandfather requested that the Harford County Department of Social Services (HCDSS) provide Angela with benefits, the HCDSS sought a paternity declaration from the Circuit Court for Harford County against appellant in July of 1997. Apparently, the HCDSS was unaware of the 1987 declaration issued in Baltimore City. A blood test was conducted, which excluded appellant as the natural father of Angela. The Circuit Court for Harford County subsequently dismissed the HCDSS paternity complaint on December 9, 1997. Appellant was brought before the Circuit Court for Baltimore City on October 18, 1998, on a show cause order for failure to pay child support for Angela. At a contempt hearing before a master on December 16, 1998, appellant introduced into evidence the blood test results from the Harford County paternity litigation. The master recommended that the contempt proceedings be postponed to provide appellant an opportunity to challenge the 1987 paternity declaration.

Appellant filed a complaint to set aside the 1987 paternity declaration on January 7, 1999, based on section 5-1038(a)(2)(i)2. Appellee sought a dismissal of the complaint, arguing that section 5-1038(a)(2)(i)2, which was adopted by the General Assembly in 1995, could not be applied retroactively. The Circuit Court for Baltimore City ultimately ruled in favor of appellee and denied appellant's complaint to set aside the paternity declaration. A master subsequently recommended that appellant be held in contempt for the child support arrears and the circuit court agreed, issuing an order on May 6, 1999. Appellant made a timely appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. This Court granted a writ of certiorari on its own motion prior to any proceedings before the intermediate appellate court.

C. Case No. 137

Appellant Langston also had entered into a paternity consent decree on March 22, 1985, before the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. In that decree, he acknowledged that he was the father of Jason L., the son born to appellee Sharon Locklear on December 24, 1984, and he agreed to pay child support.

A show cause order was subsequently issued to appellant for failure to pay child support. From the beginning, the proceedings in this case were consolidated with appellee Riffe's case (number 117 before this Court). Thus, the procedural steps in this appeal, and the dates on which they occurred, were virtually identical to the background described in appellee Riffe's case, supra. The only difference between the cases appears to be that appellant, at the time he filed his petition for reconsideration, did not have any previous blood or genetic test excluding him as the biological father of Jason L. Rather, he alleged that he learned after the original paternity declaration was entered that appellee Locklear had engaged in sexual relations with other men around the time that Jason probably was conceived. The master recommended that his request for a genetic test be granted to determine whether he is the biological father of Jason L. The circuit court denied appellant's complaint and his request for genetic testing, appellant appealed, and we granted a writ of certiorari on our own motion.

II. Discussion

The parties, in their appeals, present two issues to this Court, which we paraphrase as follows: (1) whether section 5-1038(a)(2)(i)2 of the Family Law Article, which allows trial courts to set aside or modify a paternity declaration when genetic or blood testing establishes that the putative father is not the actual father, applies to paternity declarations issued prior to the law's effective date on October 1, 1995; and (2) if so, whether the trial court must consider the "best interests of the child" prior to ruling on whether to...