NJ DIV. v. MC III

• Decision Date: 31 March 2010
• Parties: NEW JERSEY DIVISION OF YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. M.C. III, Defendant-Respondent. In The Matter of M.C. IV and N.C., Minors.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

990 A.2d 1097

201 N.J. 328

NEW JERSEY DIVISION OF YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. M.C. III, Defendant-Respondent In The Matter of M.C. IV and N.C., Minors.

A-96/97 September Term 2008.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued October 13, 2009.

Decided March 31, 2010.

James D. Harris, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for appellant (Anne Milgram, Attorney General of New Jersey, attorney; Melissa H. Raksa, Assistant Attorney General, of counsel).

James A. Louis, Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellants M.C. IV and N.C. (Yvonne Smith Segars, Public Defender, Law Guardian, attorney; Olivia Belfatto Crisp, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, on the letter briefs).

Beatrix W. Shear, Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for respondent (Yvonne Smith Segars, Public Defender, Parental Representation, attorney; Ms. Shear and Michael C. Wroblewski, Designated Counsel, on the briefs).

Mary M. McManus-Smith submitted a brief on behalf of amicus curiae Legal Services of New Jersey (Melville D. Miller, Jr., President, attorney; Ms. McManus-Smith, Mr. Miller, and Jeyanthi C. Rajaraman, on the brief).

Justice WALLACE, JR., delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is an abuse and neglect case. On September 24, 2006, a brother and sister were examined at a hospital emergency room. Based on the injuries observed, the examining physician contacted the Division of Youth and Family Services (the Division), and a Division caseworker investigated the allegations of the children that their father caused their injuries. At some point during the initial investigation, the examining physician received a form from the Division on which the physician detailed the injuries of each child and opined that the injuries were consistent with an assault. Thereafter, a document entitled Screening Summary was completed summarizing the pertinent factual allegations, the people involved, and other relevant information.

The children were removed from the custody of their father, and an abuse and neglect complaint was filed against him. The Division offered numerous exhibits into evidence at the fact-finding hearing, and, except for one exhibit that was not admitted, defense counsel did not object to their admission. Consequently, there was no need for the Division to attempt to justify the admission of the documents or for the trial court to rule on their admissibility.

The trial court found by a preponderance of the evidence that the father caused the injuries to his children, and ordered that care and custody of the children remain with the Division to explore the possible placement of the children with their stepsister. A subsequent order granted custody to the stepsister.

The father appealed. In a published opinion, the Appellate Division reversed, concluding that the documents were improperly admitted into evidence. We granted the Division's and the Law Guardian's petitions for certification. We now reverse. We hold that consistent with the doctrine of invited error, on appeal, the father may not protest the admission of the documents after he agreed to their admission at trial. We also conclude that there was sufficient credible evidence to support the trial court's decision.

I.

The following evidence was presented at the fact-finding hearing held on December 15, 2006. Michael and Tracey Collins¹ were divorced in 1999, and Michael was awarded custody of their two children, Matt and Nicole. Matt was born in April 1991, and Nicole was born in July 1993. The children were fifteen and thirteen respectively at the time of the incident in early fall of 2006.

At that time, Michael became increasingly concerned with Matt and Nicole's internet usage and their conflicts regarding the use of the computer. To help alleviate the conflict, Michael purchased a second computer with a feature that allowed him to monitor and control his children's use of the computer. Michael designated himself the "administrator," which permitted him to configure the computer with parental control settings. Under that configuration, any other user on the computer would need to log on as a "guest," and then Michael needed to insert a password for the children to use the system.

On September 24, 2006, Matt and Nicole discovered they no longer had unrestricted access to the computer. They expressed their dislike of the new computer arrangement. They began commenting that they were guests in their home, and as guests, they did not have to do any chores or help around the house. In turn, Michael disciplined the children. He required each child to write five hundred times the phrase, "I will not say I'm a guest in my own house." Matt decided to use the computer to complete his punishment. When Michael discovered that Matt was in the process of typing the phrase once and copying it five hundred times on the computer, he ordered Matt to write the assignment by hand.

Matt logged off of the computer and started hollering, "this is bull crap." When Matt started up the steps, Michael instructed him to come back downstairs. Michael claimed that he followed Matt up the stairs, and pulled Matt's shirt in an attempt to stop him. In contrast, Matt told the Division investigator that as he began walking up the stairs, his father followed him and began hitting him for no reason.

Michael testified that Nicole started yelling, "get your f. . . .ng hands off my brother!" Michael turned around and told Nicole, "oh, you want some," and started to move towards Nicole. She ran to her father's bedroom, and Michael followed her. Matt jumped on Michael's back and wrapped his arms around Michael's neck. Michael lost his balance and all three fell onto the floor of his bedroom. Michael said he held Matt and Nicole down on the floor to help calm them down.

Contrary to Michael's testimony, both Matt and Nicole recounted that Michael caught up to Nicole and began choking her. Matt added that Michael hit Nicole in her stomach and back and that, after they fell to the floor, Michael began punching him. Nicole then ran out of Michael's bedroom and called 9-1-1. Nicole's statement to the Division caseworker was consistent with Matt's statement on those points, but she added that she and her brother locked themselves in the bathroom until the police arrived.

Officer LaFountaine and his partner responded to the 9-1-1 call at approximately 12:30 p.m. Officer LaFountaine spoke with Matt and Nicole, while his partner spoke with Michael. He said that the children claimed their father had been beating them, but he did not observe any injuries. When he asked them where their father hit them, they responded "all over." Officer LaFountaine did not ask them to remove any clothing to look for injuries. He said that he and his partner left after approximately twenty to thirty minutes.

Michael testified that after the police left, he instructed Matt and Nicole to go upstairs, but both refused. Nicole insisted on calling her older sister Nancy because she wanted to stay with her. Matt attempted to leave the house, but Michael said "no," and pushed him back from the door several times. When Michael walked over to Nicole, Matt went outside and called 9-1-1. Michael said that when the police returned, he was in his truck preparing to leave for work.

Officer LaFountaine testified that he and his partner received a second call to return to the residence shortly after they left the home. They spoke to Matt and noticed that Michael was in his truck preparing to leave for work. The police also left.

The children went to a relative's house. They eventually called their mother, who decided to take the children to the emergency room at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. Dr. Amy Lewis examined the children. She noticed that Nicole had abrasions behind her ear and tenderness of the ribs and that Matt had scratches on his neck, abrasions and swelling over his ribs, and a soft tissue injury to his right hand. At 5:52 p.m., Dr. Lewis contacted the Special Response Unit at the Division to report the alleged abuse.

Division caseworker Rachel Still immediately began her investigation. She visited the hospital and spoke with Matt and Nicole, who recounted the altercation with their father. Still observed various injuries on the children and spoke with Dr. Lewis and Dr. McCanns about the results of the examinations. Dr. McCanns informed Still that color photographs of the injuries would be available at N.J. Cares, an organization affiliated with the Division. Later, after Still reviewed the photographs, she said the pictures fairly represented the injuries she saw on the children.

Still said she was present when her co-worker interviewed Michael about the incident. She heard Michael say that at one point he grabbed Matt from behind and Nicole screamed for him to get off of her brother. Michael replied, "do you want some," after which he grabbed both of them and threw them to the floor. Michael added that Matt was trying to hit him, so he grabbed Matt's hand and placed it behind Matt to calm Matt down.

The following day, September 25, 2006, another Division caseworker, Danielle Garwood, transported Matt and Nicole to Virtua Hospital for physicals to determine their placement. Garwood said she observed injuries on the children.

On September 27, 2006, the children were also examined at Haddonfield Pediatrics. The forms completed by the physicians at Haddonfield Pediatrics indicated that the cause of their injuries was the alleged assault.

As part of its case, the Division sought to admit fifteen exhibits into evidence. Except for exhibit P-1, which was the Division's Initial Response Data form for an asserted problem that occurred in 1998, all exhibits were admitted without objection.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court stated the following:

I find the children to be abused and neglected children. I make this finding by a preponderance of the believable evidence.

On

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