Owens, By and Through, Mosley v. Huffman

• Decision Date: 13 November 1985
• Docket Number: No. 56149,56149
• Citation: 481 So.2d 231
• Parties: Christeen Michelle OWENS, By and Through Her Grandmother and Next Friend, Patsy K. MOSLEY v. Virginia Carol HUFFMAN.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 231

481 So.2d 231

Christeen Michelle OWENS, By and Through Her Grandmother and Next Friend, Patsy K. MOSLEY v. Virginia Carol HUFFMAN.

No. 56149.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Nov. 13, 1985.

Alice Dale Goodsell, John L. Connelly, Jackson, for appellant.

W. Howard Gunn, Jerry Askew, Aberdeen, for appellee.

Before WALKER, HAWKINS and PRATHER, JJ.

HAWKINS, Justice, for the court:

Mrs. Virginia Carol Huffman filed a petition in the Chancery Court of Clay County for custody of her daughter, Christeen Michelle Owens, against her mother, Mrs. Patsy K. Mosley, Christeen's grandmother, who had been awarded custody by an Arizona state court. Mrs. Mosley filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus based upon the Arizona judgment. The two petitions were consolidated for hearing, and the chancellor heard the petition for habeas corpus first.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the chancellor declined to give full faith and credit to the Arizona order pending a custody hearing to determine what was in the child's best interest. An appeal, however, was permitted Mrs. Mosley on the denial of her petition.

On this appeal we confront the issue of whether the chancellor was bound to give full faith and credit to the Arizona state court order, or was authorized to retain jurisdiction for a full custody hearing.

Persuaded that this child was never afforded the protection of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA), and her first opportunity for such protection is in the Clay County Chancery Court, we affirm.

In this pathetic case we are presented the opportunity to analyze the letter as well as the spirit of the UCCJA, and the obligation of a state court to give full faith and credit to a foreign judgment in which the UCCJA was not substantially followed in rendering such judgment.

FACTS

Mrs. Huffman is the natural mother of Christeen, born September 22, 1976, in Denver, Colorado. The father, John Henry Owens, apparently abandoned his wife, Virginia, and their children on or before Christeen's birth. Mrs. Huffman (then Virginia Owens) asked her mother and stepfather, Patsy K. Mosley and Billy Edward Mosley, for help, following which two of the children were adopted through the Colorado Welfare Department, and Mr. and Mrs. Mosley took Christeen. At that time Mr. Mosley (now retired) was employed as an auditor for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and he and his wife when traveling resided in trailer parks. According to Mrs. Huffman, she wanted Mrs. Mosley to keep Christeen until she was able to look after her.

From 1976 until 1980 Mrs. Huffman tried to get her daughter from her mother, who refused, telling Mrs. Huffman that she had custody and Mrs. Huffman could not have her back. Mrs. Huffman testified she was Mrs. Huffman, on July 17, 1979, married William H. Huffman, who had four children living with him. Thereafter, Mrs. Mosley agreed for her to have Christeen, and she and Mr. Huffman went to Denver in December, 1979, to get her. On the day they were to leave Christeen got sick, she'd had pneumonia two or three times, and there was a heavy snow on the ground, and heavy snowfall, and because of the weather and her condition, Christeen was left in Denver. In July, 1980, Mrs. Mosley, then living in Sherman, Texas, called Mrs. Huffman to come and get Christeen.

trying to get into the Air Force in order to hire a lawyer. In June, 1978, however, there was a Petition for Mr. and Mrs. Mosley to adopt Christeen filed in the Chancery Court of Lauderdale County, and Mrs. Huffman signed the Petition and joined in the proceedings. This adoption was never carried through.

Mr. and Mrs. Huffman got Christeen and returned to Mississippi, where Christeen lived with her mother, Mrs. Huffman, and her stepfather.

On March 7, 1981, there was a "Tiny Miss Clay County Pageant," in which Christeen entered, and Mrs. Huffman invited Mr. and Mrs. Mosley to come for the pageant. Christeen won the pageant.

After the pageant, Mrs. Mosley asked Mr. and Mrs. Huffman if they could take Christeen and the two stepdaughters to the Gulf Coast. Although hesitant, Mrs. Huffman agreed to do so, and Mr. and Mrs. Mosley left with the three children on March 10, 1981. That was the last Mrs. Huffman saw her daughter until two and a half years later.

On March 13, 1981, a deputy sheriff of Clay County returned to the Huffman house in Clay County with the two stepdaughters. Mrs. Huffman asked the deputy where her daughter was, and he replied, "With your parents."

The Huffmans began a series of efforts through law enforcement agencies to get Christeen back. The local officers and officials were reluctant to get involved, so the Huffmans employed private counsel, Mr. Clark Coleman of West Point, to help. Mr. Coleman prepared affidavits for kidnapping, and arrest warrants were issued for the Mosleys. Mr. Coleman was, however, hopeful that some sort of amicable agreement could be made to get the Mosleys to voluntarily return the child.

Mr. Coleman recognized the Huffmans were poor people, unable to afford any kind of extensive legal assistance, and he attempted to work through law enforcement agencies to secure the child's return. After the kidnapping warrants were issued, he was informed at one time by the sheriff's office that the Mosleys were in Mississippi on the way to West Point to return Christeen. He understood that they were supposed to be in on a Saturday afternoon and would come to his office, and Mr. Coleman opened his office and waited for them. They never appeared.

Mrs. Huffman had a card which Mrs. Mosley had given her some time previously which contained the name and telephone number of a Bill Miller, her attorney in Texas. Mr. Huffman telephoned this attorney on March 16, 1981, notifying him Christeen had been abducted. Mrs. Huffman also had two addresses in Sherman, Texas, one which Mrs. Mosley had given her, and another which she had given Mrs. Huffman's stepdaughter. Mrs. Huffman wrote her mother at both addresses. ¹ None of the letters were returned.

Mr. Coleman also telephoned Miller and told him what the Mosleys had done, that arrest warrants had been issued, but the Huffmans really wanted the child returned.

Meanwhile, the Mosleys were not idle in Texas. On April 15, 1981, Mr. and Mrs. Mosley, as residents of Sherman, Texas, filed an original petition in the Fifteenth District Court of Grayson County, Texas 1. Voluntarily left the child alone or in the possession of another not the parent and expressed an intent not to return;

seeking to terminate all parental rights of Mrs. Huffman to Christeen. This petition, filed by Louis J. Emerson, Jr., a Sherman, Texas, attorney, specifically alleges that Mrs. Huffman:

2. Voluntarily left the child alone or in the possession of another not the parent without expressing an intent to return, without providing for the adequate support of the child, and remained away for a period of at least six months;

3. Failed to support the child in accordance with their ability during a period of one year ending within six months of the date of the filing of this petition. ²

Mrs. Huffman was served with a citation on this petition by the Monroe County sheriff's office on April 29, 1981, which she promptly carried to Mr. Coleman. When Mr. Coleman was apprised of the Texas citation by Mrs. Huffman, he first advised the Huffmans they would need local representation in Texas, and suggested they secure such assistance through Legal Services. There was no attempt to get any attorney for Mrs. Huffman in Texas, however, because Mr. Coleman saw no need to following a telephone conversation with Emerson.

Mr. Coleman testified he informed Emerson that the child had been living in Mississippi and the Mosleys had taken off with her, and there was an arrest warrant outstanding. The two attorneys talked about the consequences of the pending criminal charges, and Mr. Coleman asked the Texas attorney to hold up on the "termination procedure." Emerson then informed Mr. Coleman that the Mosleys were no longer in the area.

Mr. Coleman then testified to the following:

A. He told me that the Mosleys were no--this was probably on the second phone call--that the Mosleys were no longer in the area, and I asked him--I know I asked him that because we were thinking about forwarding that arrest out there and see if we couldn't have an arrest made, and we asked him to hold up on the child termination proceedings until the Mosleys got back and it could be discussed for voluntary return of the child, and he informed me that he would not proceed further with the termination without further contacting us, and that's the last contact we had with him.

Following this there was no effort by Mr. Coleman to obtain legal assistance for the Huffmans in Texas.

Unknown to Mr. Coleman and to the Huffmans, a termination decree was entered by the Texas Court on July 9, 1981, and after the Mosleys had moved. This decree recites the same specifics above set out in the petition. It also completely terminates Mrs. Huffman's right as a parent, even removing Christeen's right of inheritance from her mother, Mrs. Huffman, and her natural father.

Back in Clay County the Huffmans were doing all they knew to do to secure Christeen's return. They did not know where the Mosleys were. Pursuing their unsuccessful efforts they began writing letters to prominent state and national officials, President Reagan, United States Senator John C. Stennis, the United States Attorney General, and Attorney General Bill Allain, and pressed the local prosecuting attorney and sheriff for action. The record contains letters of acknowledgment of their requests for help from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources dated November 1, 1981; from Senator Stennis, dated February 4, 1981; and from Attorney General Allain, dated May 3 The Huffmans' efforts to secure assistance from the authorities were unavailing, and they never learned the location...