Parker v. Parker

• Decision Date: 01 February 2007
• Docket Number: No. SC05-2346.,SC05-2346.
• Citation: 950 So.2d 388
• Parties: Richard Edward PARKER, Petitioner, v. Margaret J. PARKER, Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

950 So.2d 388

Richard Edward PARKER, Petitioner, v. Margaret J. PARKER, Respondent.

No. SC05-2346.

Supreme Court of Florida.

February 1, 2007.

Scott A. Lazar of Koltun and Lazar, P.A., Miami, FL, for Petitioner.

Margaret J. Parker, pro se, Coral Springs, FL, for Respondent.

BELL, J.

We have for review Parker v. Parker, 916 So.2d 926 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005), in which the Fourth District Court of Appeal certified conflict with the First District Court of Appeal's decision in M.A.F. v. G.L.K., 573 So.2d 862 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990).¹ The conflict issue is whether a wife's misrepresentation of paternity in a dissolution of marriage proceeding is extrinsic or intrinsic fraud. This differentiation is significant because of the one-year limitation for filing a motion for relief from judgment under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b). As explained below, we agree with the Fourth District that this type of misconduct is intrinsic fraud and, therefore, relief from any judgment based upon such fraud must be sought within one year. Consequently, we approve the Fourth District's decision in Parker finding that the petitioner's motion is time-barred, and we disapprove the First District's conflicting decision in M.A.F. Consistent with our resolution of this issue, we also reject the petitioner's alternative request that we reinstate his independent action against his former wife for damages based on this fraud.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The conflict issue arises from the following facts in Parker. Richard Parker, petitioner, and Margaret Parker, respondent, were married in 1996. Almost two years later, a child was born to the marriage. During the parties' dissolution of marriage proceeding in 2001, Margaret represented to the court as well as to Richard that he was the child's biological father. On December 7, 2001, a final judgment was entered dissolving the parties' marriage. This judgment incorporated a revised marital settlement agreement acknowledging Richard as the father of the couple's minor child and requiring him to pay child support.

In March 2003, Margaret filed a motion for contempt and a petition to enforce child support against Richard. In response Richard had a DNA test conducted and discovered that he was not the child's biological father. In June 2003, Richard filed an independent civil action against Margaret claiming fraud and seeking compensatory damages for past and future child support obligations. The trial court dismissed Richard's civil action with prejudice. Richard appealed to the Fourth District, which, at Richard's request, treated the claim as a motion for relief from the dissolution of marriage final order pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b).

Following a thorough discussion, the Fourth District ultimately held that "the issue of paternity misrepresentation in marital dissolution proceedings is a matter of intrinsic fraud. It is not extrinsic fraud, or a fraud upon the court, that can form the basis for relief from judgment more than a year later." Parker, 916 So.2d at 934. The Fourth District also certified conflict with the First District's decision in M.A.F. Id. at 930. In M.A.F, the First District held that

when a wife knows that her husband is not the father of her children, and the husband does not know, concealment of that knowledge in a divorce proceeding involving child support is extrinsic fraud upon the court. The husband's petition was not barred by the doctrine of res judicata or the one year limitation of actions provision of Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b).

M.A.F., 573 So.2d at 863.

II. DISCUSSION

To reiterate, the conflict issue is whether a wife's misrepresentation of paternity in a dissolution of marriage proceeding is extrinsic or intrinsic fraud. This distinction is important because of the one-year limitation for filing a motion for relief from judgment under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b). At the outset, we acknowledge the difficulty of this issue and that the First District's approach in M.A.F. is certainly well reasoned. However, we find that the essential reasoning and conclusion of the Fourth District's decision in Parker best reflects this Court's precedent concerning the distinctions between extrinsic and intrinsic fraud in the context of marital dissolution proceedings. In reaching this conclusion, we outline the reasoning of the Fourth District in Parker as follows: first, we discuss this Court's precedent concerning the distinctions between extrinsic and intrinsic fraud in the context of dissolution of marriage cases, as revisited in Parker; second, we discuss the Fourth District's specific application of this Court's precedent to the facts in Parker and approve its ultimate conclusion; and finally, we briefly discuss the balance of policy considerations addressed in Parker and M.A.F. and express our agreement with the Fourth District that any changes requiring a different result should be made by the Legislature, particularly with regard to the presumption of legitimacy.

A. Extrinsic Versus Intrinsic Fraud in Marital Dissolution Proceedings

The Fourth District's essential reasoning and conclusion in Parker reflects this Court's precedent regarding the distinctions between extrinsic and intrinsic fraud in the context of marital dissolution proceedings. As a threshold matter, the Fourth District considered the petitioner's action as a motion to vacate the final judgment dissolving the marriage and establishing paternity under rule 1.540(b) in keeping with this Court's precedent in D.F. v. Dep't of Revenue ex rel. L.F., 823 So.2d 97 (Fla.2002). In D.F., this Court recognized that because a determination of child support in a final dissolution of marriage order is deemed a final determination of paternity, relitigation of paternity is barred by res judicata, and a party seeking relief from child support obligations established during the dissolution of marriage proceedings must proceed under rule 1.540. See id. at 100; see also Parker, 916 So.2d at 929 (quoting portion of holding in D.F.).

Under rule 1.540(b), relief from a judgment based on intrinsic fraud must be sought by motion within one year of its entry. However, this one-year limit does not apply to extrinsic fraud, because extrinsic fraud is considered "fraud on the court." See DeClaire v. Yohanan, 453 So.2d 375, 377 (Fla.1984), and discussion infra. Rule 1.540(b) specifically provides that "[t]his rule does not limit the power of a court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, decree, order, or proceeding or to set aside a judgment or decree for fraud upon the court." See DeClaire, 453 So.2d at 378 ("[Rule 1.540(b)] clearly preserves the equitable remedy of an independent action where extrinsic fraud is established.").

After determining that the petitioner's action would be treated as a motion under rule 1.540(b), the Fourth District revisited this Court's explanation of the substantive distinctions between extrinsic and intrinsic fraud in DeClaire v. Yohanan. In DeClaire, this Court considered whether a husband's presentation of false financial affidavits during a dissolution of marriage proceeding constituted extrinsic or intrinsic fraud. This Court detailed the distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic fraud in DeClaire as follows:

Extrinsic fraud involves conduct which is collateral to the issues tried in a case. . . . [T]his Court has defined extrinsic fraud as the

prevention of an unsuccessful party [from] presenting his case, by fraud or deception practiced by his adversary; keeping the opponent away from court; falsely promising a compromise; ignorance of the adversary about the existence of the suit or the acts of the plaintiff; fraudulent representation of a party without his consent and connivance in his defeat; and so on.

Fair v. Tampa Electric Co., 158 Fla. 15, 18, 27 So.2d 514, 515 (1946). See Black's Law Dictionary 595 (rev. 5th ed.1979). In other words, extrinsic fraud occurs where a defendant has somehow been prevented from participating in a cause.

Intrinsic fraud, on the other hand, applies to fraudulent conduct that arises within a proceeding and pertains to the issues in the case that have been tried or could have been tried. This Court . . . has expressly held that false testimony given in a proceeding is intrinsic fraud. We have stated that

[i]f a judgment was obtained upon false testimony or a fraudulent instrument and the parties were heard, the evidence submitted to and received consideration by the court, then it may be said that the matter has been actually tried, or was so in issue that it might have been tried and the parties are estopped to set up an intrinsic or direct fraud to vitiate the judgment, because the judgment is the highest evidence and cannot be contradicted by the parties to it.

Johnson v. Wells, 72 Fla. 290, 299, 73 So. 188, 191 (1916) (citation omitted).

DeClaire, 453 So.2d at 377 (emphasis added). In essence, extrinsic fraud is conduct which prevents a party from trying an issue before the court, and the prevention itself becomes a collateral issue to the cause; whereas intrinsic fraud is the presentation of misleading information on an issue before the court that was tried or could have been tried. Id.

In DeClaire, this Court also explained the procedural significance of the substantive distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic fraud. As this Court explained,

The concept of fraud on the court has historically been limited in its application to ensure the finality of judgments and to avoid frequent attacks against final judgments. Prior to the adoption of Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b), only what was defined as "extrinsic fraud" could, in reality, form the basis for relief from a judgment. Johnson v. Wells; Fair v. Tampa Electric Co. Further, such relief could be obtained only by an independent action in equity. There was no practical basis...