State v. Garcia

• Citation: 187 Ariz. 527,931 P.2d 427
• Decision Date: 10 December 1996
• Docket Number: No. 2,CA-CV,2
• Parties: , 231 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 38 The STATE of Arizona and Cecilia L. Perez, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. Miguel A. GARCIA, Defendant/Appellee. 96-0057.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Arizona

Page 427

931 P.2d 427

187 Ariz. 527, 231 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 38

The STATE of Arizona and Cecilia L. Perez, Plaintiffs/Appellants, v. Miguel A. GARCIA, Defendant/Appellee.

No. 2 CA-CV 96-0057.

Court of Appeals of Arizona Division 2, Department B.

Dec. 10, 1996.

[187 Ariz. 528] Stephen D. Neely, Pima County Attorney by Barbara Magee, Tucson, for Plaintiffs/Appellants.

Dunscomb & Shepherd, P.C. by Denise R. Shepherd and George A. Dunscomb, Tucson, for Defendant/Appellee.

OPINION

ESPINOSA, Presiding Judge.

In this appeal, we consider whether the trial court properly applied the equitable doctrine of laches to bar the State of Arizona from enforcing its statutorily assigned right to seek child support arrearages for reimbursement of public aid provided for a dependent child. Plaintiffs/appellants Cecilia Perez and the State (appellants) assert the trial court erred in so ruling. They also challenge the trial court's finding that it was appellants' burden to establish the amount of past due support owed by appellee Miguel Garcia and that they failed to sustain it. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

Background

We view the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the trial court's findings, and will uphold them unless they are clearly erroneous or unsupported by any credible evidence. Federoff v. Pioneer Title & Trust Co., 166 Ariz. 383, 803 P.2d 104 (1990). In 1977, Perez told Garcia she was pregnant with his child; she gave birth to a son, J, in January 1978. Shortly after J was born, Garcia, then 17, refused to marry Perez, believing he was not the child's father. Perez told him he would never see J again, and she and her family subsequently prevented any contact between Garcia and J, even though both families lived near one another on the same street.

In 1984, Perez applied for Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits, naming Garcia as J's father and assigning all past due and future child support payments to the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES), as required under A.R.S. § 46-407. DES contacted Garcia and he attended a meeting at the DES office. ¹ Garcia heard nothing further from DES until the instant action was filed in March 1994. In the complaint, appellants alleged Garcia was the father of then sixteen-year-old J, and sought both past and future support. Based upon DNA test results indicating a 99.99% probability that Garcia is J's father, he was adjudicated J's natural father. After a two-day trial on support issues, the court awarded $1,640 support from March 15, 1994, the date the complaint was filed, until J's emancipation on November 15, 1994. The court refused to award arrearages, based on the doctrine of laches and appellants' failure to carry the burden of establishing the amount of arrearages. This appeal followed.

Laches

In child support cases, the defense of laches requires the noncustodial parent to show by clear and compelling evidence that the custodial parent unreasonably delayed bringing the claim for support arrearages and that the noncustodial parent was prejudiced by the delay. Schnepp v. State, 183 Ariz. 24, 899 P.2d 185 (App.1995); State v. Dodd, 181 Ariz. 183, 888 P.2d 1370 (App.1994). Appellants first argue that because Perez delayed only six years before naming him as the father on her AFDC application and the State delayed a little more than nine years in bringing this action, Garcia failed to prove unreasonable delay. We disagree. No attempt was made by either Perez or the State to determine paternity or seek support for more than 16 years, even though Garcia lived across the street from Perez's family the entire time. See Wigginton v. Commonwealth ex rel. Caldwell, 760 S.W.2d 885 (Ky.App.1988) (laches barred support arrearages where mother took no action to determine paternity for 15 years); Moore v. Hafeeza, 212 N.J.Super. 399, 515 A.2d 271 (1986) (15-year delay in filing support complaint unreasonable). Indeed, not only did Perez never even contact Garcia, she lied to J about the identity of his father. Additionally, the State gave no explanation whatsoever for its protracted delay in taking any action.

Appellants contend, however, that Garcia failed to show he was prejudiced by the delay. The record reflects that Garcia is a self-employed scrap metal recycler. At the time of trial, he and his wife had five daughters and one son, all minors. They did not own a home and had no savings or retirement plan. Garcia testified he probably would have had fewer children had he known J was his son, explaining the cultural importance of a first born male child. ² He further testified he would have tried to establish a relationship with J and support him, as evidenced by his adding J to his health insurance as soon as he received the test results and his visiting J at work a short while later. Garcia's wife testified that had they known Garcia needed to provide support for J, they could have planned for it in their family budgeting decisions, and although she was not employed at the time of the hearing, she had worked outside the home when necessary.

Additionally, a DES employee admitted that many of the pertinent records regarding Perez's benefits had been purged and destroyed pursuant to normal DES record-keeping procedure. Although Perez received AFDC benefits through 1991, an incomplete statement listing payments Perez received from February 1985 through March 1987 did not indicate whether the benefits were received on behalf of J or on behalf of one of her other children. ³ Garcia's and Perez's financial records also have been lost, destroyed, or are incomplete due to the passage of time. Based on this evidence, we cannot say the trial court erred in finding Garcia prejudiced by the 16-year delay. See Moore (mother's 15-year delay prejudicial where father was denied right to develop relationship with child and incurred other financial obligations); Burrow v. Vrontikis, 788 P.2d 1046 (Utah App.1990) (seven-year wait unreasonable where father incurred numerous financial obligations and relied on mother's statement she wanted no contact with him and would raise child herself).

Appellants lastly argue that equitable defenses cannot be asserted against the State absent some affirmative misconduct on its part, citing Mohave County v. Mohave-Kingman Estates, 120 Ariz. 417, 586 P.2d 978 (1978). In that case our supreme court stated the principle that generally, equitable defenses may not be asserted against the state when exercising its governmental or sovereign functions. Mohave County, however, was a direct action for ejectment, quiet title, declaratory judgment and specific performance, not a derivative or third-party claim, as is the case here. Moreover, Arizona courts have moved away from rules based on the notion that "the king can do no wrong," and toward balancing the "injustice that might result from the application of the rule ... against the effect that non-application would have on the state's effective exercise of its sovereignty and any resulting damage to the...