Baugh v. Carver

444 N.E.2d 58, 3 Ohio App. 3d 139, 3 Ohio B. 157, 1981 Ohio App. LEXIS 10031
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 18, 1981
DocketC-800766
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 444 N.E.2d 58 (Baugh v. Carver) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baugh v. Carver, 444 N.E.2d 58, 3 Ohio App. 3d 139, 3 Ohio B. 157, 1981 Ohio App. LEXIS 10031 (Ohio Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

This cause came to be heard upon an appeal from the Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division, Hamilton County.

On April 30,1980, plaintiff-appellant, Barbara Baugh, filed the instant complaint against defendant-appellee, John M. Carver, alleging that appellee was the father of her illegitimate child, born March 20, 1980. On August 21, appellee entered a plea in open court admitting the allegations of the complaint, and at a subsequent hearing appellant was awarded a lump sum of $3,142.27 for expenses related to pregnancy and childbirth, and $35 per week commencing from August 21 and continuing until the child’s eighteenth birthday. Thereafter, appellant filed a motion for a new trial, alleging that the judgment was grossly inadequate and otherwise contrary to law, which motion was overruled. From the court’s overruling of the motion for a new trial, appellant has taken this timely appeal.

In her first assignment of error, appellant asserts, for a variety of reasons, that the trial court erred in overruling her motion for a new trial. In the first instance, appellant asserts that the award denies her the equal protection of law. Specifically, appellant asserts that the *140 support award of $35 per week is arbitrary and capricious in that it is substantially less than the “reasonable” sum for support and maintenance normally awarded legitimate children under similar circumstances. We disagree. While we take no issue with appellant’s proposition that illegitimate children are entitled to the same considerations and protections as legitimate children under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution., e.g., Gomez v. Perez (1973), 409 U.S. 535, 538; Johnson v. Norman (1981), 66 Ohio St. 2d 186, 188 [20 O.O.3d 196]; Franklin v. Julian (1972), 30 Ohio St. 2d 228, 234-235 [59 O.O.2d 264], we conclude from a complete review of the record that appellant has utterly failed to demonstrate any disparate treatment and, equally persuasive, that whatever dissimilarities may arguably be said to exist were solely the result of the child’s illegitimate status. In essence, appellant failed to demonstrate the existence of a class of persons, of which her child is a member, who are subjected to discriminatory treatment. E.g., State, ex rel. Soller, v. West Muskingum Local Bd. of Edn. (1972), 29 Ohio St. 2d 148 [58 O.O.2d 347]; State v. Buckley (1968), 16 Ohio St. 2d 128 [45 O.O.2d 469], certiorari denied (1969), 395 U.S. 163. As such, the judgment of the trial court is not contrary to the equal protection guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment. Insofar as the first assignment of error challenges the judgment on the grounds of equal protection, it is without merit and overruled.

Appellant also challenges that portion of the judgment which orders the support payments of $35 per week to commence with the date of adjudication, asserting that the court erred in not ordering the support award to commence with the date of the child’s birth. We agree. Under the relevant provisions of R.C. 3111.17, where an individual is found to be the putative father of the child, the court shall order that “* * * a reasonable weekly sum be paid complainant for support and maintenance of the child until he becomes eighteen years of age. * * *” Appellee argues, in accordance with the holding in State, ex rel. Griffin, v. Zimmerman (1941), 67 Ohio App. 272 [21 O.O.253], that since a father owed no duty of support to an illegitimate child at common law, and since this statute does not expressly provide for a support obligation to begin at the date of birth, the trial court properly ordered the award to commence with the date of adjudication. See, also, State, ex rel. Davis, v. Brown (C.P. 1951), 60 Ohio Law Abs. 183.

Appellant, on the other hand, urges this court to adopt the reasoning contained in Weaver v. Chandler (1972), 31 Ohio App. 2d 243, where the court, after a careful review of the statute and relevant case law, held, at page 250, that the obligation of the father for support commences with the child’s date of birth; and, this being so, the trial court had the authority under R.C. 3111.17 to order support payments to commence with the date of birth. The Weaver rationale is consistent with the holding of State, ex rel. Raydel, v. Raible (App. 1954), 69 Ohio Law Abs. 356, wherein the court upheld a support award dating from birth since the child was entitled to support until he reached the age of eighteen or death, whichever should intervene sooner. Accord, State, ex rel. Gill, v. Volz (1948), 85 Ohio App. 207 [40 O.O.152] (order of support commencing with the date of birth upheld); Willis v. Wilson (1947), 83 Ohio App. 311 [38 O.O. 1] (order of support commencing with date of adjudication reversed). See, also, Jackson v. Berry (May 13, 1981), Hamilton App. No. C-800267, unreported; Harris v. Jones (C.P. 1947), 34 O.O. 489.

Our review of the statute and the decisional law related thereto convinces us of the validity of the Weaver, supra, and Raíble, supra, holdings. While the awarding of a monetary amount for child support is a matter generally within the discretion of the trial court, this does not *141 permit it to ignore the fact that, under R.C. 3111.17, the child is entitled to, and the father is obligated to provide, support from the date of birth. Where damages for support payments for the period from the date of the child’s birth to the date of adjudication are prayed for and proved, as here, it is an abuse of discretion for the court to make no award of child support for that period in the absence of an affirmative demonstration of some circumstance which ought reasonably to relieve the father of this obligation and the child of this entitlement. In the instant case, appellant presented evidence on the issue of support commencing with the date of birth and there is nothing in the record to justify the failure of the court to award support commencing at that time. We conclude, therefore, that the court abused its discretion in not ordering the child support award to commence with the child’s date of birth. Insofar as appellant’s first assignment of error challenges the court’s failure in this regard, it is well-taken and accordingly sustained.

Appellant further challenges the court’s refusal to grant her attorney’s fees incurred in prosecution of the instant action. We disagree. It is well-established that in the absence of a specific statutory entitlement to attorney’s fees, the traditional rule of not awarding such fees or damages applies. E.g., Euclid v. Vogelin (1950), 152 Ohio St. 538 [41 O.O.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
444 N.E.2d 58, 3 Ohio App. 3d 139, 3 Ohio B. 157, 1981 Ohio App. LEXIS 10031, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baugh-v-carver-ohioctapp-1981.