Chisolm v. Eakes

573 So. 2d 764, 1990 WL 257467
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 19, 1990
Docket89-CA-1266
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 573 So. 2d 764 (Chisolm v. Eakes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chisolm v. Eakes, 573 So. 2d 764, 1990 WL 257467 (Mich. 1990).

Opinion

573 So.2d 764 (1990)

Sandra CHISOLM
v.
Ervin Dale EAKES.

No. 89-CA-1266.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 19, 1990.

*765 G. Jyles Eaves, Louisville, for appellant.

Helen McDade, DeKalb, for appellee.

Before HAWKINS, P.J., and PITTMAN and BLASS, JJ.

PITTMAN, Justice, for the Court:

This appeal arises from a paternity action, in which Sandra Chisolm alleged that Ervin Dale Eakes was the father of her daughter, Shauna Ladale Chisolm. A jury trial resulted in a finding that Eakes was not the father. Chisolm moved for a new trial or in the alternative a j.n.o.v. The motion was denied. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment of the chancery court.

I.

On October 2, 1976, Sandra Chisolm gave birth out-of-wedlock to a daughter, Shauna Ladale Chisolm. On July 7, 1988, Sandra Chisolm filed, in Neshoba County Chancery Court, a Complaint to Determine Paternity, and for Other Relief, alleging that Ervin Dale Eakes was the father of Shauna. She also asked that Eakes pay child support and provide health insurance, health care coverage and all medical support. Eakes answered and denied that he was Shauna's father. Eakes moved on September 22, 1988, for a jury trial on the issue of paternity. An agreed order compelling Sandra Chisolm, Shauna Chisolm, and Dale Eakes to undergo blood tests was entered by the chancery court on October 13, 1988.

The trial in this cause was held on August 2, 1989. Dr. Nicholas R. Brownlee, the director of Parentage Testing at Smithkline Bio-Science Laboratories in Atlanta, Georgia, was admitted as an expert in the area of paternity testing. He testified that his laboratory had received the blood samples from the mother, child, and putative father, and had used the samples to perform the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) test. Brownlee testified that the HLA test showed that there was a probability of 99.59649% that Dale Eakes was the father of Shauna Chisolm. Brownlee could not say with 100% certainty that Eakes was the father. Brownlee stated that one out of every 20,000 Caucasian males would have the same test results as Eakes. Brownlee agreed that DNA testing was also being used to determine paternity, but said that it was his laboratory's procedure not to use it unless a probability of less than 98% was achieved on the HLA test.

The remaining testimony involved the nature of the relationship between Sandra Chisolm and Dale Eakes at the time of the conception of Shauna Chisolm. Sandra Chisolm testified that a friend introduced her to Dale Eakes in May 1974. Eakes moved in with her at that time or soon after, and stayed until the latter part of July, when Sandra asked him to leave. She and Eakes continued to see each other until November 1974. At this time Chisolm stated that she did not hear from Eakes again until December 27, when he called to say that the day before, the 26th, he had gotten married. Chisolm stated that Eakes continued to call her but she refused to see him while he was married. Chisolm resumed her relationship with Eakes, including sexual relations, after Eakes was divorced in September 1975. She testified that she had sex with Eakes on December 4, 1975, and then again on December 26, 1975. Chisolm was not using any birth control during this time because of a problem with blood clots.

On the evening of January 2, 1976, Eakes invited several people over to his trailer for stew. Chisolm stated that she arrived late, at around 9:00 p.m., as she had been working that day as a hairdresser. Chisolm stated that she had sexual relations with Eakes that evening. She went over to Eakes' trailer on January 19, 1976, and informed him that she might be pregnant. Eakes in turn behaved very coolly toward her. Chisolm denied that she had had sexual relations with any other man except Eakes from September 1975 through January 19, 1976. Chisolm testified that she was legally married at the time of the trial, but that she and her husband were separated. Chisolm agreed *766 that she did not list Eakes as the father on Shauna's birth certificate, as she was angry at him at the time. As to why Chisolm had waited so long to bring the suit, she stated that Eakes had hurt her so badly that she was not in any emotional shape to deal with a lawsuit. She also stated that financial need had finally caused her to bring the suit. She testified that Shauna had incurred medical bills due to peritonitis, that her other daughter had reached eighteen years of age and had stopped receiving social security, and that her son, 27, was schizophrenic and totally disabled. Chisolm stated that she did have a hairdressing business, but needed help as far as supporting her children.

Barbara Willis worked for Sandra Chisolm in December 1975 as a receptionist in Chisolm's beauty shop. Willis was dropped off at the Chisolm house by her husband at between 5:30 and 6:00 on the morning of December 27, 1975, so that she and Sandra could ride to work together. She testified that on this particular morning she saw Dale Eakes sitting at the bar in Chisolm's house, drinking coffee.

Dale Eakes testified that he had had a relationship with Sandra Chisolm in June and July of 1974, but had had nothing to do with her since that time and had never lived with her. He denied that he had been seen by Barbara Willis, drinking coffee, at Sandra Chisolm's house early on the morning of December 27, 1975. Eakes affirmed that he had hosted a dinner at his trailer on January 2, 1976. He denied that he had invited Sandra Chisolm or that she was ever with him that evening, although he agreed that she was there. He testified that he had spent the evening with Della Vicks, his girlfriend. Eakes claimed that after everyone had left he took Vicks home and went back to his mother's for the evening. Eakes testified that he was working offshore in Louisiana during late 1975 and 1976, and that he had left Philadelphia on January 3, 1976, the day after the dinner, for Louisiana. Eakes said that he usually travelled to Louisiana by bus, which he would board in Meridian. Eakes claimed that he was working offshore on January 19, 1976. He testified that he had only found out about the claim of paternity in September of 1988. Eakes said that he had agreed to take the blood tests because he knew he wasn't the father of Shauna Chisolm, but if she had been his daughter, he would have acknowledged her.

The jury returned with a verdict in favor of Dale Eakes. Sandra Chisolm subsequently moved for a new trial or in the alternative, a j.n.o.v. This motion was overruled, and this appeal was perfected.

II.

Sandra Chisolm argues that the verdict of non-paternity was against the overwhelming weight of the evidence and that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury verdict. Because there is conflicting testimony concerning the critical dates of conception, the principal controversy concerns the weight to be given the results of the HLA blood tests.

The chancery court has the authority, on motion of the plaintiff, defendant, or itself, to order blood tests in a paternity case. Miss. Code Ann. § 93-9-21 (Supp. 1988). Miss. Code Ann. § 93-9-27 (Supp. 1988) provides:

If the court finds that the conclusions of all the experts, as disclosed by the evidence based upon the tests, are that the alleged father is not the father of the child, the question of paternity shall be resolved accordingly.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
573 So. 2d 764, 1990 WL 257467, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chisolm-v-eakes-miss-1990.