C.L. v. S.M.

2018 Ohio 5281
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided December 28, 2018·No. L-17-1271·Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

LUCAS COUNTY

C.L. Court of Appeals No. L-17-1271 Appellant Trial Court No. 12224982 v. S.M. DECISION AND JUDGMENT Appellee Decided: December 28, 2018

*****

Joanna M. Orth, for appellant.

Neil S. McElroy, for appellee.

*****

PIETRYKOWSKI, J.

{¶ 1} Appellant, C.L., appeals the judgment of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division, which denied his motion to modify the allocation of parental rights and responsibilities. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

I. Facts and Procedural Background

{¶ 2} Appellant is the father of two minor children: A.L., who was born in 2006, and D.L., who was born in 2008. Appellee, S.M., is the children’s mother. Relevant here, on March 18, 2013, the parties consented to a judgment designating appellee the residential and custodial parent of the minor children, and awarding appellant visitation in accordance with the schedule provided in the Lucas County Local Parenting Plan.

{¶ 3} The present matter was initiated on February 26, 2016, when appellant filed his motion to modify the allocation of parental rights and responsibilities. The matter proceeded to a hearing before a magistrate on March 7 and April 21, 2017, on appellant’s motion, as well as on a motion from appellee to modify child support.

{¶ 4} At the hearing, appellant first called Dawn Smith, the unit manager at Lucas County Centralized Drug Testing. Smith testified that appellee was tested for drugs on July 12, August 24, and August 30, 2016. The test results showed that appellee tested positive for Ecstasy on July 12, 2016, tested positive for opiates on August 24, 2016, and tested negative for all substances on August 30, 2016. Smith testified that none of the medications taken by appellee would lead to a false positive result for Ecstasy.

{¶ 5} In addition, Smith testified that appellee’s boyfriend, S.H., was tested on August 1 and September 22, 2016, and both test results were negative for all substances. However, it was suggested that S.H. was ordered to take a drug test on July 12, 2016, but did not do so until August 1, 2016.

{¶ 6} Finally, Smith testified that appellant was tested on May 23, July 12, and August 25, 2016. Appellant tested positive for amphetamines on May 23 and July 12, 2016, which Smith testified would be explained by the fact that appellant was taking Adderall. Appellant tested negative for all substances on August 25, 2016.

{¶ 7} Appellant next called Natalie Markis, a registered nurse at Diabetes Youth Services. Markis testified generally to the issues involving treatment and management of pediatric Type-1 diabetes, which D.L. has been diagnosed as having. Markis also testified regarding records that were shown to her of D.L.’s glucose meter from October 9, 2016. She testified that it appeared the amount of carbohydrates entered was incorrect, resulting in the insulin pump potentially administering 20 units of insulin, which could have caused D.L. to become unresponsive.

{¶ 8} The next witness to testify for appellant was K.H., appellant’s sister. K.H.

testified that during 2013 to 2014, she was the director of the daycare that the children attended, so she spoke with appellee regularly, and considered her to be a friend. K.H. testified that during that time period, appellee disclosed that her boyfriend, S.H., would yell at the children. K.H. relayed that appellee told her that she was afraid of S.H. and that he was using cocaine. K.H. then described an incident in March 2015 when she was at Kalahari with appellee, appellant, appellant’s mother, and the children. D.L. was not acting normally, so appellant’s mother suggested checking his blood sugar, and that was when it was discovered that D.L. was diabetic. D.L. was taken to the hospital, where he stayed for several days. While D.L. was in the hospital, appellee left to go home and take a shower. K.H. testified that when appellee returned about one hour later, appellee was exhibiting unusual behavior in that she was laughing and giggly. Finally, K.H. testified that on August 2, 2015, she was having lunch with D.L. when he stated that he did not want to go to his babysitter. As a result of her conversation with D.L., K.H. had some concerns about the babysitter. When she reported those concerns to appellee, appellee responded that D.L. had been playing with a lighter in the garage and was smoking cigarette butts. D.L. was approximately seven years old at the time.

{¶ 9} Following K.H.’s testimony, appellant took the stand as his last witness.

Appellant testified that he rents a three-bedroom house from his mother, where he lives with his oldest son, C.L., whom he had through a prior relationship. When A.L. and D.L. are with appellant, they share the third room and sleep in bunk beds. Appellant works at Walgreen’s Distribution Center from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and his gross income in 2016 was $22,256.

{¶ 10} Appellant then testified that he filed the motion to modify the allocation of parental rights and responsibilities because of the return of appellee’s boyfriend, S.H., as well as D.L.’s diabetes diagnosis and the behavioral issues exhibited by the children.

{¶ 11} Regarding S.H., appellee was commonly in a relationship with him, but there were periods of time where the two of them would not be together. Appellant testified that appellee reported to him that S.H. was violent and had anger problems, and that he abused drugs such as cocaine, and sold other drugs such as marijuana and prescription pills. Appellant also noted that one summer, S.H. broke A.L.’s iPhone with a hammer. Appellant testified that when S.H. is not around, appellant has a pretty good relationship with appellee, and he gets to see the children every other day. Whenever S.H. comes back into the picture, however, appellant has little communication with appellee, and only gets to see the children according to the court schedule.

{¶ 12} As to D.L.’s diabetes diagnosis, appellant testified that he was concerned that D.L.’s blood sugar levels were not being properly monitored. As an example, appellant recounted the October 9, 2016 incident regarding the insulin pump being programmed improperly. Appellant also testified that D.L.’s blood sugar levels would be very high at school before lunch, but no one would check them afterwards to make sure that they returned to normal. In addition, appellant noted that a number of people that appellee has had watch the children have not been trained on how to monitor D.L.’s sugar levels.

{¶ 13} Regarding the children’s behavioral issues, appellant testified that on several occasions A.L. would stay up all night, or would wake up in the middle of the night to play video games at appellee’s house, and that this behavior was affecting his performance in school. Appellant testified that sometimes appellee would take the video games away, but then A.L. would get them back soon thereafter. In April 2015, A.L. began therapy at Harbor Behavioral Health after appellee called the police because A.L. broke his window and television set. Appellant attributed A.L.’s behavior in some part to the violent video games that A.L. was playing. Appellant testified that A.L. does not exhibit similar behavioral problems when A.L. is with him. In June 2015, appellee discontinued A.L.’s treatment at Harbor despite a recommendation of one year of counseling because, as she told appellant, “it just was a waste of time and wasn’t working.” Notably, D.L. also began therapy at Harbor at the same time for his hyperactive behavior, and similarly discontinued treatment in June 2015.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

C.L. v. S.M., 2018 Ohio 5281 (Ohio Ct. App. 2018).

2018 Ohio 5281 (C.L. v. S.M.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
In Re Taylor G., Unpublished Decision (4-21-2006)
2006 Ohio 1992 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2006)
Eickelberger v. Eickelberger
638 N.E.2d 130 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1994)
Jones v. Lucas County Children Services Board
546 N.E.2d 471 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1988)
Blakemore v. Blakemore
450 N.E.2d 1140 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1983)
Bobo v. Jewell
528 N.E.2d 180 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1988)
State v. Phillips
656 N.E.2d 643 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1995)
Davis v. Flickinger
674 N.E.2d 1159 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1997)
Fisher v. Hasenjager
876 N.E.2d 546 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2007)