Dahl v. Charles F. Dahl, M.D., P.C.

744 F.3d 623, 57 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2462, 2014 WL 643017, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 3092
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 20, 2014
Docket13-4023
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 744 F.3d 623 (Dahl v. Charles F. Dahl, M.D., P.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dahl v. Charles F. Dahl, M.D., P.C., 744 F.3d 623, 57 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2462, 2014 WL 643017, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 3092 (10th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

HARTZ, Circuit Judge.

Dr. Charles Dahl and Ms. Kim Dahl were divorced on July 20, 2010, after some four years of bitter wrangling. The divorce did not end the battles. Ms. Dahl filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Utah, alleging federal-law and state-law claims (1) that Dr. Dahl improperly administered the pension trust of his medical practice to deny her funds and an accounting and (2) that her telephone conversations with the Dahls’ minor children were unlawfully monitored, recorded, and disclosed by Dr. Dahl, his attorney, and the children’s guardian ad litem (GAL) in the divorce proceedings. The district court dismissed the federal-law pension claims for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and granted summary judgment against Ms. Dahl on the federal-law wiretapping claims. It then declined to exercise jurisdiction on the state-law claims. Ms. Dahl appeals.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We affirm the district court’s dismissal of Ms. Dahl’s pension claims under the federal Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461, on the ground that the pension trust did not qualify as an employee benefit plan under ERISA, although the dismissal should have been on the merits rather than for lack of jurisdiction. Given that ruling, we also hold that the court properly declined to exercise jurisdiction over the related state-law claims. We also affirm the district court’s summary judgment for the GAL because he was entitled to quasi-judicial immunity for his actions. Finally, we affirm the summary judgment on the claim based on the monitoring of a telephone call on October 12, 2009, because at that time it was objectively reasonable for Dr. Dahl to rely on a court order that had authorized monitoring, but we remand for further proceedings on the alleged monitoring of later calls because there is a genuine dispute of fact about whether such monitoring occurred.

I. BACKGROUND

A. State Court Proceedings

When Dr. Dahl filed for divorce in Utah state court, he also filed a motion requesting temporary custody of the couple’s two children, C.D. and D.D. He alleged that the children would be irreparably harmed if Ms. Dahl were awarded custody because she was verbally, emotionally, and sometimes physically abusive toward the children. On November 2, 2006, Ms. Dahl stipulated to an order granting Dr. Dahl temporary custody of the children and prohibiting her from unsupervised visitation with them. Kelly Peterson entered his appearance as GAL a month later.

At a review hearing in December 2006, the court’s domestic-relations commissioner, noting that the GAL, ACAFS (a private business that was ordered to supervise Ms. Dahl’s visits), and the professionals treating the children all agreed that Dr. Dahl should have custody, ordered that the chil *626 dren remain in Dr. Dahl’s sole custody and imposed limitations, including the supervision requirement, on Ms. Dahl’s visitation. But the commissioner rejected the GAL’s recommendation that Dr. Dahl be permitted to record Ms. Dahl’s phone calls with the children.

In June 2007, Dr. Dahl filed with the court an affidavit alleging that Ms. Dahl frequently violated the supervised-visitation order and that her conduct was harming the children. As examples of violations, he alleged that Ms. Dahl had discussed the divorce litigation with the children during visitation, contacted the children at school, showed up at the children’s church on Sundays, assaulted Dr. Dahl in public with her purse, and accused him in front of the children of being evil and of killing his mother and cousin. He requested, among other things, that the court allow him to monitor and record Ms. Dahl’s phone conversations with the children. On July 18, 2007, the court entered an order granting that request. The order said, in part:

1. [Ms. Dahl] is restrained from having any type of contact or visitation with the minor children, except for the previously ordered visitation which shall occur under the supervision of ACAFS; one four hour period per week and one eight hour period per week. All visitation shall continue to occur with the supervision of ACAFS and it shall occur and be limited to those areas with good cell phone reception. [Ms. Dahl] is hereby restrained from attending any event, or location, where the minor children may be present, unless her attendance is supervised by ACAFS as part of the Court ordered schedule of visitation.
2. [Ms. Dahl] is hereby restrained from harming, harassing, contacting or communicating with [Dr. Dahl], in any place or manner. All communications between [Dr. Dahl] and [Ms. Dahl] shall occur through ACAFS.
3.[Ms. Dahl] is hereby restrained from unmonitored telephone communications with the minor children. All telephone communications between the minor children and [Ms. Dahl] may be monitored by [Dr. Dahl].

Aplt.App., Vol. 1 at 103-104 (emphasis added).

On November 27, 2007, Dr. Dahl’s attorney, Rosemond Blacklock, filed a transcript of three phone calls recorded on November 19. The transcript shows that Ms. Dahl discussed the divorce with child C.D. (for instance, encouraging C.D. to advocate for living with Ms. Dahl) and made disparaging comments about Dr. Dahl. A judge issued an ex parte order prohibiting Ms. Dahl from having any telephone contact with the children. When the order was reconsidered during a December 3, 2007, hearing, the commissioner permitted Ms. Dahl to have telephone contact with the children, but only if supervised by ACAFS. The commissioner also noted, with apparent approval, that the telephone conversations were being taped.

In 2009, Ms. Blacklock filed transcripts of four more conversations that had been recorded in January and February of that year between Ms. Dahl and C.D. The court held an evidentiary hearing in March to reevaluate the custody arrangements and issued an order on May 27, 2009. Although the court observed “bad parenting on both sides,” Supp.App., Vol. 16 at 3241, it determined that the current arrangement — limiting Ms. Dahl’s contact with the children to supervised visitation — was in the best interests of the children and that “at this point in time, there is no basis in the evidence to change the prior orders of the Court.” Id. at 3242.

A little over four months later the court revisited its decision. On October 7, 2009, *627 it ended supervised visitation and ordered that the children be with Ms. Dahl every other weekend. It explained:

But I’m satisfied that in the best interests of the children that the present arrangement is harmful. Something’s got to change. And these kids are in pain right now. How we ultimately resolve it I just wouldn’t want to forecast, but I think we need some changes right now.
So what I’m inclined to do is that effective immediately we would move to essentially statutory visitation; that the children would be with Mrs.

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744 F.3d 623, 57 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2462, 2014 WL 643017, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 3092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dahl-v-charles-f-dahl-md-pc-ca10-2014.