Dobbins v. Coleman

930 So. 2d 1246, 2006 WL 948071
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 13, 2006
Docket2004-CA-02365-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 930 So. 2d 1246 (Dobbins v. Coleman) 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
Dobbins v. Coleman, 930 So. 2d 1246, 2006 WL 948071 (Mich. 2006).

Opinion

930 So.2d 1246 (2006)

Nita Elaine Snyder DOBBINS, Individually and as Natural Mother and Next Friend of the Infant Child Named in the Petition
v.
Johnny Lee COLEMAN.

No. 2004-CA-02365-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

April 13, 2006.
Rehearing Denied June 15, 2006.

*1247 H R. Garner, Hernando, attorney for appellant.

John Watson, Southhaven, attorney for appellee.

EN BANC.

DICKINSON, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. The first question presented is whether upon a determination of paternity, Mississippi law requires the natural father to assume sole financial responsibility for the child's medical expenses. The second is whether the chancellor's award of attorney's fees to the mother was reasonable and proper.

BACKGROUND FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

¶ 2. On March 31, 2003, Nita Elaine Snyder Dobbins ("Ms. Dobbins") gave birth to T.H.C. ("the Child") as a result of relations between herself and Johnny Lee Coleman ("Mr. Coleman"). The Child was born out of lawful wedlock. Ms. Dobbins filed a Petition to Establish Paternity for Filiation, Child Support and Other Relief, asking the chancellor to make a determination of paternity, give her exclusive care, custody, and control of the Child, and require Mr. Coleman "to pay all reasonable support, maintenance, medical bills incurred for and in (sic) behalf of the child, to maintain medical insurance on the child, to pay all medical bills, as well as pay all medical bills incurred."

¶ 3. Mr. Coleman filed an Answer and Counter-Petition, admitting he was the Child's father, but denying sole responsibility for any expenses or medical bills. He requested the court give him "reasonable, specific and designated visitation with the minor child" and joint legal custody of the Child. Mr. Coleman also claimed Ms. Dobbins should pay half the Child's medical expenses not covered by health insurance.

¶ 4. In his Temporary Order, the chancellor found Mr. Coleman was the father of the Child and required him to pay $200 per month in child support to Ms. Dobbins until the case came for a final hearing. The chancellor also granted Mr. Coleman temporary visitation with the Child.

¶ 5. In her Answer to Counter-Petition, Ms. Dobbins denied Mr. Coleman was entitled to joint legal custody of the Child. She again asserted that, once Mr. Coleman was adjudicated the father, Mississippi law requires him to be responsible for all the education and other expenses incurred on behalf of the Child.

¶ 6. In his Order of Filiation, the chancellor found Mr. Coleman was the natural father of the Child. The chancellor awarded the parties joint legal custody, granted physical custody to Ms. Dobbins, and granted visitation rights to Mr. Coleman. The chancellor ordered Mr. Coleman to include the Child under his group medical insurance and to continue the $200 per month support payments until a final hearing on the support matter, noting that the final support amount could be adjusted in light of the guidelines found in Mississippi Code Annotated Section 43-19-101. Finally, the chancellor took under advisement the issues of payment of past and future medical expenses and the awarding of reasonable fees.

¶ 7. After briefing by the attorneys, the chancellor issued his opinion on these matters *1248 from the bench on November 8, 2004. The chancellor stated "that to make a father solely responsible for all past and future medical expenses, regardless of the party's financial status and wherewithal would be a violation of equal protection laws and would be making a determination based solely on sex and not financial ability and cannot be constitutionally permissible." The chancellor entered his Order on November 15, 2004, making the parties "equally responsible for the balances of the existing medical bills" and requiring them to split all future medical bills as well. The chancellor also ordered Mr. Coleman to reimburse Ms. Dobbins for the reasonable attorney's fees she incurred in bringing and maintaining her Petition to Establish Paternity for Filiation, Child Support and Other Relief.

¶ 8. Ms. Dobbins now appeals the chancellor's determination that Mr. Coleman would be responsible for only half of the Child's medical expenses, rather than the full amount. Mr. Coleman cross-appeals with respect to the chancellor's award of attorney's fees.

DISCUSSION

I. Whether the chancellor erred in holding that the natural father of an illegitimate child cannot be made automatically responsible for all past, present, and future medical expenses of the child.

¶ 9. On appeal, Ms. Dobbins claims the chancellor committed reversible error by declaring Mississippi Code Annotated Section 93-9-7 unconstitutional and holding that the father of an illegitimate child cannot be made solely responsible for the past, present, and future medical expenses of his child. Mr. Coleman responds that the chancellor correctly held that Section 93-9-7 was unconstitutional because the provision "[does] not serve its stated legislative purpose in a manner which can pass scrutiny." Section 93-9-7 states:

Obligations of the father. The father of a child which is or may be born out of lawful matrimony is liable to the same extent as the father of a child born of lawful matrimony . . . for the reasonable expense of the mother's pregnancy and confinement, and for the education, necessary support and maintenance, and medical . . . expenses of the child. . . .

Another statute relevant to this issue, according to the chancellor and the parties, is Mississippi Code Annotated Section 43-19-101(6), which states in part, "[a]ll orders involving the support of minor children, as a matter of law, shall include reasonable medical support."

¶ 10. The parties' arguments in this case rest on the assumption that the chancellor actually held that Section 93-9-7 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Looking carefully at the language of the Order, though, reveals that the chancellor did not declare any portion of the Mississippi Uniform Law on Paternity[1]unconstitutional, and rightly so; rather, he correctly held that an interpretation of the statutes automatically holding the father solely responsible for all of his child's medical expenses is impermissible. As previously noted, Section 93-9-7 states, "[t]he father of a child which is or may be born out of lawful matrimony is liable to the same extent as the father of a child born of lawful matrimony. .. ." (emphasis added). In his Order, the chancellor stated:

To hold the father solely responsible for the payment of all past, present and future medical bills not covered by health insurance would be unjust, unconscionable, and would violate equal protection *1249 laws under the provisions of Miss.Code Ann. Section 93-9-7, 93-9-9, 93-3-11, 93-9-15, 93-9-29, 93-9-45. Mississippi Code Annotated Section 43-19-101(6) provides that all orders involving support of minor children, as a matter of law, shall include reasonable medical support.

¶ 11. A precise reading of both the chancellor's bench opinion and Order confirms he did not declare the statute unconstitutional. The chancellor merely rejected one party's interpretation of the provision automatically requiring a father to pay all medical expenses and commented that such an interpretation would be unconstitutional. The statute plainly provides that someone like Mr. Coleman, the father of a child born out of lawful matrimony, is liable to the same

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
930 So. 2d 1246, 2006 WL 948071, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dobbins-v-coleman-miss-2006.