Hudson v. Hudson

328 S.W.3d 863, 2010 Tenn. LEXIS 1152, 2010 WL 5139440
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 17, 2010
DocketM2008-01143-SC-R11-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 328 S.W.3d 863 (Hudson v. Hudson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hudson v. Hudson, 328 S.W.3d 863, 2010 Tenn. LEXIS 1152, 2010 WL 5139440 (Tenn. 2010).

Opinion

*864 ORDER

The matter before this Court arises from a petition to relocate filed by Elizabeth Leanne Hudson (“Mother”) following her divorce from Larson Douglas Hudson (“Father”) and the appeal from the trial court’s order of May 22, 2008, granting the petition and awarding attorney’s fees to Mother. We granted Father permission to appeal and scheduled the appeal for argument. Mother requests that Father’s appeal be dismissed as moot. For the reasons stated below, we grant Mother’s request. In addition, we vacate the trial court’s order of May 22, 2008.

The divorce decree, entered on January 29, 2007, incorporated a Marital Dissolution Agreement and a Parenting Plan for the parties’ two minor daughters. The Parenting Plan designated Mother as the primary residential parent and provided that the children would reside with Father for 135 days each year. The Parenting Plan also included stipulations as to the manner in which Mother and Father would share parenting responsibilities for them children, specifically with regard to schooling and child support.

On June 21, 2007, Mother filed a petition to relocate from Nashville, Tennessee, to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Father opposed the petition. Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-6-108(d)(l) (Supp.2008) governs this action and provides in pertinent part:

The parent spending the greater amount of time with the child shall be permitted to relocate with the child unless the court finds:
(A) The relocation does not have a reasonable purpose;
(B) The relocation would pose a threat of specific and serious harm to the child that outweighs the threat of harm to the child of a change of custody; or
(C) The parent’s motive for relocating with the child is vindictive in that it is *865 intended to defeat or deter visitation rights of the non-custodial parent or the parent spending less time with the child.

The trial court conducted a hearing on the petition on April 14 and 15, 2008. On May 22, 2008, the trial court granted the petition to relocate and amended the Parenting Plan to accommodate Mother’s new residence. The trial court also granted Mother attorney’s fees. Father appealed. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s judgment granting Mother’s petition but reversed the trial court’s award of attorney’s fees. We granted Father’s application for permission to appeal.

After we granted permission to appeal, Mother filed with this Court a “Motion to Consider Post-Judgment Facts and To Dismiss Appeal.” She requested that the Court consider the following facts, for which she provided evidence:

(1) Mother remarried on May 28, 2010, in Sumner County, Tennessee, and
(2) Mother has relocated to Sumner County, Tennessee, and has filed ... a Petition to Relocate to Tennessee, to Modify Parenting Plan, and for Other Relief.

Based on these facts, Mother asserts that Father’s appeal is moot because the controversy that initiated Mother’s petition to relocate no longer exists.

We will dismiss an appeal as moot when a case loses its controversial character. West v. Vought Aircraft Indus., Inc., 256 S.W.3d 618, 625 (Tenn.2008) (quoting McCanless v. Klein, 182 Tenn. 631, 188 S.W.2d 745, 747 (1945)). The party asserting that the case is moot has the burden of producing facts showing that the case lost its controversial character because of the voluntary cessation of the conduct challenged by the legal action. Norma Faye Pyles Lynch Family Purpose LLC v. Putnam Cnty., Tenn., 301 S.W.3d 196, 206 (Tenn.2009).

Father does not dispute Mother’s proffered facts. These facts are sufficient to show that this matter has lost its controversial character because Mother has returned to Tennessee and is residing in Sumner County. Father asserts, however, that dismissal of this appeal would leave the trial court’s order unchallenged and would permit Mother to return to Kentucky if she desired to do so. He contends that Mother’s move therefore “could be of such short duration that it could evade judicial review.” In addition, he alleges that he has suffered collateral consequences from the trial court’s decision to permit Mother to relocate.

This Court may refrain from dismissing an appeal as moot when “the challenged conduct is capable of repetition and of such short duration that it will evade judicial review.” Id. at 204. Father is correct that dismissal of the appeal without more would leave the Amended Parenting Plan in effect and would not prevent Mother from returning to reside in Kentucky. Our decision to vacate the trial court’s order, however, will remove this possibility and will ensure that matters concerning the future relocation of either parent will be governed by the parties’ original Parenting Plan entered on the date of the divorce and by Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-6-108(d)(l). Modifications to the parenting plan will continue to require mediation or approval by the trial court pursuant to the parties’ Parenting Plan. Accordingly, there is little risk that judicial remedies will not be sufficient if Mother again attempts to relocate out of state.

We also may refrain from dismissing an appeal as moot when collateral consequences remain following the dismissal of the appeal. Norma Faye Pyles *866 Lynch Family Purpose LLC, 301 S.W.3d at 204. This exception applies to prejudicial collateral consequences. See, e.g., EEOC v. Fed. Express Corp., 558 F.3d 842, 847 (9th Cir.2009) (quoting Super Tire Eng’g Co. v. McCorkle, 416 U.S. 115, 122, 94 S.Ct. 1694, 40 L.Ed.2d 1 (1974)); Hamilton ex rel. Lethem v. Lethem, 119 Hawai'i 1, 193 P.3d 839, 845-48 (2008). Such collateral consequences can include the continued effect of an order that has expired or is invalid. See, e.g., Putman v. Kennedy, 279 Conn. 162, 900 A.2d 1256, 1263 (2006) (holding as a collateral consequence the effect of an expired domestic violence restraining order on the reputation of an appellant and on subsequent child custody issues); May v. Carlton, 245 S.W.3d 340, 344 & n. 3 (Tenn.2008) (citing Carafas v. LaVallee, 391 U.S. 234, 239, 88 S.Ct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
328 S.W.3d 863, 2010 Tenn. LEXIS 1152, 2010 WL 5139440, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hudson-v-hudson-tenn-2010.