Jlb v. Teb

474 N.W.2d 599, 1991 WL 156911
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedAugust 20, 1991
DocketC6-91-449
StatusPublished

This text of 474 N.W.2d 599 (Jlb v. Teb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jlb v. Teb, 474 N.W.2d 599, 1991 WL 156911 (Mich. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

474 N.W.2d 599 (1991)

In re the Matter of J.L.B., Petitioner, Appellant,
v.
T.E.B., Respondent.

No. C6-91-449.

Court of Appeals of Minnesota.

August 20, 1991.
Review Denied October 11, 1991.

*600 Catherine A. Nixon, Minneapolis, for appellant.

*601 Kathleen Worner Kissoon and Michael D. Dittberner, Kathleen Worner Kissoon Law Office, Bloomington, for respondent.

Candace J. Barr, guardian ad litem, Minneapolis.

Considered and decided by RANDALL, P.J., and HUSPENI and THOREEN,[*] JJ.

OPINION

HUSPENI, Judge.

Appellant mother alleges the trial court erred when it refused to vacate its order approving the parties' lump-sum settlement of a paternity case. We affirm.

FACTS

Appellant J.L.B., age 29, met respondent T.E.B., age 45, in November 1986 and engaged in sexual intercourse with him on or about November 1 and November 10. Medical tests in January 1987 revealed that appellant was ten weeks pregnant. When appellant married R.P.L. on January 24, 1987, R.P.L. knew that appellant was pregnant. When they divorced in May 1988, the judgment and decree provided that R.P.L. was not the child's father.

When the child was born July 29, 1987, appellant listed D.J.L.'s name on the birth certificate as the child's father. D.J.L. has consequently been involved in the child's life, has held himself out as the child's father, and has considered the child his own. In November 1987, appellant filed an allegation of paternity against D.J.L. This matter proceeded to a stipulation establishing temporary support and visitation. The court approved that stipulation and ordered blood tests to determine paternity. The blood test results excluded D.J.L. as the child's biological father.

While the paternity matter involving D.J.L. was still pending, appellant brought this action against respondent in March 1989. The court appointed a guardian ad litem to represent the child's interests in July 1989. Blood tests revealed a 99.99% likelihood that respondent is the child's father. Respondent challenged the accuracy of the test and maintained that he was not the father of the child.

Despite respondent's firm denial of paternity, he offered appellant a lump-sum settlement in order to avoid the publicity, cost and delay which a trial would create. The parties negotiated a $30,000 settlement which, once invested, would produce interest income to assist appellant in raising the child. The principal would become available to the child at age 18 for a college education or at age 22 for the child's full control. As a condition of the settlement, appellant agreed to dismiss with prejudice the paternity action against respondent. In addition, she agreed to withhold respondent's identity from the child until the child becomes of age.

Counsel for both parties and the guardian ad litem took part in the negotiations, scrutinized the agreement and concluded that the settlement was appropriate. Despite the blood test evidence of paternity, appellant and the guardian ad litem admitted such substantial weaknesses in the case that they decided the $30,000 settlement now was better for the child than the expense and emotional turmoil of a trial and the possibility that the jury could decide in respondent's favor. Based on this analysis, the guardian ad litem found the settlement to be in the child's best interest. The parties entered the settlement on the record in November 1990.

At the subsequent court hearing, the Hennepin County Commissioner of Human Services opposed the settlement because he felt it left too many issues unattended (medical coverage, paternity) and left the child unable to approach respondent for an increase in child support, if ever necessary. The trial court approved the settlement over the Commissioner's objection. In its findings and order, the trial court also amended the pleadings to include the Commissioner and child as parties, dismissed the case with prejudice, and dismissed the *602 guardian ad litem from her duties upon entry of the order.

In order to invest the settlement, the guardian ad litem needed the child's social security number. Appellant refused to provide her with that number. After several months of efforts, the guardian ad litem brought a motion to compel appellant to produce the child's social security number. In response to that motion, appellant moved the court to vacate the settlement. These motions were ultimately heard and decided by the same judge who had approved the settlement agreement.

Appellant alleged that respondent coerced her into agreeing to the settlement and that in approving it the court failed to consider the best interests of the child. In addition, appellant has developed Hodgkin's disease and began chemotherapy treatments in October 1990. After a hearing, the trial court granted the motion to produce the child's social security number, denied the motion to vacate, ordered that judgment be entered, and discharged the guardian ad litem upon entry of judgment.

ISSUES

1. Did the trial court err when it refused to vacate its order approving a lumpsum settlement in this paternity action?

2. Did the trial court err in ordering appellant to pay the $250 attorney fees of the guardian ad litem?

3. Should the court grant the guardian ad litem's request for attorney fees and costs incurred in this appeal?

ANALYSIS

I.

Appellant's motion to vacate the order approving the parties' lump-sum settlement was brought pursuant to Minn.R.Civ.P. 60.02(b), (c) and (f). That rule allows the trial court to

relieve a party * * * from a final * * * order * * * and * * * order a new trial or grant such other relief as may be just for the following reasons:
(b) Newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been discovered in time to move for a new trial pursuant to Rule 59.03;
(c) Fraud (whether heretofore denominated intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or other misconduct of an adverse party;
* * * * * *
(f) Any other reason justifying relief from the operation of judgment.

Id. "Vacating an order is a matter vested in a trial court's discretion and will not be overturned absent a clear abuse of that discretion." Johnson v. Hunter, 447 N.W.2d 871, 873 (Minn.1989). We will evaluate each of these grounds in turn.

A. NEW EVIDENCE

Appellant alleges the trial court erred by failing to consider her recent diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease as new evidence to warrant a vacation of the 1990 order. We cannot agree.

In order for relief from judgment to be granted where there is newly discovered evidence, such evidence must be relevant and admissible at trial, must be likely to have an effect on the result of a new trial, and must not be merely collateral, impeaching or cumulative.

Regents of Univ. of Minn. v. Medical Inc., 405 N.W.2d 474, 478 (Minn.App.1987), pet. for rev. denied (Minn. July 15, 1987), cert. denied 484 U.S. 981, 108 S.Ct. 495, 98 L.Ed.2d 494 (1987). Although appellant's diagnosis is "new," it is not new evidence that would be relevant in a trial on the issue of paternity and would not likely affect the result of a new trial.

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Related

Regents of University of Minnesota v. Medical Inc.
405 N.W.2d 474 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1987)
Marriage of Sheeran v. Sheeran
401 N.W.2d 111 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1987)
Johnson v. Hunter
447 N.W.2d 871 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1989)
Marriage of Frederiksen v. Frederiksen
368 N.W.2d 769 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1985)
In Re the Marriage of Moberg v. Moberg
350 N.W.2d 421 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1984)
J.L.B. v. T.E.B.
474 N.W.2d 599 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
474 N.W.2d 599, 1991 WL 156911, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jlb-v-teb-minnctapp-1991.