Kneefel v. McLaughlin

67 P.3d 947, 187 Or. App. 1, 2003 Ore. App. LEXIS 394
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 20, 2003
Docket9710-71427; A115078
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 67 P.3d 947 (Kneefel v. McLaughlin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kneefel v. McLaughlin, 67 P.3d 947, 187 Or. App. 1, 2003 Ore. App. LEXIS 394 (Or. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

*3 EDMONDS, P. J.

Mother and father (appellants) appeal from a judgment of the trial court in which the court refused to vacate a stipulated visitation order that provides respondent, mother’s former domestic partner, with visitation with S, appellants’ son. They contend that, under the United States Supreme Court decision in Troxel v. Granville, 530 US 57, 120 S Ct 2054, 147 L Ed 2d 49 (2000), 1 respondent’s rights under the visitation order were automatically terminated when father formally adopted mother’s son and, therefore, the visitation order should be vacated as a matter of law. We affirm.

Mother adopted S in January 1995, when he was 12 months old. He has lived with her continuously since he was six months old. Respondent and mother became involved shortly after S’s birth, and, beginning in 1994, respondent and mother lived together. In January 1997, mother and respondent broke off their relationship. Through an informal arrangement, respondent visited with S on a regular basis after the separation. After approximately eight months, mother decided to terminate visitation. Respondent responded by filing a petition requesting court ordered visitation with S pursuant to ORS 109.119 (1997). 2 In 1998, the parties settled the litigation by a stipulated order for visitation that allowed respondent some weekend visitation as well as some extended visits during the summer and holidays.

In 1999, mother met father, and they began cohabi-tating in November of that same year. They married in August 2000 and, following the marriage, they petitioned for father’s adoption of S. The adoption was completed in October 2000. Shortly before the adoption, mother moved to modify the 1998 stipulated order. No action was ever taken on that motion. Shortly after the adoption, mother and father 3 moved for an order requiring respondent to show *4 cause why the 1998 order should not be vacated on the basis that, under Troxel, they have a fundamental liberty interest in deciding who has visitation with their son and, as a result, the visitation order had been terminated as a matter of law when father adopted S. In response, respondent argued to the trial court that it was incumbent on appellants to move to modify or terminate the visitation order based on a change of circumstances and a visitation arrangement that was in the best interests of S. The trial court denied appellants’ motion to vacate, ruling that, as a matter of law, neither Troxel nor any provision of Oregon law automatically terminated respondent’s visitation rights.

On appeal, appellants essentially make the same substantive arguments that they made to the trial court. However, respondent initially raises a procedural issue. He asserts that appellants’ appeal is either taken from a nonap-pealable judgment or is moot. Specifically, he contends that the parties proceeded in the trial court under the understanding that the motion to show cause sought relief from a void judgment under ORCP 71 B(l)(d). However, appellants also filed a motion to modify the 1998 judgment before the entry of the judgment denying their motion to vacate the judgment in an attempt to modify or eliminate respondent’s visitation rights. In response to that motion, the trial court continued respondent’s visitation on a modified basis and denied appellants’ motion to make the visitation solely at the will of appellants. That ruling has not been appealed. According to respondent, the denial of the motion to modify makes the motion to vacate moot or, alternatively, nonappealable as a “nonfinal” judgment unless the 1998 stipulated judgment is void. Based on that premise, respondent reasons that appellants cannot obtain the relief that they seek, i.e., the vacation of the stipulated judgment, because the judgment is at most “voidable” and not “void.” In contrast, appellants respond that they are not seeking relief from a “void” judgment; instead, they contend that the basis for their motion to vacate in the trial court was ORCP 71 B(l), which provides, in relevant part:

“On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or such party’s legal representative from a judgment for the following reasons: * * * (e) [t]he *5 judgment has been satisfied, released * * * or it is no longer equitable that the judgment should have prospective application.”

Our review of the record does not support either party’s argument regarding the procedural basis of the motion to vacate. Appellants’ motion and accompanying memorandum are silent regarding any reliance on a ground specified in ORCP 71 B(l). We decline to review the trial court’s ruling on a procedural basis that was not raised below. ORAP 5.45. Further, contrary to respondent’s contention, the issue is not moot because the order denying the motion to vacate has continuing efficacy, i.e., it operates to continue respondent’s visitation rights. Also, the denial of the motion to vacate is an appealable order under ORS 19.205(1)(c) (a final order affecting a substantial right made after judgment). Waybrant v. Bernstein, 294 Or 650, 655, 661 P2d 931 (1983) (holding that an order denying a motion to vacate is appealable when “[t]he essence of the claim is not so much the substantive correctness of the original offending decsion, but rather the propriety of the court’s refusal to vacate it”).

Rather, we construe appellants’ motion to vacate the stipulated judgment, as litigated in the trial court, to invoke the “inherent” authority of the trial court. ORCP 71 C provides:

“This rule does not limit the inherent power of a court to modify a judgment within a reasonable time, or the power of a court to entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, * * * or the power of a court to set aside a judgment for fraud upon the court.”

Respondent’s argument thus raises the question of whether the trial court erred in the exercise of its inherent authority when it denied appellants’ motion to vacate the 1998 stipulated judgment.

To answer the above question, we must first define the scope of a court’s inherent authority to vacate a judgment. It is well settled that a trial court can exercise its inherent authority to vacate a judgment only to make a technical amendment, to correct an error of the court, or in other “extraordinary circumstances.” Condliff v. Priest, 82 Or App *6 115, 118, 727 P2d 175 (1986). Here, the only available ground on which the trial court could have exercised its inherent authority to vacate the 1998 judgment was if “extraordinary circumstances” existed at the time of the entry of the stipulated judgment, or, arguably, if such circumstances are deemed to have occurred subsequently. “Extraordinary circumstances” typically involve some type of fraud or overreaching by one of the parties. Blue Horse v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
67 P.3d 947, 187 Or. App. 1, 2003 Ore. App. LEXIS 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kneefel-v-mclaughlin-orctapp-2003.