Leonard v. DSCYF Leonard v. Rollins Leonard v. Richardson

• Court: Supreme Court of Delaware
• Decided: May 13, 2016
• Docket: 431,2015 433,2015 435,2015
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

NANCY LEONARD, A/K/A § MANCY LEONARD, DERRICK § No. 431, 2015 RAYMOND, § Respondents-Below, § Court Below: Family Court Appellants, § of the State of Delaware § v. § File Nos. CN14-02877 and § 15-13-06TN DSCYF, § Petition Nos. 14-12260 and Petitioner-Below, § 15-06708 Appellee. §

NANCY LEONARD, A/K/A § MANCY LEONARD, DERRICK § No. 433, 2015 RAYMOND, DSCYF, § Respondents-Below, § Appellants, § Court Below: Family Court § of the State of Delaware v. § § File No. CN 15-02144 FAITH ROLLINS, § Petition No. 15-07670 Petitioner-Below, § Appellee. §

NANCY LEONARD, A/K/A § MANCY LEONARD, DERRICK § No. 435, 2015 RAYMOND, DSCYF, § Respondents-Below, § Court Below: Family Court Appellants, § of the State of Delaware § v. § File No. CN14-03954 § Petition No. 14-20181 JENNIFER RICHARDSON, § Petitioner-Below, § Appellee. § Submitted: May 11, 2016 Decided: May 13, 2016

Before STRINE, Chief Justice; VAUGHN, and SEITZ, Justices.

ORDER

This 13th day of May, 2016, after careful consideration of the parties’ briefs

and the record on appeal, we find it evident that the final judgment of the Family

Court should be affirmed on the basis of and for the reasons stated in its August 10,

2015 written decision. We also find that Leonard lacks standing to appeal the

denial of the two guardianship petitions brought by separate parties who have

chosen not to appeal those decisions.1 Accordingly, Leonard’s appeal with respect

to those petitions must be dismissed.

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the final judgment of the

Family Court issued on August 10, 2015 is AFFIRMED, and Leonard’s appeal is

DISMISSED with respect to the guardianship petitions.

BY THE COURT:

/s/ Collins J. Seitz, Jr. Justice

1 See Hughes v. DFS, 836 A.2d 498, 506 (Del. 2003) (“Because the Maternal Aunt is not a party to this present appeal, and because she did not file an appeal in her own right, this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to consider that claim.”); Lane v. DFS, 89 A.2d 477 (Del. 2014) (Table); Morris v. DFS, 45 A.3d 149 (Del. 2012) (Table) (“Because the maternal grandparents have not appealed from the Family Court’s adverse order, the parents lack standing to prosecute an appeal from the Family Court’s order denying grandparents’ guardianship petition.”).