People ex rel. E.H.

837 P.2d 284, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 839, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 212
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 21, 1992
DocketNo. 91CA0448
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 837 P.2d 284 (People ex rel. E.H.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People ex rel. E.H., 837 P.2d 284, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 839, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 212 (Colo. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge HUME.

B.W. (mother) appeals from a judgment of the trial court terminating her parent-child legal relationship with her daughter S.W. She also appeals an order of the juvenile court modifying a previous order vesting custody of another daughter, E.H., in that child’s father, R.H. We dismiss the contentions raised as to the adjudicatory decree, affirm the judgment of termination, and affirm the order modifying custody.

Following a jury trial in November 1988, both children were adjudicated dependent and neglected. These adjudications were appealed to this court and affirmed in People in Interest of E.H., (Colo.App. No. 89CA1308, June 28, 1990) (not selected for publication). On April 20, 1990, the trial court adopted a separate permanency plan for each daughter pursuant to § 19-3-702, C.R.S. (1991 Cum.Supp.).

On June 1,1990, the department of social services filed a motion to terminate the parent-child legal relationship between S.W. and her parents, F.W. and B.W. F.W. relinquished his parental rights to S.W. before the termination hearing and was dismissed from the proceedings. After conducting a hearing, the trial court granted the motion to terminate the parent-child relationship between S.W. and mother.

Mother’s marriage to R.H. had been dissolved prior to E.H.’s being adjudicated dependent and neglected. In the decree of [287]*287dissolution, mother had been granted sole custody of E.H. During the pendency of the dependency and neglect action, R.H. filed a verified motion seeking to change E.H.’s custody to him. The juvenile court granted the motion.

Mother appeals both the judgment terminating her parent-child relationship with S.W. and the order granting the change of custody of E.H.

I.

Termination Issues — S.W.

A.

Mother initially contends that there was no valid adjudication of S.W.’s status as dependent or neglected as to mother and the trial court therefore erred in finding that the criteria in § 19-3-604(l)(c), C.R.S. (1991 Cum.Supp.) were met. She argues that the jury’s determination of dependency and neglect was limited to the status of S.W. as related to her father and that the jury never found that S.W. was dependent and neglected while she was in mother’s sole care.

Mother’s attempt to argue here the substantive merits of the adjudication of dependency and neglect is not timely, and therefore, the appeal will be dismissed as to such issues. See People in Interest of E.A., 638 P.2d 278 (Colo.1981); People in Interest of B.M., 738 P.2d 45 (Colo.App.1987); C.A.R. 4(a). Such matters should have been raised in the appeal of the adjudication decrees in People in Interest of E.H., supra.

Mother’s reliance on People in Interest of K.S., 33 Colo.App. 72, 515 P.2d 130 (1973) is misplaced. Here, unlike that situation, termination did not occur at the dis-positional hearing. Rather, a separate termination hearing followed the implementation of an appropriate treatment plan designed to address mother’s parenting deficiencies.

B.

Mother also contends that the trial court erred in denying her motion for post-trial relief filed pursuant to C.R.C.P. 59. She argues that the trial court should have granted a new trial because procedural irregularities prevented her from receiving a fair trial and because newly discovered evidence would probably change the outcome of the termination hearing. We find no merit in these arguments.

After having been granted legal custody of S.W. in the dependency and neglect proceedings, the Morgan County Department of Social Services (Department) placed S.W. in foster care in Morgan County. Subsequently, S.W.’s foster parents requested that the Department remove her from their home at a time when no other foster care placements were available in Morgan County. Consequently, S.W. was placed in a foster-adopt home in Weld County.

In the permanency plan adopted by the trial court April 20, 1990, the Department stated its intention to file a motion to terminate the parent-child relationship between mother and S.W. The permanency plan required the Department to file a report with the trial court at least 15 days prior to the termination hearing stating the foster parents’ decision concerning adoption. On May 12,1990, the foster parents executed a declaration indicating their intent to adopt S.W., as was then required by Colo.Sess. Laws 1988, ch. 139, § 19-3-611(9)(a) at 757 (subsequently repealed, effective June 5, 1991). The foster parents filed the declaration with the Department, and in late May, the Department filed it with the court. However, pursuant to the foster parents’ request for privacy, the filing of the declaration and its contents were kept confidential. No notation was made in the registry of actions that the declaration had been filed and the information was not then made available to mother or her counsel.

At the beginning of the termination hearing, mother’s counsel objected to the Department’s failure to file the report required by the permanency plan. The trial court then informed mother’s counsel that the declaration of intent to adopt had been filed May 23, 1990, as a suppressed item, not to be disclosed or released except upon order of the court.

[288]*288After entry of the termination order and a subsequent release order as to the declaration, mother filed a motion for new trial asserting that the suppressed filing was an irregularity in the proceedings and that the contents of the declaration made available to her by the post-termination release order constituted newly-discovered evidence.

Contrary to mother’s contention, we conclude that the trial court properly denied the motion. We agree with the trial court that her failure to file a supporting affidavit could be grounds alone to justify denial of the motion. Aldrich v. District Court, 714 P.2d 1321 (Colo.1986). However, we also agree with the trial court’s substantive disposition of the motion.

If a new trial is sought on the ground of newly discovered evidence, the moving party must prove that she could not have discovered the evidence in the exercise of reasonable diligence and produced it at trial; that the evidence was material to an issue before the court; and that the evidence, if admitted, would probably change the result of the trial. People in Interest of P.N., 663 P.2d 253 (Colo.1983); EMF v. N.N., 717 P.2d 961 (Colo.App.1985). We agree with the trial court that mother failed to establish these criteria.

Here, mother could have sought and obtained the desired information prior to the termination hearing through appropriate discovery or proceedings to enforce the permanency plan. Furthermore, mother knew on the morning of the termination hearing that the declaration had been filed, and her counsel could have questioned the caseworker about the declaration’s contents during the course of cross-examination.

Mother also failed to establish that the evidence was material to an issue before the court.

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Bluebook (online)
837 P.2d 284, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 839, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 212, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-eh-coloctapp-1992.