Rhoden v. Hurt

2020 Ohio 5065, 160 N.E.3d 1284
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 13, 2020
Docket20CA1114
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2020 Ohio 5065 (Rhoden v. Hurt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rhoden v. Hurt, 2020 Ohio 5065, 160 N.E.3d 1284 (Ohio Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

[Cite as Rhoden v. Hurt, 2020-Ohio-5065.] IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT ADAMS COUNTY

HEIDI RHODEN, :

Plaintiff-Appellee, : Case No. 20CA1114

vs. :

DEVIN HURT, : DECISION & JUDGMENT ENTRY

Defendant-Appellant. :

_________________________________________________________________

APPEARANCES:

Christina M. Strasel, Batavia, Ohio, for Appellant1.

Daniel Getty, Centerville, Ohio, for Appellee.

CIVIL CASE FROM COMMON PLEAS COURT, JUVENILE DIVISION DATE JOURNALIZED: 10-13-20 Abele, J.

{¶ 1} This is an appeal of an Adams County Common Pleas Court, Juvenile Division,

judgment that temporarily suspended the shared parenting time of Devin Hurt, defendant below

and appellant herein, until the conclusion of his daughter’s football season. Appellant assigns

three errors for review:

FIRST ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR:

“THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN FINDING THAT FATHER WAS NOT LIKELY TO COMPLY WITH THE COURT’S ORDER TO TAKE D.H. TO FOOTBALL

1 Different counsel represented appellant during the trial court proceedings. ADAMS, 20CA1114 2

PRACTICES AND GAMES.”

SECOND ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR:

“THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN TEMPORARILY SUSPENDING FATHER’S PARENTING TIME THROUGH FOOTBALL SEASON.”

THIRD ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR:

“THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN ORDERING THE CHILD PARTICIPATE IN FOOTBALL WHEN FATHER’S LACK OF CONSENT WAS REASONABLE.”

{¶ 2} Appellant and Heidi Rhoden, defendant below and appellee herein, have one child,

D.H., born in 2006. On December 10, 2018, the parties’ shared parenting plan designated

appellee the residential parent for school purposes. Concerning the child’s extracurricular

activities, the plan required the parents to consider the child’s wishes, consult with each other,

and not unreasonably withhold consent from participation in those activities.

{¶ 3} On July 19, 2019, appellee filed a motion to “review the current visitation

arrangement as substantial changes have occurred since the last Order. Undersigned, on behalf

of mother and minor child, requests that the Court investigate such matters by conducting a

review conference by telephone with counsel.” Appellee asserted that “according to reports,

minor child has been spending most if not all of her visitation time at paternal grandmother’s

home, during father’s visitation. Moreover, father will not agree to minor child participating in

football despite minor child’s desire to do so. As matter of point, in actuality, father has denied

minor child’s participation in any extra-curricular activity.”

{¶ 4} At the trial court’s August 19, 2019 hearing, appellant testified that his main ADAMS, 20CA1114 3

concerns about football are the time commitment and safety. Appellant would not allow

appellee to take D.H. from his home to football practice on the first day because, as he expressed

to his daughter, “our family time to me is more important than any one extracurricular.”

Appellant stated that D.H. also plays in the band, and the previous year participated in kindness

club and the school musical, and in years past soccer, softball, and basketball, “none of which

ever took the amount of time that football has.” Appellant testified:

We spent all these years trying to share 48 hours a week every other week with the entirety of my family. You know, we’ve * * * tried * * * to make sure she’s got a relationship with all of her * * * family. We try to make sure we’re doing family activities together so she can spend time with her siblings, and we keep a museum membership and we keep a zoo membership and we are members at the YMCA. And we get no time to do any of these things, our whole family waits on.

Concerning the time commitment, appellant added:

Practice four days a week? Um, last year it was six to eight, they quit practicing at dark and then games on Saturdays. They’re required to be there an hour before game time. Then if the games before running over that to that much later, I mean you’re spending three, four hours at the fields every single Saturday. And you know, I mean that’s, that’s a huge chunk of my parenting time.

With regard to safety, appellant testified:

And then on top of that you got the, you know, the health issues. We pulled our son from football two years ago because you know, the health concerns with it, it’, it’s dangerous. And I feel like there’s some other compromises and alternatives that I’ve spoken to [D.H.] about that, you know, maybe we could compromise that are less risky.

Appellant continued:

Everything that I’ve read says that youth football pre high school age football, puts the kids had significantly more risk of CTE in older ages and have behavioral issues in their growing developmental years. * * * I have legitimate concerns with football. It’s * * * exhausting you know, last year for instance, they had no subs. They had just enough kids to play a game. So, nobody had ever come out of the ADAMS, 20CA1114 4

game, no matter how big a hit they took, didn’t matter if they got rattled, they’re right back up on their feet. Getting drug through the game.

{¶ 5} Appellee testified that D.H. played football the past two years and anticipated

playing again this year. Appellee texted appellant about the upcoming season several weeks

before it began and she thought the football issue had been resolved. Appellee stated that

appellant waited until the first day of football practice to tell D.H. that she could not participate.

{¶ 6} Appellee further testified that appellant did offer gymnastics and karate as substitute

activities, but D.H. has no interest in those activities. Appellee testified that she paid all football

fees and pays a monthly band fee, although appellant recently agreed to pay half of band fees.

When asked why she thought her daughter wanted to play football, appellee testified, “[I]f you

seen her on the practice field, she absolutely loves it. She loves the team. She loves the,

everything about it.” Appellee stated:

[D.H.] absolutely loves it. She’s played, this will be her third year and she’s she seems thrilled. She washes her own uniform every night just to make sure that she has it ready for the next day. She had it washed Friday night, hanging up, drying to make sure she was able to take it to [appellant’s] on Sunday.

{¶ 7} Appellee further testified that when D.H. is with appellant, she spends weekdays

with appellant’s parents and stays with appellant on weekends, a fact that appellant conceded.

Appellee stated that she is willing, and has offered, to take D.H. from appellant’s home to

practice. She also offered to allow D.H. to stay at her home during football days and give

appellant alternate parenting time. Appellee stated that D.H. has missed practices, and if she

cannot play football, “she would be devastated.” After football season, appellee is amenable to

D.H. participating in karate or gymnastics if she desires, but at the time of the hearing, “[s]he is

already committed to football.” Although appellant testified that he had expressed to appellee ADAMS, 20CA1114 5

that “[D.H.] came to me complaining of anxiety attacks due to football last year,” appellee

testified that “I personally have never seen her have anxiety about it, getting into a new routine

maybe, but no anxiety or anxiety attacks or anything.”

{¶ 8} At the hearing’s conclusion, the trial court pointed out appellant’s inconsistent

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2020 Ohio 5065, 160 N.E.3d 1284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rhoden-v-hurt-ohioctapp-2020.