State Ex Rel. Juv. Dept. v. Gw

177 P.3d 24, 217 Or. App. 513
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJanuary 30, 2008
Docket07014J, 07014J01 A135991
StatusPublished

This text of 177 P.3d 24 (State Ex Rel. Juv. Dept. v. Gw) 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
State Ex Rel. Juv. Dept. v. Gw, 177 P.3d 24, 217 Or. App. 513 (Or. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

177 P.3d 24 (2008)
217 Or. App. 513

In the Matter of R.S., a Minor Child
STATE ex rel. JUVENILE DEPARTMENT OF LANE COUNTY, Respondent,
v.
G.W., Appellant.

07014J, 07014J01; A135991.

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted October 22, 2007.
Decided January 30, 2008.

*25 James J. Spindor, Klamath Falls, argued the cause and filed the brief for appellant.

Hardy Myers, Attorney General, Mary H. Williams, Solicitor General, and Michael C. Livingston, Senior Assistant Attorney General, filed the brief for respondent.

Before SCHUMAN, Presiding Judge, and BREWER, Chief Judge, and DEITS, Judge pro tempore.

BREWER, C.J.

This is a blended proceeding in which the trial court established dependency jurisdiction over child and both parents after having denied father's motion for a judgment of nonpaternity under Oregon Laws 2005, chapter 160, section 9, and for dismissal as to father.[1] The trial court denied father's motion on the ground that, under ORS 109.070(1)(a) (2001), he was conclusively presumed to be the father of child, and the 2005 legislation did not authorize the court to disestablish his paternity. Father appeals, and we reverse and remand.

Child was born on April 24, 2002. At the time of child's birth, mother and father were married but were no longer living together. However, mother and father were cohabiting at the time child was conceived. In January 2007, the Department of Human Services (DHS) filed a petition seeking to establish juvenile court dependency jurisdiction over child and both parents. Mother admitted certain allegations of the petition, and the court took jurisdiction over her and child. On March 27, father filed a motion for a judgment of nonpaternity and dismissal based on Oregon Laws 2005, chapter 160, section 9. Among other assertions, father stated in an affidavit supporting the motion that he had never had a relationship with child and that a DNA report issued in March 2007 showed a zero percent probability that he was child's biological parent. However, father did not assert that he was sterile or impotent at the time child was conceived.

Mother objected to father's motion on several grounds, and the court held a hearing. Child's attorney and the attorney for DHS appeared at the hearing but took no position on father's motion. Over mother's objection, the trial court determined that, even though child was born in Washington, Oregon law applied to the issue before the court.[2] However, the court concluded that the law in effect at the time of child's birth, ORS 109.070 (2001), not the 2005 legislation, was controlling and that, under the 2001 version of the statute, father was conclusively presumed to be child's biological parent. As a consequence, the court did not address father's motion on its evidentiary merits, nor did the court address mother's additional argument that father was precluded by laches from challenging his paternity because he had failed to avail himself of an earlier opportunity to do so in 2003. Father appeals from the judgment denying his motion.[3]

Father's appeal presents an issue of statutory construction involving the interaction of several statutes, including different versions of some of those statutes. At the time of child's birth, ORS 109.070 (2001) provided, in part:

"(1) The paternity of a person may be established as follows:
"(a) The child of a wife cohabiting with her husband who was not impotent or sterile at the time of the conception of the child shall be conclusively presumed to be the child of her husband, whether or not the marriage of the husband and wife may be void."

By contrast, ORS 109.070(1)(b) (2001) provided a "disputable presumption" that a husband is the father of a child when the "child [is] born in wedlock, there being no decree of *26 separation from bed or board, * * * whether or not the marriage of the husband and wife may be void."

In 2005, the legislature enacted Oregon Laws 2005, chapter 160, which became effective on January 1, 2006. Section 9 of that chapter provides, in part:

"(1) As used in this section, `legal father' includes a man whose paternity has been established under ORS 109.070(1) and a man who has been ordered to pay child support.
"(2) After paternity has been established under ORS 109.070(1), if no blood tests, as defined in ORS 109.251, were performed to establish paternity, the mother or the legal father may petition the court to reopen the issue of paternity. The petitioner:
"(a) Must file the petition within two years after a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity is filed with the State Registrar of the Center for Health Statistics;
"(b) Must file the petition within two years after paternity is established as a result of a default order or a default judgment that is no longer subject to appeal; or
"(c) May file the petition at any time if the legal father is the presumed father under ORS 109.070.
"(3) The petition must contain:
"(a) An affidavit executed by the petitioner stating that the petitioner has discovered new evidence since, paternity was established or that the legal father is the presumed father and the petitioner has not had an opportunity to challenge the paternity; and
"(b) the results of blood tests, administered within 90 days before the petition is filed, that show a zero percent probability that the legal father is the biological father of the child."

In addition, subsection (7) of section 9 provides that, in a proceeding initiated by a petition filed in accordance with subsections (2) and (3), "Nile court shall make a determination of nonpaternity if * * *, based on all the evidence as provided in ORS 109.258," the court makes the findings specified in subsection (7)(a)-(g).[4] Under section 10, section 9 "is repealed on January 2, 2008."

Section 11 of chapter 160, which also became effective on January 1, 2006, amended ORS 109.070(1) by deleting the conclusive-presumption-of-paternity provision of ORS 109.070

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Related

State ex rel. Juvenile Department v. G. W.
177 P.3d 24 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
177 P.3d 24, 217 Or. App. 513, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-juv-dept-v-gw-orctapp-2008.