State v. Johnson

2003 OK CIV APP 69, 76 P.3d 77, 74 O.B.A.J. 2462, 2003 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 54
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 24, 2003
DocketNo. 97,815
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2003 OK CIV APP 69 (State v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Johnson, 2003 OK CIV APP 69, 76 P.3d 77, 74 O.B.A.J. 2462, 2003 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 54 (Okla. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Opinion by

JOE C. TAYLOR, Presiding Judge:

T1 Father, Lonnie Johnson, appeals a Judgment on a jury verdict terminating his parental rights to his minor child, S.L. The issues on appeal are (1) whether a prior Judgment not to terminate Father's parental rights has preclusive effect which bars the present termination proceedings, (Z2)whether the verdict of termination based on 10 0.8. 2001 § 7006-1.1(A)(12), (15) is supported by sufficient evidence, (8) whether State could seek termination on the alternative grounds of incarceration and extended foster care placement, and (4) whether the trial court abused its discretion in granting the State of Oklahoma's (State's) motion in limine regarding evidence of a prior termination proceeding. Having reviewed the record and applicable law, we affirm the judgment of termination.

12 State filed a petition seeking termination of Father's parental rights to S.L. due to Father's incarceration, § 7006-1.1(A)(12), and because S.L. had been in foster care for 15 of the 22 months preceding the filing of the petition, § 7006-1.1(A)(15). Following a trial, the jury determined Father's rights should be terminated. Father appeals, arguing claim and/or issue preclusion, insufficiency of the evidence, and evidentiary error.1

CLAIM AND ISSUE PRECLUSION

T3 Father argues that the instant proceeding to terminate his parental rights is barred by the doctrines of claim preclusion (or res judicata) and issue preclusion (or collateral estoppel). S.L. was adjudicated deprived in 1997. State initially sought termination of Father's parental rights on the [79]*79ground that he failed to correct the conditions that led to the deprived adjudication. In April 2000 a jury determined that Father's rights should not be terminated. At the time of this first trial, Father was incarcerated and S.L. had been in foster care for 15 of the preceding 22 months. Shortly after this first jury trial, the trial court ordered a new treatment plan, but held Father's compliance with the treatment plan in abeyance until his release from prison.

T4 In October 2001 State filed an amended petition, again seeking termination of Father's parental rights. The amended petition sought termination due to Father's incarceration, § 7006-1.1(A)(12), and because S.L. had been in foster care for 15 of the preceding 22 months, § 7006-1.1(A)(15). Father argues that the jury's determination in the first trial that his rights should not be terminated has preclusive effect and bars any further proceedings. In particular, Father argues that, because he was incarcerated at the time of the first trial and S.L. had been in foster care for 15 of the 22 months preceding the first trial, State is precluded from raising these two grounds for termination in the current proceeding. In effect, Father argues that, when State first sought termination of his parental rights, it was required to allege all grounds of termination available to it at the time. We disagree.

T5 Father's argument is based on the doctrines of claim and issue preclusion. The elements of claim preclusion are "1) an identity of subject matter, of the parties or their privies, of the capacity of the parties and of the cause of action; 2) the court which heard the original action must have been one of competent jurisdiction; and 83) the judgment rendered must have been a judgment on the merits of the ease and not upon purely technical grounds" Carris v. John R. Thomas & Assoc., P.C., 1995 OK 33, ¶ 10, 896 P.2d 522, 527. "Claim preclusion bars relit-igation by parties or their privies of issues which either were or could have been litigated in a prior action which resulted in a prior judgment on the merits." State ex rel. Moshe Tal v. City of Oklahoma City, 2002 OK 97, ¶ 20, 61 P.3d 234, 244. "Under the doctrine of issue preclusion ... once a court has decided an issue of fact or of law necessary to its judgment, the same parties or their privies may not relitigate that issue in a suit brought upon a different claim." National Diversified Business Serv., Inc. v. Corporate Fin'l Opportunities, Inc., 1997 OK 36, ¶ 11, 946 P.2d 662, 666.

16 We find that neither doctrine precludes the instant proceeding to terminate Father's rights. In In re H.J., 1993 OK CIV APP 72, 854 P.2d 381, State sought termination of a mother's parental rights; however, a jury determined that the mother's parental rights should not be terminated. About one and one-half years later, State again sought termination of the mother's parental rights, on the grounds that the mother failed to correct the conditions leading to the deprived adjudication and termination would be in the best interests of the minor children. According to the mother, much of State's evidence in the second trial was the same as the evidence in the first trial. Therefore, she argued that the second termination proceeding constituted double jeopardy and a collateral attack on the earlier judgment. The Court of Appeals disagreed. Noting that the purpose of juvenile proceedings is to promote the welfare of children, not to inflict punishment, the court rejected the mothers' double jeopardy argument. Id. at ¶¶ 13-14, 854 P.2d at 383. The Court also determined that the doctrines of collateral estoppel or res judicata were not applicable, because "(al trial court in juvenile matters retains continuing jurisdiction to protect the interests of its wards." Id. at n. 13, 854 P.2d at 383; see also In re T.M., 2000 OK CIV APP 65, ¶ 12, 6 P.3d 1087 ("the trial court's jurisdiction in the deprived action continues until either termination of parental rights or dismissal or the child's attaining majority"). The Court also determined that, because the later termination proceeding was based on the mother's failure to correct the conditions which led to the deprived adjudication, "[elvidence of the cumulative efforts of the mother since 1988 were relevant but significantly included new evidence occurring since the first trial." In re H.J., 1993 OK CIV APP 72 n. 18, 854 P.2d at 383. Cf. Ingram v. Ingram, 1991 OK CIV APP 62, ¶ 7, 814 P.2d 1052, 1054 (because the trial court has continuing jurisdic[80]*80tion over matters of child custody and visitation and best interests of minor children are not "fixed and immutable," second application for grandparental visitation was not barred).

17 - Courts in other jurisdictions also have declined to apply the doctrines of claim and issue preclusion in termination of parental rights proceedings. In In re Marcus W., 11 Neb.App. 313, 649 N.W.2d 899 (2002), the state sought to terminate a mother's parental rights because she had failed to protect her children and to make sufficient progress despite intervention. Although the mother's parental rights were terminated at the trial court level, the termination was reversed on appeal. The state again sought and received termination of the mother's parental rights, but on the grounds that she had a mental illness that was expected to continue for a prolonged indeterminate time. Although the state had raised the mother's mental illness in the first termination proceeding, it had abandoned it as a ground for termination. The mother asserted that res judicata and collateral estoppel barred the later proceeding. The Nebraska Court of Appeals rejected the res judicata argument, holding that "[allthough any proof of [the mother's] mental deficiency could have been presented in the first termination action, the operative facts for the two termination proceedings are different, and different proof would be required in each proceeding." Id. at 910.

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Related

In Re SL
2003 OK CIV APP 69 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2003 OK CIV APP 69, 76 P.3d 77, 74 O.B.A.J. 2462, 2003 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 54, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-johnson-oklacivapp-2003.