T.D. v. F.X.A.

148 So. 3d 187, 2014 WL 3671886
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 9, 2014
DocketNo. 2013 CU 0453
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 148 So. 3d 187 (T.D. v. F.X.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
T.D. v. F.X.A., 148 So. 3d 187, 2014 WL 3671886 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

McDonald, j.

|2We note at the outset that this is a difficult case. This case is the subject of an earlier appeal, T.D. v. F.X.A., 2012 CA 1590 (LaApp. 1 Cir. 5/22/2014), which has not been handed down.1 In that case, T.D. (the mother) appealed a February 13, 2012 district court judgment that ordered that the parties’ daughter, V.D., (now aged 17) attend an out-of-state boarding school, at the request of F.X.A. (the father), and against the wishes of T.D., and also ordered T.D. to encourage V.D. to go to the school and advised that if T.D. failed to do so, the district court would consider a change of custody to F.X.A.2 Further, the judgment ordered F.X.A. to visit the school within three weeks to ensure that he was satisfied with the facility and that if T.D. wished to visit the school, F.X.A. would pay for her plane ticket, as he stipulated in open court. That ruling followed F.X.A.’s rule to modify custody, seeking to change the custody arrangement that had been in place since a December 6, 2010 consent judgment, with the parties having joint custody and T.D. being the domiciliary parent.

T.D. tried to file a suspensive appeal from that judgment, but the district court [190]*190denied the suspensive appeal. T.D. then filed a supervisory writ and a request, for stay with this court, asserting that the February 13, 2012 judgment was not related to custody (which would preclude a suspensive appeal, pursuant to La. C.C.P. art. 8945) but was instead a judgment concerning school placement. This court denied the writ and the motion for stay on March 23, 2012, stating: “Accordingly, the judgment ‘relates to custody5 as contemplated by La. C.C.P. art. 3945, and in accordance with its provisions, ‘an appeal shall not suspend execution of the judgment. T.D. v. F.X.A., 2012 CW 0458 (La.App. 1 Cir. 3/23/12). T.D. then filed a devolutive appeal from the judgment on March 19, 2012.

| a While that appeal was still pending, on May 23, 2012, F.X.A. filed a rule to change custody, and for contempt, attorney fees, and costs. He asserted that T.D. failed to encourage V.D. to attend the school and instituted and participated in an internet campaign to prevent V.D. from attending the school. In particular, he maintained that T.D. had communicated with and solicited members of a Facebook group known as “I Survived Diamond Ranch Academy," whose members made derogatory comments regarding the school and the district court, including attaching an internet link to the www.amackerforjudge. com website, as well as a copy of an email from the judge’s administrative assistant to the judge; that T.D. communicated with and solicited members to an internet website, www.troubledprograms.com, in an effort to obtain signatures for a petition titled “Save [V.D.] From Diamond Ranch Academy55; that T.D. exhibited hostile and derogatory behavior while visiting Diamond Ranch Academy with V.D., which, as a result of her behavior, along with the internet posts, caused the Admissions Director, Daniel Borehardt, to advise by correspondence dated May 17, 2012, that the school had “great apprehension at the prospect of enrolling [V.D.] at Diamond Ranch Academy"; and further, that T.D. refused to sign the school’s admissions agreement, which included a liability waiver form, despite F.X.A.’s numerous requests. F.X.A. asked that as a result of T.D.’s failure to encourage V.D. to attend the school and her failure to sign the admissions agreement, both of which, he asserted, the district court had ordered her to do, he be awarded sole custody of V.D., or in the alternative, that the district court maintain joint custody and designate him as the domiciliary parent. He further asked that T.D. be held in contempt of court for her repeated violations of the January 25, 2012 judgment, be fined and incarcerated, and be ordered to pay attorney fees and costs.

On October 8, 2012, T.D. filed a peremptory exception raising the objection of no cause of action, asserting that F.X.A. sought to change the status of custody 14from joint to sole custody for himself, or at least change custody to have himself designated as the domiciliary parent, but that the district court’s February 13, 2012 judgment had not changed the status of custody, and thus, F.X.A. had to meet the heavy burden of the Bergeron3 standard in order to change custody. She asserted that F.X.A. had failed to state a cause of action upon which he could proceed to change custody as he had not asserted any allegation that would rise to the Bergeron standard; thus, his rule to change custody, and for contempt, attorney fees, and costs should be dismissed.

The district court heard the matter on October 10, 2012. After the hearing, the district court denied T.D.’s peremptory [191]*191exception raising the objection of no cause of action; found T.D. in contempt of court on four counts and sentenced her to 80 days in jail for each count, to run concurrently, with all but seven of the days suspended; remanded her immediately to the parish jail, to remain for seven days without benefit of release, and ordered her to serve the balance of the 30 days under unsupervised probation; and ordered her to pay a fine of $100 for each count, for a total of $400; and set the matter for a compliance hearing on November 7, 2012. The district court awarded sole custody of V.D. to F.X.A. and prohibited T.D. and her family members from having any contact with V.D. The district court ordered T.D. to undergo a full mental health evaluation with a court-approved provider prior to the district court considering resuming contact between T.D. and V.D. Additionally, the district court appointed Dr. Alicia Pelleg-rin to perform a mental health evaluation of T.D. at T.D.’s cost, with the evaluation to include a review of the testimony and evidence offered at all pertinent hearings in the matter, together with a conference with counsel for both parties, to address all of the mental health issues of T.D. It was further ordered that the prior district [fiCourt judgment regarding V.D. attending Diamond Ranch Academy be vacated.4 F.X.A. was permitted to enroll V.D. into any school of his choice, and to utilize the court’s social worker. Also, the child support paid by F.X.A. to T.D. was terminated. The judgment was rendered at the conclusion of the hearing and it was signed on October 30, 2012.

T.D. is appealing that judgment. She makes the following assignments of error.

1. The trial court abused its discretion and committed manifest error by denying Appellant’s Exception of No Cause of Action, where Appellant had asserted that the heavy Berger-on standard applied to any decision to modify custody because of the considered decree that had issued from the January 25, 2010 trial where joint custody was continued and domiciliary status of Mother was continued. No evidence was presented in this October trial, or recited by the trial court, that would have established by the requisite clear and convincing standard that the change in custody was warranted under the Bergeron standard for considered decrees.
2.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Baker v. Meyer
346 P.3d 998 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
148 So. 3d 187, 2014 WL 3671886, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/td-v-fxa-lactapp-2014.