Wright v. DCSE

976 A.2d 172, 2009 WL 1847743

Opinion

ERRICK M. WRIGHT, Respondent Below-Appellant,
v.
DCSE et al., Petitioners Below-Appellees.

No. 313, 2009

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted: June 24, 2009. Decided: June 29, 2009.

Before STEELE, Chief Justice, JACOBS and RIDGELY, Justices.

O R D E R

HENRY DUPONT RIDGELY, Justice

This 29th day of June 2009, it appears to the Court that:

(1) The appellant has filed a notice of appeal from a decision of a Family Court Commissioner dated April 29, 2009. The Clerk of the Court issued a notice to show cause why the appeal should not be dismissed for this Court's lack of jurisdiction to consider an appeal directly from a decision of a Family Court Commissioner. The appellant filed a response to the notice to show cause on June 24, 2009. In the response, the appellant argues that Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 1051 grants this Court jurisdiction to hear the instant appeal.

(2) A Commissioner's decision is not a final judgment for purposes of appeal to this Court.^[1] A party's right of review from a Commissioner's decision shall be to a judge of the Family Court.^[2] Accordingly, this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider the instant appeal in the first instance and it, therefore, must be dismissed.^[3]

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that this appeal is DISMISSED.

NOTES

[1] Redden v. McGill, 549 A.2d 695, 697-98 (Del. 1988).

[2] Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 915(d).

[3] While Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 1051 addresses this Court's general appellate jurisdiction, it does not confer jurisdiction upon this Court to hear an appeal directly from the decision of a Family Court Commissioner.