Young v. Willis

436 S.W.2d 445, 58 Tenn. App. 678, 1968 Tenn. App. LEXIS 321
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedFebruary 28, 1968
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 436 S.W.2d 445 (Young v. Willis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Young v. Willis, 436 S.W.2d 445, 58 Tenn. App. 678, 1968 Tenn. App. LEXIS 321 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

BEJACH, J.

This canse involves an appeal from the-Juvenile Court of Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, incorrectly designated in parts of the record and referred to in briefs as “The Juvenile Court of Shelby County, Tennessee”. The appeal is obviously intended to be from the decree adjudging paternity of appellant, and-awarding child support against him for a child bom out of wedlock to Levada Willis, also referred to in this record as Levada Willis Mack. There is a dispute as to whether appellant should be referred to as Rev. M. L. Young or. as Marc Luke Young, and, also as to whether the record before us involves one lawsuit or two separate causes; At the outset we will resolve this last dispute by holding that it is one lawsuit, as indeed it appears to be from the record as certified to us by the Clerk of the Juvenile Court of Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, which includes the original proceeding by Levada Williams against the Rev. M. L. Young under Docket No. 41621, and also under the same docket number proceedings brought by the Department of Welfare of the State of Tennessee against Marc Luke Young. The appeal, in our opinion, falls within the provisions of section 36-235 T.C.A., and the cause, having been heard without the intervention of a jury, must be regulated by the provisions of section 27-303 T.C.A. It is, therefore, an appeal and not an appeal in the nature of a writ of error, and the parties should have designated themselves as appellant and appellee instead of plaintiff in error and defendant in error. This Court, has, however, on numerous occasions, treated appeals in the nature' of a writ of error' as simple appeals, and we will do so in this case. No bill of [681]*681exceptions was filed, but all of the facts hereinafter stated appear in the technical record.

Before disposing of appellant’s assignments of error, we must first dispose of a motion made by appellee.

The Department of Welfare of the State of Tennessee has filed a motion to dismiss the appeal of Marc Luke Young on the ground that his appeal is only from the denial of the petition to rehear filed in this cause, and is not from the decree of paternity. Section 36-235 T.C.A., which regulates appeals in bastardy proceedings, provides:

“An appeal from any final order or judgement of any court having jurisdiction of the proceedings as provided for in this chapter may be perfected to the Court of Appeals within 30 days after the entry of said order or judgment, and the same shall be reviewable de novo as are other equity appeals. No appeal, however, shall operate as a stay of execution unless the defendant shall give the security provided in sec. 36-235.”

■ The decree of paternity was entered March 23, 1967, as appears at page P. of the record. The order submitting the petition to rehear was entered on the Minutes of the Court April 21, 1967. It recites:

“In this cause it appearing to the Court that the defendant, Marc Luke Young, has filed a petition to rehear within the time allowed by law.
And it appearing to the Court that the matter should be submitted pending a final determination.
It is, therefore, ordered and considered that the petition to rehear be and the same is hereby considered submitted to the court this 21 day of April, 1967.”

[682]*682It will be observed that tbe order submitting the petition to rebear itself contemplates that the action of the court in disposing of same shall be a final determination. We therefore hold that the order overruling appellant’s petition to rehear was the final order in this cause, within the meaning of section 36-235 T.C.A., and we overrule the motion to dismiss the appeal. In any event, Rule 12 of the Rules of this Court provides, “Errors not assigned and supported by brief according to this rule will be treated as waived, but the court, at its option, may notice an error overlooked by counsel. (Emphasis added.)

While this rule does not exactly cover the present situation, we think that the situation here involved justifies analagous procedure;- and, in line with our practice of treating, as in this case, appeals in the nature of a writ of error as simple appeals, we will take such action in the instant case.

Having thus disposed of the motion to dismiss the appeal, we will now dispose of the assignments of error. Appellant has filed in this Court four assignments of error which are as follows:

“ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR
I.
The Court erred in entertaining a petition filed in an ended cause.
II.
The Court erred in failing to set aside its decree upon application seasonably made upon the ground that the statute of limitations barred defendant in error’s cause of action.
[683]*683in.
The Court erred in rendering a decree in an action ■where it no longer had jurisdiction.
IV.
The Court erred in entering a decree of paternity and support brought by the Department of Public Welfare. This was error because there was no finding that the minor child was likely to or had become a public charge, and the Department of Public Welfare is privy to the original plaintiff.”

This cause was initiated May 21, 1962 before Judge Elizabeth McCain by a petition under T.C.A. sec. 36-222 et seq., filed by Levada Willis, age 24, against Eev. M. L. Young, age 59. The cause was given the Docket Number 41621. On August 23, 1962, Judge McCain, on her own motion, entered the following order:

ORDER

This cause came on to be heard in the Municipal Juvenile Court of the City of Memphis, State of Tennessee on August 21, 1962 having been taken under advisement on August, 1962.

It appearing to the Court that aforesaid cause was originally before the Court on July 26,1962 on the signed and sworn petition of Levada Willis, female, Negro, [684]*684age 24, seeking to establish, the paternity of Marc De-Wayne Willis, born January 21,1962, naming as tbe natural father, Reverend M. L. Young, Negro, age 59: a proceeding pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated 26-222.

It further appearing that on July 26, 1962 case was continued until August 16, 1962, and that on aforesaid date, case was taken under advisement, Attorney John Walt, representing defendant and Attorney James Watson (of the Legal Aid Office) representing petitioner :

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED THAT ON COURT’S OWN MOTION CASE OF LEVADA WILLIS VS REV. M. L. YOUNG BEFORE THE COURT ON THE ISSUE OF PATERNITY OF MARC DEWAYNE WILLIS BORN JANUARY 21, 1962 BE REMANDED TO CIRCUIT COURT OF SHELBY COUNTY, TENNESSEE FOR JURY HEARING FOR THE ISSUE OF PATERNITY TO BE DECIDED.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT DEFENDANT HAYING POSTED STATUTORY BOND OF $500.00 BE RELEASED.

Elizabeth McCain (Signed)

Elizabeth McCain, Judge”

This 23rd day of August 1962.

As appears in the record, attached to appellant’s petition to rehear, there is a certified copy of the order of the Circuit Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, dismissing this cause on September 29, 1965 for want of prosecution. The order of dismissal is in the words and figures as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
436 S.W.2d 445, 58 Tenn. App. 678, 1968 Tenn. App. LEXIS 321, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/young-v-willis-tennctapp-1968.