MARY WALDEN AND FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & REHABILITATIVE SERVICES, APPELLANTS,
v.
EDDIE L. MUNSON, JR., APPELLEE
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The Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services and Mary Walden appealed an order requiring HLA blood testing to revisit a paternity judgment entered nearly four years earlier. The Second District Court of Appeal reversed, holding that the paternity issue was resolved by res judicata and the appellee failed to demonstrate grounds for relief from the final judgment.
The court reversed, holding that the paternity judgment was final and barred from reconsideration by res judicata. The appellee failed to demonstrate grounds for relief from the final judgment of paternity pursuant to Florida Rules of Civil Procedure rule 1.540, and absent fraud upon the court, the paternity adjudication could not be set aside.
[1] A paternity adjudication is res judicata and cannot be set aside absent fraud upon the court.
[2] A party who doubts paternity must raise the issue at the paternity determination hearing, even if incarcerated.
Previewing 2 of 3 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“if the appellee had doubts about his paternity, he should have raised them at the paternity determination hearing. He could have done so notwithstanding his incarceration at that time.”
Establishes that the appellee had the opportunity to challenge paternity at the original hearing despite his claimed incarceration.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn 1987, HRS brought a paternity complaint against Eddie Munson on behalf of Mary Walden. A final judgment of paternity was entered on November 9, 198…
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DANAHY, Acting Chief Judge.
The appellants have filed this interlocutory appeal from an order of the trial court directing the individual appellant and the appellee to submit to a Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) blood test. The order was entered on an oral motion by the appellee for relief from a final judgment of paternity. We reverse.
The Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS) brought a complaint in 1987 against the appellee to determine paternity on behalf of the appellant Mary Walden. The appellee was personally served with the complaint on August 3, 1987, and a final hearing on the complaint was held on October 21,1987. A final judgment of paternity was entered on November 9, 1987. By this judgment, the appellee was found to be the legal father of Eddie Munson born on March 15,1987. No party appealed the final judgment.
The final judgment of paternity had set no child support but had reserved jurisdiction to the trial court to do so at a later time. In 1990 HRS filed a petition to modify to set an amount of ongoing child support. The petition was served on the appel-lee on February 16, 1990. The appellee filed a responsive pleading dated February 19, 1990, denying paternity and seeking HLA testing and mentioning that he had been “locked up” during the years 1987, 1988 and 1989.
A hearing on the question of child support was held on April 11, 1990, and a final order of child support was entered on April 18, 1990, setting child support in the amount of $41.30 per week. No appeal was taken from that order. The activity resulting in the order under review was a motion for contempt which was heard by the trial court on April 11, 1991. The appellee appeared at this hearing and testified that he had always disputed the paternity of the child, Eddie Munson, and had verbally sought relief from the final judgment of paternity at other enforcement hearings. The trial court permitted the appellee to make an oral motion for relief from the final judgment of paternity. In the order under review, the trial court reserved jurisdiction to consider setting aside the final judgment of paternity upon receipt of the results of HLA blood tests and ordered the parties to submit to that test.
We consider the issue here to be governed by our holding in Miller v. Cowart, 546 So. 2d 768 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989). In Miller, as in this case, the order requiring HLA blood tests was entered four years after the entry of a final judgment of paternity. As we said in Miller, if the appel-lee had doubts about his paternity, he should have raised them at the paternity determination hearing. He could have done so notwithstanding his incarceration at that time. The issue of paternity was resolved four years ago. Absent fraud upon the court, the paternity adjudication is res judicata. The appellee has demonstrated no grounds for relief from the final judgment of paternity pursuant to rule 1.540, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure.
We reverse and remand for further proceedings.
THREADGILL, J., and CASE, JAMES R., Associate Judge, concur.
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Cited By
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State of Fla. Dep't OF Revenue v. Harris, 684 So. 2d 231 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996)…tried in a case.” DeClaire v. Yohanan, 453 So. 2d 875 (Fla.1984). Absent fraud upon the court, a paternity determination is res judicata. See Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services v. Day, 615 So. 2d 176 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993); Walden v. Munson, 593 So. 2d 1215 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992); Miller v. Cowart, 546 So. 2d 768 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989); Lewis v. Mack, 411 So. 2d 933 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982); Johnson v. Johnson, 395 So. 2d 640 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981). The fraud involved in this mat- ■ ter, if any, was intrinsic fraud and…
Authorities Cited
- Michelle Miller & the Fla. Dep't of Health & Rehabilitative Servs. v. Cowart, 546 So. 2d 768 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989)