Notes on Recent Appellate Cases
Feb. 1993
APPEALS FROM PILOT-PROGRAM FAMILY COURTS. A case from the Virginia
Supreme Court gives some direction as to which cases are appealable
directly to the Court of Appeals rather than the local circuit court
by virtue of "originating" in the experimental Family Court as
contemplated by Code 17-116(1)(b) and 17-116.05:5(1)(b). Loudoun
County DSS v. Etzold, ___ Va. ___, ___ S.E.2d ___, 7 VLW 850 (1/8/93).
Notes on Recent Appellate Cases
Nov. 1992
TORTS -- CHILD SEX ABUSE AS TORT LIMITATIONS. The Supreme Court in
Starnes v. Cayouette, ___ Va. ___, 419 S.E.2d 669 (1992) held
unconstitutional the recent statute retroactively that abolished the
statute of limitations as to tort actions based on claims of child sex
abuse which the plaintiff discovers she has been subjected to only
decades later with the help of psychiatrist specializing in these
bizarre matters.
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS -- CHILD ABUSE ACCUSATIONS. As happened earlier
in Turner v. Jackson, ___ Va. App. ___, 417 S.E.2d 881 (1992), the
Court of Appeals in Jackson v. W., ___ Va. App. ___, 419 S.E.2d 385
(1992), once again upheld as constitutional Virginia's statutory
scheme for identifying and punishing child abusers, and the DSS's
administration of those laws. Just as the Turner case held that there
is no deprivation of a liberty or property interest by being listed in
the computers as a child abuser, in the W. case, holds that it is not
a civil nor a criminal penalty to be found "founded" of child abuse.
It also observed that the concept of "mental abuse," even if no effect
on the child is ever shown, is proper.
PARENTAL RIGHTS TERMINATION -- ADOPTION. Upholding an adoption over
the objection of the natural parent, the Court of Appeals held that
the governing standard for finding "consent withheld against the best
interest of the child" is no different in cases where the losing
parent is a minor. Lyle v. Eskridge, ___ Va. App. ___, 419 S.E.2d 863
(1992).
ADOPTION OVER OBJECTION -- PROCEDURE -- NOTICE -- APPEALS. The en banc
Court of Appeals in Carlton v. Paxton, ___ Va. App. ___, ___ S.E.2d
___, 7 VLW 587, upheld its earlier ruling (6 VLW 1123) that a trial
court erred as a matter of law in holding that service upon a father
complied with the requirements of Code 8.01-317. It also agreed that
the father's notice of appeal was sufficient, even though it
incorrectly identified the adoption order being appealed.
Notes on Recent Appellate Cases
Fall 1991
Parental Right Termination -- Preemptive Strike.
In Jenkins v. Winchester Department of Social Services, ___ Va. App.
___, ___ S.E. 2d ___, 6 VLW 350, the Court of Appeals held that a
mother's rights to her child could be terminated before she even had a
chance to bring the child home from the hospital after birth, on the
ground that the way she had neglected her other children, and the
disorganized household she maintained, would necessarily constitute
abuse and neglect, to which the child should not be subjected for any
time at all.
--- FMail/386 1.0g
(1:2629/124)
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