|
Appeal Court to LA
County: 'We Won't Sully our Hands'
Enforcing False
Paternity Judgments
The Second District
Court of Appeal recently dealt a
devastating blow to the efforts of Los
Angeles County and others to collect
child support based on false paternity
judgments. In County of Los Angeles
v. Navarro, Manuel Navarro was
trapped into a default judgment because
he did not learn of the paternity
proceedings against him before the time
limits to contest the judgment had run
out. In an opinion dripping with
contempt, Justice Rubin wrote:
"By strict application of the law, appellant
should be denied relief....Sometimes even more important
policies than the finality of judgments are at stake,
however...the County...should not enforce child-support
judgments it knows to be unfounded. And in particular, it should
not ask the courts to assist it in doing so...We will not sully
our hands by participating in an unjust, and factually
unfounded, result. We say no to the County, and we reverse."
As a result of Navarro, tens of
thousands of men who are currently paying child support for
children who are not theirs can file to have their false
paternity judgments set aside.
Linda Ferrer is the attorney who won the Navarro case. Dr. Robert Archer
of
Genetic Identity
is a scientist who sees paternity fraud perpetrated on his clients. Marc
Angelucci of the
National
Coalition of Free Men Los Angeles
and
Taron James
of
Veterans Fighting Paternity Fraud
have worked to pass paternity fraud legislation in California. They joined Glenn
on
His Side with Glenn Sacks
on August 8.
To learn more about Navarro and paternity
fraud, see:
Paternity: Innocence Is Now a Defense
(Fox News, 7/14/04)
Read the landmark Navarro opinion
here.
Glenn's column
Paternity Fraud Victims Need Justice
(Los Angeles Daily News, 3/15/02)
Learn about Taron James' story in
Glenn's column
Defrauded Veterans Have Mixed Emotions on Veterans Day
(Daily Breeze [Los Angeles], 11/11/03) (co-authored
by family law attorney Jeff Leving)
Listen to Taron James and paternity
fraud crusader Carnell Smith on His Side-- Servicemen,
Veterans Fight Paternity Fraud
(11/2/03)
Glenn's column
Preserving Paternity Fraud
(Orange County Register, 10/3/02) (coauthored by
shared parenting advocate Dianna Thompson).
|
