J.V. v. Marshall Cnty. Dep't of Human Res. (Ex parte Marshall Cnty. Dep't of Human Res.)
J.V. v. Marshall Cnty. Dep't of Human Res. (Ex parte Marshall Cnty. Dep't of Human Res.)
Opinion of the Court
The Marshall County Department of Human Resources ("DHR") has petitioned this court for a writ of mandamus directed to the Marshall Juvenile Court ("the juvenile court") requiring that court to cancel an evidentiary hearing set for October 16, 2017, and to order preparation of the transcripts of two hearings, which were held on May 1, 2017, and June 21, 2017. This matter has been before this court on six other occasions: Marshall County Department of Human Resources v. J.V.,
*1100Ex parte Marshall County Department of Human Resources,
This matter began in 2009, when DHR removed J.V.V. ("the child") from the custody of M.M.T. ("the mother") and placed the child in foster care. J.V. I,
In November 2014, the father filed a petition in the juvenile court seeking custody of the child.
On June 23, 2015, DHR moved for an evidentiary hearing.
*1101Upon remand, the juvenile court entered an order on April 3, 2016, in which it outlined a transition plan to which the parties had agreed. J.V. II,
DHR then filed an emergency petition for the writ of mandamus in this court, in which it sought an order "compelling the juvenile court to 'terminate visitation between the child and the father.' "
After the issuance of our opinion in J.V. II, DHR filed a petition for the writ of mandamus in our supreme court. See Ex parte Marshall Cty. Dep't of Human Res.,
After the issuance of our supreme court's certificate of judgment in J.V. III, upon request of the father, the juvenile court set the hearing referenced in the supreme court's opinion for July 13, 2017. DHR objected to the July 13, 2017, hearing and also filed a motion for a summary judgment in which it argued that the supreme court's decision in J.V. III had resolved the issue regarding custody finally and conclusively in favor of DHR. The juvenile court, after a hearing, denied DHR's motion for a summary judgment on June 21, 2017, and DHR filed both a notice of appeal to our supreme court and a petition for the writ of mandamus in our supreme court. Both the appeal and the petition were transferred to this court because, *1102as they both arose from a dependency and custody matter, they fell within our subject-matter jurisdiction, see Ala. Code 1975, § 12-3-10 ; the appeal was assigned case no. 2160761 and the petition was assigned case no. 2160757.
We dismissed DHR's appeal of the denial of its motion for a summary judgment by order (case no. 2160761), citing Continental Casualty Co. v. SouthTrust Bank, N.A.,
After the resolution of DHR's most recent petition and appeal, the father again filed in the juvenile court a motion to set the matter for an evidentiary hearing. DHR again objected to the father's request. Although the juvenile court at first declined to set a hearing because it was unaware that the appeal (case no. 2160761) had been dismissed, it later placed the father's request on an August 16, 2017, motion docket. On August 17, 2017, the juvenile court entered an order setting an evidentiary hearing for October 16, 2017.
In addition, while the parties were litigating the father's right to a hearing, DHR requested, on June 28, 2017, that the juvenile court order transcription of the hearings held on May 1, 2017, and June 21, 2017. The juvenile court did not rule on that motion. DHR renewed its motion on July 17, 2017; again, the juvenile court did not act on the motion. On August 16, 2017, DHR made a third request for the transcription of the May 1, 2017, and June 21, 2017, hearings. The juvenile court still did not rule on the motion.
On August 25, 2017, DHR timely filed its petition for the writ of mandamus seeking review of the August 17, 2017, order setting an evidentiary hearing in the father's custody action. In its petition, DHR also requests that we order the juvenile court to authorize preparation of the May 1, 2017, and June 21, 2017, hearing transcripts. We called for an answer to the petition, which has been filed. After a review of the materials submitted to this court, we deny the petition in its entirety.
" ' "Mandamus is a drastic and extraordinary writ, to be issued only where there is (1) a clear legal right in the petitioner to the order sought; (2) an imperative duty upon the respondent to perform, accompanied by a refusal to do so; (3) the lack of another adequate remedy; and (4) properly invoked jurisdiction of the court." ' "
*1103Ex parte A.M.P.,
We first consider DHR's request that we order the juvenile court to authorize transcription of the May 1, 2017, and June 21, 2017, hearings. DHR relies on Ex parte Montgomery County Department of Human Resources,
Nonetheless, we need not decide whether, under the current version of Rule 20, Ala. R. Juv. P., a party seeking review of a juvenile court's order is entitled to a transcript of an evidentiary hearing upon which that order is based if the party is prepared to pay for that transcript. DHR has not explained the type of hearings that were held on May 1, 2017, and June 21, 2017. We note that DHR is vehemently objecting to the holding of an evidentiary hearing in this matter, and the father describes both hearings in question as "motion hearings" and states that no evidence was taken at either. We further note that the order denying DHR's motion for a summary judgment was entered on June 21, 2017, indicating that the hearing on that date may well have been a hearing held on that motion. Assuming without deciding that DHR would be entitled to a transcription of an evidentiary hearing under Rule 20 as it is currently written, DHR has failed to demonstrate that it seeks transcription of an evidentiary hearing. Thus, it has not established a clear, legal right to an order compelling the juvenile court to order transcription of the May 1, 2017, and the June 21, 2017, hearings.
We turn now to DHR's argument that it is entitled to an order requiring the juvenile court to cancel the evidentiary hearing set for October 16, 2017, at which the juvenile court intends to consider DHR's May 2016 motions, which sought to forestall the transfer of custody to the father under the now-vacated April 3, 2016, order. DHR argues that our supreme court's opinion in J.V. III"conclusively decided the issue of the father's request to modify custody of the child" and that the juvenile court has already denied its May 2016 motions, preventing their reconsideration. We cannot agree with DHR's reading of J.V. III.
Although our supreme court in J.V. III did, as DHR contends, set aside the April 3, 2016, custody order, it did so after concluding that the April 3, 2016, custody order was not a final custody judgment.
*1104Because the April 3, 2016, custody order was not a final custody judgment, the supreme court observed that this court had incorrectly concluded that DHR had to seek modification of the April 3, 2016, custody order if it desired to modify that order based on facts and circumstances that had developed or occurred after the entry of the April 3, 2016, custody order. J.V. III,
DHR reads the opinion in J.V. III to somehow resolve the father's claim for a modification of custody:
"DHR maintains that there are no pending custody matters before the court in [the father's custody action] for which further disposition or any action is needed in the juvenile court. The issue of custody in [the father's custody action] was resolved by the final, conclusive decision from the Supreme Court. The juvenile court abused its discretion when it scheduled a trial for October 16, 2017. The juvenile court lacks jurisdiction to conduct a trial on custody when there is no petition properly before it. The decision of the Supreme Court became the law of the case, and [the father's] motion for further disposition is barred by res judicata. Greene v. Jefferson County Comm'n,13 So.3d 901 (Ala. 2008)."
DHR does not explain how our supreme court's vacation of the April 3, 2016, custody order by issuing a writ of mandamus concluded the litigation by terminating the father's custody action. We see no support for that conclusion in J.V. III.
Contrary to DHR's position, our supreme court did not "conclusively determine the issue of the father's request to modify custody of [the child]." In fact, it appears that, in light of the vacation of the April 3, 2016, temporary custody order, the question regarding the appropriate visitation and transition plan remains open. The father and the juvenile court are attempting to comply with the supreme court's direction to have an evidentiary hearing on the allegations raised by DHR in its May 2016 filings so that the issue of the appropriate terms of transition can be decided. DHR has fought their attempts at every turn, further delaying this matter, which began eight years ago. Based on our reading of J.V. III, which does not conclusively determine the custody issue in favor of DHR or conclude the litigation over the appropriate terms of transition, DHR cannot establish a clear legal right to have the evidentiary hearing set for October 16, 2017, canceled.
Because DHR is unable to establish that it has a clear, legal right to the relief it seeks in this petition, we deny the petition.
PETITION DENIED.
Pittman and Donaldson, JJ., concur.
Thompson, P.J., and Moore, J., concur in the result, without writings.
For the sake of consistency, we use the same case designations-e.g., J.V. I and J.V. II-that the Alabama Supreme Court used in Ex parte Marshall County Department of Human Resources,
We note that in the present petition DHR has again asked, as alternative relief, that we entertain a Rule 5 permissive appeal despite our clear explanation in the order dismissing its appeal in case no. 2160761 that such relief is unavailable in this court.
Perhaps DHR is under the impression that the April 3, 2016, custody order was reversed; however, even if that had been the case, nothing in the supreme court's opinion indicates that it is rendering a final custody judgment in favor of DHR.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.