Since TN Kids Received COVID Shot While Appeal Was Pending, Appeal Was Dismissed as Moot

Tennessee child custody case summary on COVID shot dispute. Note: this is a Rule 10 case.  See original opinion.

Stacey Lee (Boyett) v. Brett Carr Boyett

The parents in this Davidson County, Tennessee, were divorced in 2019.  They had agreed to a permanent parenting plan under which both parents had joint decision-making for non-emergency health care decisions.  While the parents had agreed on vaccine decisions, they had differing opinions when it came to the COVID-19 vaccine.  The father didn’t want the kids to receive the vaccine, and the mother wanted them vaccinated as soon as possible.  She filed a motion to permit the vaccination, and asked for permission to vaccinate the son immediately, and the daughter as soon as she was eligible.

The father argued that this was a modification of the parenting plan and that the mother had failed to set forth a proper factual basis for doing so.  The court granted the motion, and suspended the father’s parenting time until the son had received his first dose.  The father asked for a stay pending appeal, and both the trial court and appellate court denied the motion.  The same day, the son received his first dose.  He subsequently received the second dose, and the daughter received her first dose.

The father continued the appeal, but in its ruling, the Court of Appeals held that the case was now moot.  It cited a 2009 Tennessee Supreme Court case holding that a case must remain justiciable from the time it is filed until the moment of final appellate review.  It held that the case was moot, since the court was unable to provide any relief to the father.  A ruling would have no practical effect.

The mother argued that the appeal was frivolous.  But the court pointed out that the daughter didn’t receive her first dose until after the father submitted his brief.  For that reason, it held that even though the appeal was unsuccessful, it was not frivolous.

For these reasons, the father’s appeal was dismissed as moot.

No. M2022-00060-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 28, 2023).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see Modifying Custody & Parenting Plans and our video, How is child custody determined in Tennessee?

See also Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family featuring examples of parenting plans and child support worksheets from real cases available on Amazon.com.