Attorney’s Conflict of Interest Causes TN Paternity Case Train Wreck

Tennessee child support law case law summary on conflict of interest from the Court of Appeals.

In re M.J.H.  – Tennessee divorce conflict of interest

The Tennessee Court of Appeals described this paternity case as a procedural train wreck that should have never left the station.  The mother and father were not married at the time the child was conceived.  In fact, the mother was married to another man, and her husband was listed on the birth certificate as the father of the child.  The actual father had told her that he had undergone a vasectomy, and the mother initially believed that her husband was the biological father.

After the mother was divorced, the biological father told her that it was possible that he was the father, and a subsequent DNA test established this.  The mother and father consulted with an attorney, and they both agreed with how the situation should be resolved.  They agreed to file a court petition to establish paternity, allow the father visitation, and set a child support obligation.  After this petition was filed, the relationship between the two parents soured, and the father hired his own attorney.  The original attorney appeared at the hearing representing the mother, but he explained to the trial court that he had developed a conflict of interest.  Notwithstanding this disclosure, the trial court proceeded with the hearing, even though the father’s attorney stated that he had no objection to the mother obtaining another attorney.

During the trial, the mother’s attorney brought up another conflict of interest, in that he pointed out that he was representing both the mother and her husband in the apparently uncontested divorce proceeding.  No formal evidentiary hearing was held.  Instead, the court engaged in what the Court of Appeals called a “generally free-wheeling three-way discussion of the facts and issues, punctuated by periodic rulings by the trial judge.”  Even though the attorney requested a temporary order, the trial court made a final order that day, at one point mentioning that he could hold it in abeyance “if y’all want to fight over it a few weeks.”  Even though there was no request for a name change, the trial court changed the child’s name without stating any reason.

At the conclusion of the proceeding, the trial court gave the parties a copy of the parenting plan and stated that he was going to sign it that day.  When the mother’s attorney once again pointed out the conflict of interest, the trial judge simply wished all of the parties good luck, and told them that “if you have any problems at all make sure you come back to court to get them changed.”

The mother’s attorney subsequently withdrew, and her new attorney asked to have the prior order vacated.  Among other things, she disagreed with the court’s spontaneous name change.  The motion was denied on the grounds that the mother had agreed to the earlier order.  The mother appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, and argued that the hearing should have been continued to a later date as soon as her attorney made known the conflict of interest.  She also argued other errors, such as changing the child’s name without anyone having requested the name change, and relying upon evidence that was never made part of the record.

The Court of Appeals agreed.  It found that the trial court should have delayed the hearing, rather than “steamrolling” through it and “batting aside” all concerns or objections, many of which were quoted in the transcript.  The Court of Appeals held that it had been incumbent upon the trial court to stop the proceedings when the conflict of interest was disclosed.  For that reason, it vacated the order which resulted from that hearing and remanded the case, with directions that it should be heard by a different judge, who was directed to “go back to square one.”

No. W2012-01281-COA-R3-JV (Tenn. Ct. App. June 25, 2013).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

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