Case ID: so2d_730/html/0373-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "WHATLEY, Judge.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

John Arden CORYELL, Jr., Appellant, v. Sandra Lee MORRIS and Thomas Edward Morris, Appellees.
    No. 98-01156.
    District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
    March 26, 1999.
    Karol K. Williams and Allison M. Perry of Law Office of Karol K. Williams, P.A., Tampa, for Appellant.
    Eileen H. Griffin, Brandon, for Appellees.
   WHATLEY, Judge.

John Coryell, the father, appeals an order awarding grandparent visitation rights to Sandra and Thomas Morris, his ex-wife’s parents, pursuant to section 752.01(1)(a), Florida Statutes (1997). He argues that section 752.01(1)(a) is unconstitutional. The Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Von Eiff v. Azicri, 720 So.2d 510 (Fla.1998), compels us to reverse. In Von Eijf, the court held that the government may not interfere in a parent’s decision regarding grandparental visitation without a showing of a compelling state interest and that no compelling state interest underlies subsection 752.01(1)(a). 720 So.2d at 516-517. Therefore, the supreme court concluded that this subsection is facially unconstitutional. Id.

Reversed.

ALTENBERND, A.C.J., and GREEN, J., Concur. 
      
      . Coryell was divorced from the child's biological mother at the time the mother was murdered in 1997.