Source: http://www.i-864.net/blog/?category=Issue%2FClaim+preclusion
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 00:10:52+00:00

Document:
In Du v. McCarthy, a Federal District Court in the Northern District of West Virginia has refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought against an I-864 sponsor. No. 2:14-cv-100 (N.D. W. Va. Mar. 26, 2015) (report and recommendations). [The magistrate's recommendations were upheld by order of a district court judge issued April 16, 2015]. The case raises at least one completely new issue, as discussed below.
The parties were married in 2012 and divorced in 2014. Following marriage, the U.S. citizen husband executed a Form I-864 for his wife. In the divorce action, the husband was ordered to pay a small amount of temporary spousal support. But the divorce court specifically stated that the spousal support order was not based on the Form I-864, since those rights had not be pleaded.
The defendant brought a motion to dismiss, asserting several arguments.
First, he argued that his wife could not bring the I-864 claim because she failed to raise it in the divorce case. In Yaguil v. Lee, a different federal court had dismissed a claim by an I-864 beneficiary since the claims had been raised in a preceding divorce case. No. 2:14-cv-00110-JAM-DAD, 2014 WL 1400959 (E.D. Cal. April 10, 2014). But in the Du case, the claims were never litigated in the divorce court.
Accordingly, the issue of support under the Form I-864 was never raised in the parties' divorce proceedings; therefore, there was never a final judgment on the merits of Plaintiff's claim.
This conclusion is consistent with the reasoning of other courts: if the I-864 is not raised in the divorce proceeding, the beneficiary may bring a separate lawsuit. In fact, even if she does attempt to assert a claim in the family law court, she may still have a right to bring a separate lawsuit, since the family law court may decide not to rule on the claim.
The defendant's second argument was that the beneficiary was filing a petition under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). A "self-petitioner" under VAWA files an I-360 petition for herself, as well as a Form I-864W to demonstrate that for such a petition she is not entitled to file a Form I-864. The defendant appears to have argued that if the plaintiff secured residence based on a Form I-360 petition, she would no longer be entitled to support under the I-864 that the defendant signed.
I'm not sure that's right. In this case, the court didn't have to decide the issue, because the defendant didn't prove that the I-360 had actually been approved. But let's look at the issue.
So let's say you have a sponsor who petitions for his wife. She gets 2-year conditional residency (it's a new marriage) and they get divorced before jointly petitioning for her 10-year (renewable) green card. First of all, in most cases the strategy will be to file an I-751 waiver application. Both the I-360 and the I-751 (at least on one strategy to secure approval) require the beneficiary to demonstrate abuse. But let's just assume she is first a conditional resident, then secures an approved I-360 uses that as a strategy for long term residence.
Was any of the five terminating conditions met? I don't see how. Condition (3) is met only if she departs the U.S. after losing status (which happens by operation of law at the end of the 2-year residency period). Condition (4) is met only if there's an order of removal and a new I-864... but in this hypothetical there is neither. I think that even if the I-864 beneficiary had (for whatever reason) received approval on the VAWA self-petition she would still be eligible to receive support.
Today an appeals court in Washington State held that an I-864 beneficiary is not entitled to receive spousal maintenance (i.e., alimony) on account of the I-864, Affidavit of Support. But the court made clear that the beneficiary is still able to seek enforcement of the Affidavit in a contract suit against the sponsor. This decision leads to a very inefficient situation, where two separate legal cases will be needed in order for the beneficiary to defend her rights. In Matter of Khan, No. 44814-9-II (Div. 2 2014) involved an Indian citizen who was married for two years to a United States citizen. The couple separated, and the husband petitioned for dissolution of marriage in January 2012. None of the pleadings in the divorce case mentioned the I-864, but the trial court considered the I-864 and ordered temporary maintenance of $2,000 based on the I-864. The beneficiary appealed, arguing that the trial court should not have limited the duration of the support, since it was based on the I-864 obligation which lasts potentially indefinitely. Instead, she argued, the courts should have based the duration based on the five events stated in the I-864 that end the support obligation.
First, the court found there was no conflict between state alimony rules and the I-864 obligations. Rather, the court held that state-ordered alimony are independent obligations.
Second, the court looked at the Washington statute governing alimony and found that none of the factors concerned "one spouse's contractual obligation under federal immigration law."
Third - and very importantly for I-864 beneficiaries - the court rejected the concern that the beneficiary could not bring a separate suite to enforce the support obligation. Other courts have found that a beneficiary cannot bring a separate lawsuit for I-864 support after arguing for such support in a divorce case. But the Khan court specifically held that the beneficiary could bring a different lawsuit to enforce her I-864 rights because the divorce court "did not adjudicate an action for breach of the sponsor's I-864 obligation."
The Khan case leads to a frustrating and inefficient situation for I-864 beneficiaries. By holding that a divorce court is not required to order alimony based on the I-864 the Khan court leaves beneficiaries in the position of having to bring a separate lawsuit to recover I-864 support. The Khan decisions leaves open the possibility that a divorce court could order support based on the I-864 if the judge found doing so appropriate, but if alimony is not ordered it will be difficult to appeal.
On the other hand, the Khan decision creates a new Washington State precedent that beneficiaries are entitled to bring a lawsuit against I-864 sponsors. This is great news for beneficiaries. And because beneficiaries are entitled to recover attorney fees and the costs of litigation from I-864 sponsors, the expense of these lawsuits will be born by I-864 sponsors.
In Yuryeva v. McManus a Texas appeals court stated clearly – although in dicta – that an immigrant-beneficiary could bring a subsequent contract action on the I-864 despite failing to raise enforcement in the context of her divorce proceeding. No. 01-12-00988-CV, 2013 WL 6198322, at *7 (Tex. App. Houston 1st Dist. Nov. 26, 2013) (memo. op.). In the divorce proceeding the beneficiary had put the I-864 into evidence and had testified that the sponsor had be failing to meet support obligations, and the sponsor’s attorney had stipulated that “there was an agreement that they were to live together and [the sponsor] would support her.” The beneficiary did not, however, specifically request that the trial court “enforce” the I-864 support duty. For this reason the appeals court held the lower court did not err in failing to incorporate the support obligation into the divorce decree, but the appeals court stated that the contractual obligation survived.
Yuryeva aside, there is some question as to whether a divorce proceeding may have issue or claim preclusive effect on a beneficiary's right to enforce a support obligation. For further discussion see Section II.B.2 of Suing on the I-864 Affidavit of Support.
Claim preclusion re defense of fraud. Erler v. Erler (N.D. Cal. Nov. 21, 2013).
A number of cases have addressed claims that a sponsor was fraudulently induced to sign an I-864, Affidavit of Support. In dicta, a District Court has suggested that a defendant-sponsor waives his right to raise the defense of fraud in the inducement if he fails to assert that defense in a preceding dissolution action. In Erler v. Erler the district court held that the defendant-sponsor had failed to provide “sufficient evidence” of fraud at summary judgment. CV-12-02793-CRB, 2013 WL 6139721, at *4 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 21, 2013). The court went on to state that the time to contest the marriage’s validity had passed, and that “[a]ny allegations of fraud should have been made to the state court during divorce proceedings.” Previous case law has suggested that an I-864 beneficiary may waive the right to seek support under the I-864 if she fails to raise the issue in a dissolution action. Nguyen v. Dean, No. 10–6138–AA, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3803 (D. Or. Jan. 14, 2011) (granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment). The Erler counsels similar caution for family law attorneys representing I-864 sponsors.

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