Opinion ID: 2525646
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the natural father failed to comply with new mexico law

Text: ¶ 12 The Natural Father filed his paternity action after the Birth Mother relinquished the baby for adoption and after the Adoptive Parents filed an adoption petition. We first must determine whether this action was timely under New Mexico law applicable at the time the Natural Father filed his action in the courts of New Mexico.
¶ 13 The Natural Father argues that he complied with New Mexico law applicable at the time he filed his paternity action. The New Mexico adoption statute requires consent to adoption from an acknowledged father, which status may be obtained by filing an action for paternity. N.M. Stat. §§ 32A-5-3(F)(4)(a)(1), -17(A)(5) (2008). Though the statute does not specifically provide a deadline for this action, the New Mexico courts have interpreted it. At the time the Natural Father filed his paternity action, the New Mexico Court of Appeals had recently decided Helen G. v. Mark J.H. (Helen G. I), 140 N.M. 618, 145 P.3d 98 (Ct.App.2006), declaring that in order to establish parental rights as an acknowledged father, the time for filing a paternity action is during the pendency of the adoption proceeding. Id. at 105. The Natural Father argues that this was the then-current binding law. Thus, because the Adoptive Parents' adoption case was still proceeding at the time the Natural Father filed his paternity action, he argues that his filing was timely under New Mexico law. On the other hand, the Adoptive Parents and Act of Love (collectively Adoptive Parties) argue that because the Helen G. I case was pending certiorari review before the New Mexico Supreme Court at the time of the Natural Father's paternity action filing, the court of appeals decision had not yet become law. Rather, they assert that the New Mexico Supreme Court decision, filed on November 26, 2007, that reversed the court of appeals, is the correct statement of New Mexico law at the relevant time. See Helen G. v. Mark J.H. (Helen G. II), 143 N.M. 246, 175 P.3d 914 (2008). We agree with the Adoptive Parties. ¶ 14 When a case is granted certiorari review, it remains unresolved until the higher court takes final action. This is not to say that lower courts do not have the obligation to follow an intermediate appellate decision until it is reviewed. Indeed, [w]hen the court of appeals renders a decision on an issue, that decision is automatically part of the law of this state, unless and until contravened by this court, the legislature, or the people through the processes authorized for the making of new law. Grand County v. Rogers, 2002 UT 25, ¶ 16, 44 P.3d 734. Thus, a lower court is not free to act in opposition to a court of appeals decision simply because the decision is under review by a higher court. See, e.g., Lakeside Cmty. Hosp. v. Tahoe Reg'l Planning Agency, 461 F.Supp. 1150, 1153 (D.Nev.1978) ([T]his Court is duty bound to follow the law as articulated by the Court of Appeals for this Circuit. That a writ of certiorari has issued from the United States Supreme Court to the Court of Appeals does not relieve this Court of that duty. (internal citation omitted)). However, once the certiorari review is complete and a decision is announced by the higher court, that new decision becomes the law in that case, replacing the decision announced by the intermediate court to the extent it reverses, vacates, or otherwise modifies it. The new ruling also has retroactive effect. Thus, the decision of the court of appeals in Helen G. I, though binding on lower courts at the time it was announced, represented an intermediate step in a case that was not yet final. Now that certiorari review is complete, the decision of the supreme court in Helen G. II constitutes the binding rule of law. As such, we look next at the New Mexico Supreme Court decision.
¶ 15 The decision announced by the New Mexico Supreme Court in Helen G. II reversed the New Mexico Court of Appeals and declared that the time for filing a paternity action in order to establish parental rights is before the initiation of adoption proceedings. 175 P.3d at 920 (emphasis added). However, the Natural Father asks us not to apply this decision retroactively. To determine whether a New Mexico Supreme Court decision that reverses the New Mexico Court of Appeals should apply retroactively, we must turn to the law of New Mexico. New Mexico has adopt[ed] a presumption of retroactivity for a new rule imposed by a judicial decision in a civil case. Beavers v. Johnson Controls World Servs., Inc., 118 N.M. 391, 881 P.2d 1376, 1383 (1994). However, absent an express declaration within the individual opinion, the presumption may be overcome by a sufficiently weighty combination of one or more of the Chevron Oil factors, which [the New Mexico Supreme Court has] espoused. Id. at 1383. The parties have devoted substantial discussion to these factors. The presumption of retroactivity, and the exception to it, apply only when a judicial opinion announces a new rule. Id. Indeed, [t]he issue of retroactive effect arises only when a court's decision overturns prior case law or makes new law. Santillanes v. New Mexico, 115 N.M. 215, 849 P.2d 358, 366 (1993). On the contrary, when a court interprets for the first time an existing, legislatively-created statute, the judicial decision is not considered to be a new rule, but merely clarification of the existing rule. See, e.g., Rivers v. Roadway Express, Inc., 511 U.S. 298, 312-13, 114 S.Ct. 1510, 128 L.Ed.2d 274 (1994) (A judicial construction of a statute is an authoritative statement of what the statute meant before as well as after the decision of the case giving rise to that construction.); Id. n. 12 ([W]hen this Court construes a statute, it is explaining its understanding of what the statute has meant continuously since the date when it became law.); Kendrick v. Dist. Att'y of Phila. County, 591 Pa. 157, 916 A.2d 529, 538 (2007) (`Therefore, when we have not yet answered a specific question about the meaning of a statute, our initial interpretation does not announce a new rule of law. Our first pronouncement on the substance of a statutory provision is purely a clarification of existing law.' (quoting Fiore v. White, 562 Pa. 634, 757 A.2d 842, 848 (2000))). Accordingly, a first-time interpretation of an existing statute is to be applied retroactively. ¶ 16 In the case of Helen G. II, the New Mexico Supreme Court interpreted a provision of an existing statute that it had not previously interpreted. 175 P.3d at 916. Specifically, the court interpreted the provision in the New Mexico Adoption Act requiring an unmarried biological father to file a paternity action in order to establish his right to consent to an adoption. The court said that to be timely, the petition must be filed before the initiation of adoption proceedings. Id. at 920. As such, the decision was a first-time statutory interpretation and not a new rule. Therefore, under New Mexico law, the deadline set for establishing acknowledged father status announced in Helen G. II applies retroactively. The Natural Father failed to meet that deadline and consequently failed to comply with the requirements set forth by New Mexico law. As a result, he also did not meet the Utah law requirement of compliance with another state's law [3] and failed to establish his parental rights. See Utah Code § 78B-6-122(1)(c)(i)(B). Therefore, his consent was not required by Utah law for the adoption, and it was not error for the district court to deny his motion to dismiss the adoption.
¶ 17 The Natural Father also argues that in the event he did not establish his parental rights by timely filing a paternity action in New Mexico, his actions also qualified him as an acknowledged father under a different statutory provision of New Mexico law. ¶ 18 Under the New Mexico adoption statute, an unmarried biological father may establish parental rights for an adoptee under six months of age at the time of placement by obtaining the status of acknowledged father. In New Mexico, an individual earns this status by satisfying any one of seven requirements, which include filing a paternity action, as previously discussed, or through any other factor the court deems necessary to establish a custodial, personal or financial relationship with the adoptee. N.M. Stat. § 32A-5-3(F)(4)(a)(1), (7) (2008). ¶ 19 The Natural Father claims to have satisfied this any other factor requirement. He argues that because, once he learned of the child's birth, he took reasonable steps to become an acknowledged father by filing a paternity action, and he offered support for the child to the Birth Mother, his actions constitute factors that established the required relationship. However, as the Adoptive Parties assert, this requirement is also subject to the deadline announced in Helen G. II. Indeed, the New Mexico Supreme Court stated that a biological father [may] take any other action prior to the filing of the adoption petition that the court `deems necessary to establish a custodial, personal or financial relationship with the adoptee.' Helen G. II, 175 P.3d at 925 (emphasis added) (quoting N.M. Stat. § 32A-5-3(F)(4)(a)(7)). ¶ 20 The Natural Father both filed his paternity action and offered financial support after the Adoptive Parents filed their petition for adoption. Accordingly, he did not timely comply with New Mexico law and thus failed to meet the requirements of Utah law.