Opinion ID: 2056781
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Court Order on the Post-Judgment Motions

Text: [¶ 26] On May 1, 2009, the court ( Field, J. ) issued a twenty-one-page corrected order, stating that, after carefully reviewing all of the submissions in detail, the [c]ourt conclud[ed] that further hearing [was] not necessary because, even assuming that the moving parties can prove all of the factual allegations contained in their affidavits, relief would not be warranted. The court denied the cousin couple's motion to intervene and for interested-person status, their motion for relief from judgment, and their other pending motions; denied the unrelated couple's motions to intervene and for interested-person status; denied the mother's and father's joint motion for relief from judgment and the mother's supplemental motion for relief from judgment; and, finding no valid basis for granting the parents' motions for relief from judgment, granted the Department's motion to dismiss the child protective proceeding. The court denied all other outstanding motions not expressly addressed. [¶ 27] As to the father, the court concluded that his motion for relief from judgment was supported by neither M.R. Civ. P. 60(b)(3) nor (6). The court stated that, even if the mother had convincingly retracted all of her prior testimony that the father had physically abused her both when the child was present and not present, the father had stipulated to findings at the jeopardy hearing stage that the child had witnessed domestic violence and physical altercations between the parents, which supported the court's determination at the termination hearing that the father was unwilling or unable to protect the child from jeopardy. Additionally, the court concluded that: the father failed, in his motion for relief from judgment, to successfully challenge findings from the termination hearing that he failed to protect the child from jeopardy by showing repeated disregard for the child's emotional health; reopening the termination proceedings would not be in the child's best interests; and the father could have raised the issues he raised in his motion at the termination hearing. Accordingly, the court concluded that the father had failed to meet his burden to show any basis for relieving him from the termination judgment pursuant to Rule 60(b)(3) or (6). [¶ 28] As to the mother, the court concluded that, despite her record of mental illness, there was insufficient evidence to show that she was mentally incompetent during the termination proceedings or incapable of assisting counsel. The motion court noted that the termination court was aware of the mother's mental health history at the time of the termination proceedings, and the mother was represented by counsel, indicating that the mother could have argued incompetency in that earlier proceeding, but did not. The court noted that it was not required to accept the mother's psychiatrist's opinion of her competency. See In re Fleming, 431 A.2d 616, 618 (Me.1981). [¶ 29] The court concluded that the mother failed to show, despite her challenge to her waiver of a jeopardy hearing three years prior, any support for a grant of her Rule 60(b)(6) motion. Additionally, the court concluded that relief from judgment pursuant to Rule 60(b)(3) or (4) was not warranted on the grounds that the Department allegedly failed to pursue possible kinship placements for the child. [¶ 30] Finally, after reviewing the matter of the family trusts in light of the child's best interests, the court concluded that relief was not warranted pursuant to Rule 60(b)(2) and (6) based on the mother's allegation of the child's lost inheritance because (1) the mother failed to show that evidence of the family trust was newly discovered evidence, and (2) there was uncertainty that the child might inherit the trust proceeds in any event or that the child would be automatically prohibited from inheriting under those trusts, despite his adoption, following termination of the mother's parental rights, see 22 M.R.S. § 4056(4) (2008). [5] [¶ 31] After the court's May 1 ruling, the appellants filed a variety of motions seeking reconsideration of various issues. The court, after some consideration, denied the motions. [6] The appellants then brought their appeals. [¶ 32] On appeal, the cousin couple and the father have filed a joint brief, the unrelated couple has filed their own brief, and the mother has filed her own brief.