Court Opinion

ID: 9797502
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:22:24.132147+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:56:27.405576
License: Public Domain

WEISBERG, Judge,
Dissenting.
¶ 26 I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that the time limit of Rule 60(c)(3) has been incorporated into AR.S. § 25-812(E) (“the Statute”) and thereby time-bars Mother’s motion to challenge the voluntary acknowledgment of paternity. I do so for four reasons.
¶ 27 First, our primary task in interpreting a statute “is to determine and give effect to the legislature’s intent, and the first place to look is the wording of the statute.” In re Adam P., 201 Ariz. 289, 291, ¶ 12, 34 P.3d 398, 400 (App.2001) (quoting Tobel v. State, Arizona Dept. of Pub. Safety, 189 Ariz. 168, 174, 939 P.2d 801, 807 (App.1997)). “If the language of the statute is plain and unambiguous, we are counseled to simply follow the plain meaning.” Michael J., Jr. v. Michael J., Sr., 198 Ariz. 154, 157, ¶ 15, 7 P.3d 960, 963 (App.2000). Also, “[t]he court must, if possible, give meaning to each clause and word in the statute or rule to avoid rendering anything superfluous, void, contradictory or insignificant.” Devenir Assoc. v. City of Phoenix, 169 Ariz. 500, 503, 821 P.2d 161, 164 (1991). “This principle applies with particular force to a word or phrase purposely inserted into an existing statute by amendment.” Sherman v. City of Tempe, 202 Ariz. 339, 343, ¶ 16, 45 P.3d 336, 340 (2002); See also Carrow Co. v. Lusby, 167 Ariz. 18, 20, 804 P.2d 747, 749 (1990) (“Legislative intent often can be discovered by examining the development of a particular statute.”).
¶ 28 The Statute provides that a challenge to the paternity acknowledgement may be made at any time after the sixty-day period for rescinding the acknowledgement of paternity. This plain language is at odds with the majority’s construction of the Statute that the “sixty-day rescission period exists within the six-month period for seeking relief on the basis of Rule 60(c)(3)”. See ¶ 20, note 12, supra. Under the majority’s interpretation, “at any time” must be read as “at any time within the six months allowed by Rule 60(e).” Obviously, that reading is inconsistent with the language chosen by the legislature and would render the phrase “at any time” meaningless and inconsistent with its ordinary meaning.
¶29 But construing the phrase “at any time” according to its plain meaning yields a different result. According to its ordinary understanding, “the right to do a thing at any time is taken to be a grant of time without limit.” Haworth v. Hubbard, 220 Ind. 611, 44 N.E.2d 967, 969 (1942). See also Carter v. State, 786 So.2d 1173, 1176 (Fla. 2001) (procedural rule that provides for correction of illegal sentence at any time, “vests trial courts with the broad authority to correct an illegal sentence without imposing a time limitation on the ability of defendants to seek relief’); Marshak v. Treadwell, 240 F.3d 184, 192 (3rd Cir.2001) (meaning of phrase in federal statute that allowed filing of petition to cancel a registered trademark “ ‘at any time,’ ... means what it says,” and thus “is not subject to any time limit”); Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary 93 (1988)(“at any time” means “at any time whatever”). I therefore interpret “at any time” as not being subject to Rule 60(e)’s six-month time limitation.
¶ 30 Second, the legislative history of the Statute supports this interpretation. In 1994, the legislature added subsection (D) to former A.R.S. § 12-852, which provided in part that “[t]he mother, father or child, a party to the proceeding on a motion or the court on its own motion may bring an action to challenge a voluntary acknowledgement of paternity” and authorized the court to order appropriate genetic testing. See 1994 Ariz. Sess. Laws, eh. 374, § 4 (2nd Reg.Sess). In 1996, the legislature amended section 12-*462852(D) to require among other things, that the challenge be brought “pursuant to rule 60(e) of the Arizona rules of civil procedure ____” See 1996 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 170, § 2 (2nd Reg.Sess.).19 Neither the 1994 nor 1996 version of the statute specified time limits.
¶ 31 In 1998, the legislature amended former section 25-812(D), now section 25-812(E), limiting the grounds to challenge the voluntary acknowledgment of paternity under Rule 60(C) to “fraud, duress or material mistake of fact.” The legislature further provided that such Rule 60(c) motion may be brought “at any time after the sixty-day period [for rescinding the acknowledgment under new subsection H] ...” See 1997 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 219, § 39 (1st Reg.Sess) (repealed, reineorporated and made retroactive to July 21, 1997 by 1998 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 113, §§ 1, 14-15, 69 (2nd Reg.Sess.)). These changes reflect the legislature’s dual intent to limit the grounds upon which a party may challenge a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity under Rule 60(c), but to expand the opportunity to make such a challenge.
¶32 Third, I recognize that the sixth-month limit applicable to certain grounds in Rule 60(e) “was designed to ensure the finality of judgments.” Webb v. Erickson, 134 Ariz. 182, 186, 655 P.2d 6, 10 (1982); see also City of Phoenix v. Geyler, 144 Ariz. 323, 329, 697 P.2d 1073, 1079 (1985) (disapproving Rule 60(c) relief when party really seeks delayed appeal; while courts favor an “equitable disposition on the merits, ... there is a ‘compelling interest in the finality of judgments’ which should not lightly be disregarded”). However, that sort of finality is out of place when dealing with an acknowledgement of paternity.
¶33 In many civil cases, lawyers follow strict and complicated rules and statutes in order to obtain a formal judgment. Often there are multiple parties with numerous claims involving complex and disputed factual matters and legal issues. Therefore, in most civil lawsuits, the difficulty, expense, and intricacy involved in obtaining a judgment, in addition to the fundamental need to resolve the dispute itself, weigh heavily in favor of finality.
¶ 34 In contrast, a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity under § 25-812 is fairly straightforward, rarely the subject of a dispute, involves few parties and is easily accomplished without legal representation. Also, in the absence of explicit language, it is unrealistic to assume a lay person would understand that the sixth-month time limit of Rule 60(e) applies when challenging a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity under A.R.S. § 25-312(E). Moreover, and most importantly, because of the nature of a paternity action and its importance not only to the mother and putative father, but also to the child, a disposition on the merits outweighs the need for finality. In this case, where actual paternity is uncertain, the natural father’s right to a determination ought not be precluded. Also, as the majority recognizes in ¶ 19, n. 10, even under its interpretation of the Statute, the issue of paternity cannot yet be regarded as final as to the child.
¶ 35 Fourth, as the trial court implicitly recognized here, genetic testing provides a simple means to establish paternity with near certainty. It is no longer necessary to rely on assumptions about the identity of the biological father that may not be factually correct because of fraud, duress, or mistake. When a proper party in these circumstances requests a definitive answer to this question, any doubts can, and in my view should, be resolved once and for all by scientific evidence.
¶36 For all of the foregoing reasons, I would affirm the juvenile court’s orders.

. Section 12-852 was transferred and renumbered as A.R.S. § 25-812 by 1996 Ariz. Sess. Laws, ch. 192, § 14 (2»<i Reg.Sess.).