Court Opinion

ID: 9568502
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:04:19.114811+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:43:20.116271
License: Public Domain

BRYNER, Justice,
with whom COMPTON, Justice, joins, concurring.
I concur in affirming the disputed paternity judgment, but only on the ground that it was an appropriate sanction for Rubright’s refusal to take a blood test. In my view, it is both unnecessary and unwise to reach beyond the issue of sanctions by upholding the paternity order on its merits.
When it imposed the disputed judgment, the trial court expressly stated that Rubright could “still submit to [blood] testing and challenge the court’s finding [of paternity].” Thus, the trial court did not mean the judgment to be a true litigation-ending sanction; rather, the court meant to leave Rubright the keys to reopen his case. In my view, the judgment is defensible only if it is interpreted as it was intended to be — as a non-terminal sanction.1 Construing the judgment to be a non-terminal sanction also renders defensible the court’s decision not to appoint a guardian ad litem. As a reversible measure aimed chiefly at encouraging compliance, the paternity judgment simply defers the guardian ad litem issue until Rubright complies with the court’s directives, preserving the status quo in the interim.
By contrast, if the disputed judgment were construed as a conclusive resolution of the case on its merits, its validity would seem highly questionable. I will concede for argument’s sake the doubtful proposition that Rubright’s promise to pay Adeline support and his subsequent affidavit of paternity are, standing alone, clear and convincing evidence that he is actually Christopher’s biological father. Even so, several other factors weigh strongly against upholding the trial court’s decision on its merits rather than as a sanction. First, the disputed judgment purports to establish the paternity of a previously unrecognized father without first disestablishing paternity of the present, legally presumed father.2 Second, the court entered this order without the presumed father’s participation and without an evidentiary hearing. Finally, despite a decidedly unusual set of relational dynamics,3 the court acted without expressly considering Christopher’s best interests or requiring his interests to be represented independently from his mother’s.4
These considerations counsel me to refrain from affirming the paternity judgment as anything other than a non-terminal sanctions order. Affirming the judgment on this narrow ground is fully sufficient to resolve this appeal and gives the judgment the limited effect that the superior court intended it to have; at the same time, affirming on this narrow ground avoids an unnecessary venture onto shaky legal terrain.
*588-596I thus concur with the court’s decision but decline to join in the portion of its opinion affirming the judgment on its merits.

. Although Rubright’s wilful and obstinate disobedience certainly deserved strong sanctions, I am convinced that imposing a true litigation-ending sanction against him would have been improper, since other less drastic sanctions, such as civil contempt, were readily available. See, e.g., Sykes v. Melba Creek Mining, Inc., 952 P.2d 1164, 1169-70 (Alaska 1998).

. Although Rubright does not brief the issue, I find it hard to think of any reason to reject the Uniform Parentage Act’s rule requiring a presumed parent’s paternity to be disestablished before a new parent’s paternity can be established. See Unif. Parentage Act § 6(a)(2), 9B U.L.A. 302 (1987). The court’s opinion correctly notes that adopting the UPA’s approach would have permitted discovery to proceed in the paternity action against Rubright. See Op. at 583-584. The UPA’s approach would thus be compatible with upholding the trial court’s order as a sanction. But it could not justify entering a final order establishing his paternity without a prior ruling disestablishing existing paternity.

. Adeline’s mention of Thomas’s "backing away” from a relationship with Christopher is nebulous at best, but it does imply that at least some relationship existed between Thomas and Christopher. By contrast, it seems clear that no relationship at all existed between Christopher and Rubright. No other meaningful evidence concerning Christopher’s relationships or best interests was presented.

. Adeline’s somewhat abrupt determination to sever all ties to Thomas and demand support from Rubright suggest action motivated by her own economic and emotional interests; the record provides little assurance that she was acting in Christopher’s best interests.