Court Opinion

ID: 9529665
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:53:10.504712+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:53.332657
License: Public Domain

DAVIS, Associate Presiding Judge
(dissenting):
I respectfully dissent. Although I support the fine analysis in the majority opinion of the service of process and attorney’s hen *997issues, I believe that the circuit court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiff’s claim.
In State v. Child Support Enforcement, 888 P.2d 690 (Utah App.1994), we addressed the issue of circuit court jurisdiction over the claim of an assignee of a child support obligation which had, as here, been reduced to judgment in the district court. In that case, we held “that to allow the circuit court jurisdiction would ‘hopelessly fractionalize a single domestic proceeding ... into multiple causes of action that can be filed in numerous circuit courts.’ ” Id. at 698. We also determined that,
if the circuit court possessed jurisdiction, a custodial parent (or assignee) — who is owed a number of unpaid child support installments — could file numerous actions in both circuit and district courts, all stemming from the same underlying child support order. Such a situation would only lead to increased costs and confusion.
Moreover, district courts are granted ongoing jurisdiction over divorce and paternity proceedings to allow a holistic approach to each case. There may be situations where a district court would stay enforcement of support orders, taking into consideration the overall situation of the parties and their children.
Id. As we reasoned in Child Support,
[i]f a custodial parent is allowed to utilize circuit courts for enforcement of a support order, this very important tool of the district court, allowing it to take a holistic approach to divorce and paternity actions, would be severely limited since the district court may have no knowledge of or control over the circuit court action. Similarly, the circuit court would not have the history of the ease.

Id.

The majority opinion distinguishes the instant case from Child Support on the ground that this is a separate action for enforcement of an attorney’s lien and not for collection of a judgment for support. In my view, there is no difference between an attempt to enforce an attorney’s lien on a judgment for child support arrearages and an attempt to collect the judgment by a third party assignee of that judgment. Both, pursuant to Child Support, should be subject to the district court’s equitable powers. I find little, if any, support in Child Support for ascribing greater dignity to the enforcement of a perfected attorney’s lien on a claim than to a direct collection effort by an assignee of a claim acting pursuant to a valid, enforceable assignment.
For the foregoing reasons, I believe that the circuit court lacks subject matter jurisdiction in this matter and that the case should be dismissed.