Court Opinion

ID: 9855116
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:19:43.143398+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:23:41.166549
License: Public Domain

Judge John
concurring in the result.
The circumstances of the case sub judice are compelling. Plaintiff has served as defacto father and either as primary caretaker or at a minimum equal caretaker of the minor child since her birth approximately nine years prior to trial, and the record reflects more than occasional indifference on the part of defendant to the welfare of the child. Indeed, the trial court in its order, after considering all *677the evidence, observing the parties, and making its determination of their capabilities and the minor child’s needs, concluded:
3. That it is in the minor child’s best interest that she be in the primary physical custody of the Plaintiff, but that the ruling in Peterson [sic] v. Rogers does not allow this Court to make that award.
Like the trial court and the majority, however, I am constrained to agree we are bound by Petersen and therefore concur in the result reached in the majority opinion. See Mabry v. Bowen, 14 N.C. App. 646, 647, 188 S.E.2d 651, 652 (1972) (“[T]his Court does not have the authority to overrule decisions of the Supreme Court.”).
Nonetheless, I note the strict rule of Peterson has been criticized as a rejection of the “best interests of the child” test. See Note, Why the Best Interests Standard Should Survive Petersen v. Rogers, 73 N.C. L. Rev. 2451 (1995). Further, both the dissent and this Court in the cases cited by the majority have attempted to clarify and distinguish the Petersen holding. The fact of a dissent herein affords our Supreme Court an opportunity to address Petersen in light of these developments. See Henry v. Henry, 29 N.C. App. 174, 175, 223 S.E.2d 564, 565, aff'd, 291 N.C. 156, 229 S.E.2d 158 (1976) (“wisdom of determining whether or when the effect of a prior decision of the Supreme Court shall be modified is a matter for exclusive determination by that Court”).