Court Opinion

ID: 9561795
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:16:27.747493+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:29.482505
License: Public Domain

Benham, Judge,
dissenting.
This is an appeal from an adverse decision in an action filed by *38the State to establish appellant’s paternity of a child, to recover from appellant monies paid on behalf of the child by the State, and to establish an amount of future support to be paid by appellant. See OCGA §§ 19-11-5; 19-11-13. Appellant acknowledged receipt of the complaint but filed no answer, resulting in a default judgment being entered against him. The judgment made no mention of the child support or paternity issues. The pertinent part of the order reads as follows: “Therefore it is the Order of this Court that a Default Judgment be entered in favor of the plaintiff.”
Decided March 4, 1987.
C. Ronald Patton, for appellant.
Stephen F. Lanier, District Attorney, Deborah Haygood, Assistant District Attorney, William C. Joy, Senior Assistant Attorney *39General, Mary Foil Russell, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
*38I write separately because I cannot agree with the majority, which says that the appeal should be dismissed for failure to follow interlocutory appeal procedure.
The majority opines that the entry of the default judgment is not a final judgment since unliquidated damages (current child support) were sought by appellee but not determined by the trial court. The majority concludes that the appeal is interlocutory in nature and should be dismissed for failure to follow the statutory procedure for such appeals. My review of this case leads me to the conclusion that the trial court need not determine the amount of future support; therefore, the failure of the trial court to do so does not make this appeal interlocutory in nature.
The statutory scheme provides for a departmental investigation to determine whether a responsible parent is able to support a dependent child receiving public assistance (OCGA § 19-11-10 (a)), and the department establishes a standard to measure that parent’s ability, taking into account several factors listed in the statute. OCGA § 19-11-12. The department requests a parent to agree to provide the amount of support determined to be appropriate by the department. If the parent does not agree, the department then conducts an administrative hearing concerning the ability to support. OCGA § 19-11-15 (a). The parent then has a right to appeal the administrative decision. OCGA § 19-11-15 (c) (2). In light of the statutory scheme empowering an administrative agency to establish the amount of future child support, I do not view the failure of the trial court to rule on the matter as voiding the finality of the judgment rendered, and I dissent from the dismissal of appellant’s appeal.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Deen and Presiding Judge McMurray join in this dissent.