Court Opinion

ID: 9648035
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:00:02.713506+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:22:06.033725
License: Public Domain

Dooley, J.,
concurring. I concur that UVM can require proof of residency by clear and convincing evidence and that plaintiff is foreclosed from arguing that he is a resident as a matter of law because he failed to cross-appeal. I write only to state that the result is unjust. Essentially, UVM is denying plaintiff residency status because, two weeks after his arrival in Vermont in 1994, he once claimed he was a Florida resident in applying to medical school in that state. In fact, he had no serious claim to Florida residency even though his father resided in that state. Thus, for purposes of tuition, plaintiff is stateless, unable to claim residency anywhere.
Plaintiff’s parents lived together in Massachusetts until their divorce, when his father moved to Florida and set up a medical practice there. Plaintiff remained with his mother, who claimed him as a dependent for tax purposes, but attended private school in New Hampshire. He then attended Yale University, with a summer semester at University of California at Santa Cruz, until his graduation in May 1994. In that month, he moved to Burlington, Vermont, primarily because his girlfriend and his brother lived there. He has resided in Burlington ever since, working first as a research assistant in the psychiatry department of the UVM College of Medicine (July 1994 until August 1995) and then attending UVM Medical School. He was turned down for in-state tuition for the first semester of the 1995-96 academic year, and then again for the second semester. It is the latter decision which is on appeal.
UVM denied in-state residency because it found that plaintiff’s work in 1994-95 really was undertaken to improve his chance of getting into medical school and thus showed nothing about his intent to remain indefinitely in Vermont. Thus, the residency appellate *257officer stated in her decision, “I do not find that your residence in Vermont has yet taken on the permanence required by the UVM residency regulations or that you continue to reside in Vermont for reasons other than continuing your studies in Vermont.” In response to a request for reconsideration, the appellate officer sharpened the point of the decision:
You moved to Vermont temporarily to take some time off from school, apply to medical schools and await the results of your applications. It does not appear that your situation changed because you were admitted to UVM College of Medicine.
The second decision, in March 1996, has similar themes, but particularly emphasizes that two weeks after arriving in Vermont, plaintiff filed a standard application with 23 medical schools, not including UVM, claiming Florida residency. The appellate officer concluded that the Florida residence claim required plaintiff to take “appropriate steps to break [his] ties to Florida” and make Vermont plaintiff’s “true, fixed and permanent home.” Since plaintiff failed to do so, “UVM College of Medicine offered [him] admission as a Florida resident.”
The three decisions in this case are increasingly polarized, as plaintiff has tried to respond to the earlier decision and the appellate officer has shifted to new grounds. The main basis provided in the final decision, that plaintiff is really a Florida resident, is not supported by the record. Nor do I find any basis for the claim that plaintiff came here to take off time from school rather than his stated claim that he came here to live with his girlfriend and brother, both of whom were Vermont residents.
The law of domicile requires that every person have a domicile somewhere. See, e.g., Piche v. Department of Taxes, 152 Vt. 229, 232, 565 A.2d 1283, 1285 (1989) (acquiring new domicile requires proof of residence and intention to remain at new residence indefinitely). I cannot agree that residency rules must be constructed to make it impossible for some students to claim their domicile. Plaintiff’s only serious claim of domicile is in Vermont. He has not lived in Massachusetts for seven years and did not return there after college. Except for periodic visits to see his father, plaintiff has not lived in Florida. His presence in New Hampshire, Connecticut and California, entirely for school purposes, established no domicile in those states. Had plaintiff properly cross-appealed, I would have found his claim of Vermont domicile valid as a matter of law.
*258I am authorized to state that Justice Morse joins in this concurrence.