Court Opinion

ID: 9711689
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:36:43.621373+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:06.706193
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion
Smith, J.
— I concur only in the result reached in the opinion written by Judge Bierly, and in the reasoning and the result reached in the opinion written by Judge Cook. It is my opinion that the trial court did not commit any reversible error.
However, it is my opinion that this court has no jurisdiction to determine this appeal. This is an appeal from a judgment entered by the trial court in which the trial court sustained a demurrer to the plaintiff’s petition to review a judgment in divorce.
The judge in his divorce decree found that the defendant was the father of a minor child, and further awarded the permanent care and custody of said minor child to the plaintiff, the mother of the minor child, and ordered the defendant to pay support money for said child.
Chapter 247, Section 9 of the Acts of 1901 of the Indiana General Assembly, as last amended by Chapter 279, *107Section 1 of the Acts of 1963 of the Indiana General Assembly (Burns’ Indiana Statutes, Section 4-214 (1966 Suppl.)), reads in part as follows:
“Appeals to be taken to the Supreme Court — All others to Appellate Court—
Fifteenth. All appeals from judgments in which an award is made concerning the permanent care and custody of a minor child or minor children. . . .”
Our court in the case of Horlock v. Oglesby et al. (1965), 141 Ind. App. 690, 210 N. E. 2d 56, had under consideration the question of whether or not a judgment in adoption is' a judgment “in which an award is made concerning the permanent care and custody of a minor child.” The court stated as follows:
“Considering the rule that terms in a statute must be given their usual meaning unless a contrary intention is clearly shown within that statute (Overlade, Warden, etc. v. Wells (1955), 234 Ind. 436, 445, 127 N. E. 2d 686) it is obvious that “the legislature has statutorily placed original jurisdiction of appeals from judgments in adoption in the Supreme Court of Indiana. A judgment in adoption is certainly a judgment ‘in which an award is made concerning the permanent care and custody of a minor child.’ The recent Indiana Supreme Court case of Risner et al. v. Risner et al. (1963), 243 Ind. 581, 189 N. E. 2d 105 holds that a judgment in adoption is final. Thus, the award of the minor child to the adopting parents is ‘permanent’ within the meaning of § 4-214, supra. . . .”
In the case at bar the judgment granting a divorce to the plaintiff-appellee is not in issue. The petition requesting a review of the judgment raises the issue of whether or not the trial court had the authority to determine the paternity of a minor child. The trial court in the divorce proceedings, after determining the paternity of the minor child, awarded the permanent care and custody of said child to the plaintiff-appellee, and entered a judgment accordingly. Section 4-214, supra, states succinctly that all appeals from judg*108ments in which an award is made concerning the permanent care and custody of a minor child shall be taken to the Supreme Court of Indiana. The language in said section is clear.and unambiguous, and must be accepted as binding on this court in that the terms of such statute clearly bring judgments in a divorce decree in which the permanent care and custody óf a minor child has been awarded to one of the parties to the divorce decree within its purview as being in that class of cases directly appealable to the Supreme Court of Indiana.
The Acts of 1901 of the Indiana General Assembly, Chapter 247, Section 13 (Burns’ Indiana Statutes, § 4-217) provide as follows:
“If any case is erroneously appealed to the wrong court, that court shall make an order for its transfer to the proper court; and the appeal shall stand as if originally filed in the right court.”
This question was not raised by either the appellant or the appellee in the case at bar. However, it is a question concerning jurisdiction of our court which can be raised by our court at any time prior to the final determination of the appeal.
Therefore, it is my opinion that the law clearly provides that this case should be transferred to the Supreme Court of Indiana.