Dean Pearson v. Stacie Ellis-Gross , 123 A.3d 223 ( 2015 )

MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT Reporter of Decisions
Decision: 2015 ME 118
Docket: Pen-14-543
Submitted
On Briefs: July 23, 2015
Decided: August 25, 2015
Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, MEAD, GORMAN, JABAR, HJELM, and
HUMPHREY, JJ.
DEAN PEARSON
v.
STACIE ELLIS-GROSS
PER CURIAM
[¶1] Dean Pearson appeals from a post-judgment order, entered by the
District Court (Bangor, Jordan, J.), granting Stacie Ellis-Gross’s motion to modify
a previous parental rights and responsibilities order by awarding her sole parental
rights and responsibilities and primary residence of the parties’ minor child, and
requiring that Pearson’s contact with the child be supervised. We affirm the
judgment.1
[¶2] Pearson and Ellis-Gross are the parents of a minor child, who was born
in June 2003. In August 2004, the court (Brodrick, J.) entered a parental rights and
1
We deny Ellis-Gross’s request to dismiss the appeal for Pearson’s failure to file a brief and appendix
that comply with M.R. App. P. 8 and 9 because any deficiencies in the brief and appendix do not
“prevent[] us from evaluating [Pearson’s] arguments on appeal in an effective and meaningful way.”
Hutchison v. Bruyere, 2015 ME 16, ¶ 10, 111 A.3d 36. Further, we decline to award sanctions on appeal
pursuant to M.R. App. P. 13(f).
2
responsibilities order granting Pearson and Ellis-Gross shared parental rights and
responsibilities and shared primary residence. In 2007, in response to a motion to
modify by Ellis-Gross and by agreement of the parties, the court (Dow, J.)
amended the parental rights and responsibilities order so that the child would
reside primarily with Ellis-Gross but would stay with Pearson on weekends.
[¶3] In November 2013, Ellis-Gross filed a motion to modify the
2007 parental rights and responsibilities order. In the motion, Ellis-Gross alleged
that Pearson’s behavior had become “increasingly erratic and threatening,” and she
sought sole parental rights and responsibilities, primary residence of the child, and
a requirement that Pearson’s contact with the child be supervised. After a
testimonial hearing, the court granted the motion in a written order, and Pearson
appealed.
[¶4] We review the trial court’s findings of fact in an order modifying
parental rights and responsibilities for clear error, and “will vacate the judgment
only if no competent evidence exists in the record to support it.” Sloan v.
Christianson, 2012 ME 72, ¶ 25, 43 A.3d 978 (quotation marks omitted). The
court’s ultimate decision to grant a motion to modify is reviewed for “an abuse of
discretion or an error of law.” Id. ¶ 26.
[¶5] A parent who moves for a modification of parental rights “must
demonstrate that a substantial change in circumstances has occurred since the
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previous decree and that the modification is in the best interests of the children as
determined through an analysis of the factors in 19-A M.R.S. § 1653(3).”
Jackson v. MacLeod, 2014 ME 110, ¶ 21, 100 A.3d 484. Here, although the court
did not explicitly find that there had been a substantial change in circumstances
affecting the child’s best interests since the previous parental rights and
responsibilities order, we attribute that conclusion to the court based on its ultimate
order. See Sloan, 2012 ME 72, ¶ 39, 43 A.3d 978 (stating that the court made an
“implicit determination that a substantial change in circumstances has occurred.”).
Because neither party filed a motion for additional findings of fact and conclusions
of law pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 52(b), “we will infer that the trial court made any
factual inferences needed to support its ultimate conclusion.” Pelletier v. Pelletier,
2012 ME 15, ¶ 20, 36 A.3d 903.
[¶6] Here, based on express and inferred findings, the record supports the
court’s implicit conclusion that there was a change of circumstances. The court
was presented with the following evidence: since the prior order was entered,
Pearson was arrested for disorderly conduct after he arrived at the child’s school
and became “agitated and upset with the school staff,” yelling at Ellis-Gross in
front of children at the school; a police officer arrested Pearson for telephone
harassment after Pearson called the principal of the child’s school and “was so
belligerent that the school was put on lock down”; and Pearson once left the child
4
alone for five hours, even though the child has an autism spectrum disorder and,
according to medical providers, should not be left without supervision.
Additionally, the court considered Pearson’s own testimony at the motion hearing
that if he could not have unsupervised contact with the child, he wanted his
parental rights terminated and that “at times you need to rattle some cages to get
your way.”
[¶7] That evidence supports the court’s findings that Pearson is willing to
resort to violence when he does not get his way and is likely to “do as he pleases”
in caring for the child, “regardless of what medical experts say regarding
appropriate care.” Further, the evidence supports the court’s ultimate conclusion
that Pearson’s “insistence on having things his way or no way is against the best
interests of his child,” and that Pearson’s “beliefs and position are such that a
shared parental rights and responsibilities arrangement is unworkable and clearly
not in the child’s best interests.”
[¶8] Because the court determined that a framework of shared parental
rights and responsibilities is not in the best interest of the child, and because there
was evidence that Pearson’s behavior had changed substantially since the issuance
of the previous order, the court was well within its discretion when it concluded
that sole parental rights and responsibilities should be granted to Ellis-Gross.
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[¶9] Moreover, in addressing the issue of contact, the court found that
Pearson’s “volatile temper, his closed mindedness and his unreasonable ‘rattling of
cages’ create a serious concern about the safety of the child in his care.” That
finding is supported by testimony at the hearing, and it supports the court’s
determination that Ellis-Gross should be awarded primary residence and that
Pearson’s contact with the child be supervised. See 19-A M.R.S. § 1653(3)(F),
(H)-(J) (2014). Pearson contends that the child has a very close relationship with
him, his ex-wife (not Ellis-Gross), and his ex-wife’s family, and that limiting the
child’s contact with them is not in the child’s best interest. The court was entitled,
however, to weigh those considerations against Pearson’s lack of cooperation in
co-parenting, including his violent behavior at the school, and concerns about the
child’s health and safety when in his custody. See Jackson, 2014 ME 110, ¶ 23,
100 A.3d 484 (“A trial court is afforded broad discretion to determine the custodial
arrangements for a minor child, and the determination of the weight to be given to
each factor is left to the sound discretion of the trial court after careful
consideration.” (citation omitted) (alteration omitted) (quotation marks omitted)).
[¶10] The trial court therefore did not err when it implicitly found a
substantial change in circumstances and expressly concluded that the best interest
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of the child would be served by granting Ellis-Gross sole parental rights and
responsibilities and requiring that Pearson’s contact with the child be supervised.2
The entry is:
Judgment affirmed.
On the briefs:
Dean Pearson, appellant pro se
Christopher R. Largay, Esq., Largay Law Offices, P.A.,
Bangor, for appellee Stacie Ellis-Gross
Bangor District Court docket number FM-2003-602
FOR CLERK REFERENCE ONLY
2
Pearson also argues that the court erred by not mailing notice of a January 2014 case management
conference to the post office box address that he had provided to the court, resulting in his absence from
the hearing. Because Pearson attended several hearings after that conference, and because the interim
order that resulted from that hearing is no longer in effect, Pearson’s claims regarding notice of the case
management conference are moot. See Stacey-Sotiriou v. Sotiriou, 2014 ME 145, ¶ 17, 106 A.3d 417
(concluding that the appellant’s argument regarding an interim order was moot where the court later
issued a “ruling finalizing the original parental rights action and resolving the motion to modify”).
Additionally, Pearson requests that we reduce his child support obligation and “drop child support
arrears.” Because the trial court order appealed from does not address child support, that issue is not
properly before us and we do not address it. We also do not address Pearson’s request that we reinstate
his “right to claim his son on his taxes as a dependent” because he has not developed that argument in his
brief. See Mehlhorn v. Derby, 2006 ME 110, ¶ 11, 905 A.2d 290.