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The appellate
court rejected the mother's argument that the doctrine of res judicata
precluded further proceedings on a termination petition by any trial
court after another trial court had granted the mother's motion
for dismissal of the petition.
The respondent
mother successfully moved to strike the neglect petition and to
dismiss the termination petition because both documents were based
on a charge of physical abuse of the child that was not supported
by the petitioner's specific allegations of parental misconduct.
The court denied the state's request to correct the neglect petition
and subsequently dismissed the termination petition as well.
Another
court, relying on the fact that the petitions had not dismissed
after a hearing on the merits, set aside the dismissal and reinstated
the termination petition. The parties later participated in a hearing
on the merits, after which the court terminated the mother's parental
rights. The sole basis for the mother's appeal was her argument
that res judicata should have barred the reinstatement of the termination
of petition. The appellate court noted the long standing proposition
that the "application of the doctrine of res judicata requires that
there be a previous judgment on the merits." Here, the appellate
noted, the underlying basis for the trial court's initial dismissal
of the termination petition was entirely procedural. Therefore,
res judicata did not bar a court from vacating the earlier dismissal
and reinstating the petition.
Sarah
Healy Eagan, Esq.
Director, Child Abuse Project
Center for Children's Advocacy
University of Connecticut School of Law
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