MAM v. State, Department of Family Services

Summary

The Wyoming Supreme Court held that the district court abused its discretion under W.R.C.P. 60(b)(6) by denying relief from a stipulated paternity order. The court emphasized material misstatements in the paternity petition, the absence of evidence that the appellant knowingly waived genetic testing, conclusive genetic evidence excluding him as the biological father, and the lack of prejudice to the child. The judgment was reversed and remanded.

Holdings

1. Proceedings commenced before July 1, 2003, are governed by the paternity law in effect when the proceeding commenced, so the district court erred by relying on the subsequently enacted Wyoming Parentage Act.
2. Under the particular facts, the district court abused its discretion by denying MAM's motion for relief from the stipulated paternity judgment.
3. Those doctrines do not bar a motion for relief from judgment under W.R.C.P. 60(b), even if they might apply to a separate petition seeking to establish non-paternity.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court abused its discretion by denying MAM's motion for relief from the stipulated paternity judgment under W.R.C.P. 60(b)(6).
2. Whether the district court improperly applied the 2003 Wyoming Parentage Act to a proceeding commenced in 2000.
3. Whether statutory time limits and the doctrines of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and judicial estoppel barred relief under W.R.C.P. 60(b)(6).

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded