C.L.W. v. Madison County Department of Human Resources (Appeal from Madison Juvenile Court: JU-11-1583.02)(Consolidated with 2130170.) Affirmed. No Opinion.
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
REL: 04/25/2014 Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance sheets of Southern Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-0649), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter. ALABAMA COURT OF CIVIL APPEALS OCTOBER TERM, 2013-2014 _________________________ 2130148 and 2130170 _________________________ C.L.W. v. Madison County Department of Human Resources Appeals from Madison Juvenile Court (JU-11-1583.02 and JU-12-412.02 MOORE, Judge. AFFIRMED. NO OPINION. See Rule 53(a)(1) and (a)(2)(F), Ala. R. App. P.; Andrews v. Merritt Oil Co., 612 So. 2d 409, 410 (Ala. 1992); and Ross 2130148 v. City of Huntsville, 107 So. 3d 1093, 1096 (Ala. Civ. App. 2012). Thompson, P.J., and Pittman and Donaldson, JJ., concur. Thomas, J., concurs in the result, with writing. 2 2130148 THOMAS, Judge, concurring in the result. Although I would affirm the judgment of the Madison Juvenile Court, which terminated the parental rights of C.L.W. ("the father") to N.C.W. and V.A.W., I would do so with an opinion. The Madison County Department of Human Resources ("DHR") filed petitions in the juvenile court seeking to terminate the father's parental rights. It also sought permission to serve the father by publication. and received In his brief, the father cites § 12-15-318(c), Ala. Code 1975, and L.K. v. Lee County Department of Human Resources, 64 So. 3d 1112 (Ala. Civ. App. 2010), for properly serve him. his contention that DHR failed to The father asserts that this court has "held that two elements must be met under 12-15-318 in order to effect service by publication." The father is correct; however, effective April 25, 2013, subsection (c) of § 12-15318 was amended by our legislature to allow proper service by publication when only one of the two conditions listed in the statute are met. See Act No. 2013-157, § 2, Ala. Acts 2013. Subsection (c) currently reads: 3 2130148 "(c) Service of process by publication may not be ordered by the juvenile court unless at least one of the following conditions is met: "(1) The child who is the subject of the proceedings was abandoned in the state, or "(2) The state or private department or agency having custody of the child has established, by evidence presented to the juvenile court, that the absent parent or parents are avoiding service of process or their whereabouts are unknown and cannot be ascertained with reasonable diligence." (Emphasis added.) The record reveals that DHR filed an affidavit alleging that the father was avoiding service of process; thus, I would agree that DHR met "at least one" of the conditions and that the juvenile court's judgments are due to be affirmed. However, I write to highlight that our legislature's change in the language of § 12-15-318(c) renders inapt the father's reliance on our holding in L.K., 64 So. 3d at 1115-16. Similarly, our holdings in C.M. v. Madison County Department of Human Resources, [Ms. 2111147, Feb. 8, 2013] ___ So. 3d ___, ___ (Ala. Civ. App. 2013), and D.M.T.J.W.D. v. Lee County Department of Human Resources, 109 So. 3d 1133, 1141 (Ala. 4 2130148 Civ. App. 2012), have been superseded by § 12-15-318(c), as amended. 5
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
