Hallett v. Mullin

                                ENTRY ORDER

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 90-495

                            OCTOBER TERM, 1990


Rita M. Hallett (Mullin)          }          APPEALED FROM:
                                  }
                                  }
     v.                           }          Windsor Family Court
                                  }
                                  }
Stephen Mullin                    }
                                  }          DOCKET NO. F25-10-90 WrFa


             In the above entitled cause the Clerk will enter:

     Plaintiff's complaint for extraordinary relief is dismissed.  Insofar
as plaintiff's pleadings in this Court may be construed as an appeal pur-
suant to 15 V.S.A. { 1109 from the Chittenden Family Court's order denying
plaintiff's complaint for relief from abuse filed October 24, 1990, we
affirm.

     Plaintiff's attempt to bypass the Chittenden Family Court by seeking ex
parte relief from abuse in the Windsor Family Court was appropriately met by
order of the Windsor Family Court filed October 22, 1990, transferring jur-
isdiction to Chittenden Family Court and consolidating it with the post-
divorce proceedings between the parties.  V.R.C.P. 80(n)(2) relied upon by
plaintiff was designed to protect defendant's due process concerns, not a
vehicle to gain unfair advantage by forum shopping.


                                   BY THE COURT:



                                   Frederic W. Allen, Chief Justice


                                   Ernest W. Gibson III, Associate Justice


[ ]  Publish                       John A. Dooley, Associate Justice

[ ]  Do Not Publish
                                   James L. Morse, Associate Justice


                                   Louis P. Peck, Associate Justice (Ret.),
                                   Specially Assigned