Johnson v. Turner

No. 94-5919 (6th Cir. Sept. 8, 1997) ; Clearinghouse Number: 52208

Description

Fathers and Putative Fathers Lacked Standing to Challenge Tennessee’s Paternity and Child Support Statutes

Abstract

Finding that plaintiffs lacked standing to pursue their claims, the Sixth Circuit has affirmed the district court’s judgment dismissing their challenge to Tennessee’s paternity and child support statutes. In these consolidated actions, plaintiffs, fathers and putative fathers of children born out of wedlock, alleged that the paternity statute violates their Fourth Amendment rights because it authorizes arrests in purely civil matters without a showing of an effective service of process and a finding of probable cause supported by oath or affirmation. Plaintiffs also claimed that the paternity statute violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it authorizes prejudgment seizure of a putative father’s assets before a final judgment as to paternity has been entered. Finally, plaintiffs alleged that Tennessee’s attachment statute violates the Fourth Amendment because it authorizes the arrest of parents delinquent in child support payments without a finding of probable cause. The district court held that defendant judicial officials were entitled to immunity from plaintiffs’ claims for declaratory and injunctive and monetary relief and abstained from considering the merits of plaintiffs’ underlying constitutional claims. Affirming, the court of appeals held that, because none of the plaintiffs was incarcerated or involved in a pending paternity, support, or contempt proceeding at the time these actions were filed, their claims were moot.

Additional Information

Docket Date
1997-09-08 00:00:00+00:00

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