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H.F. v. State Department of Human Resources
Citations: 843 So. 2d 190; 2002 Ala. LEXIS 142Docket: 1010658
Court: Supreme Court of Alabama; May 3, 2002; Alabama; State Supreme Court
Petitioners H.F. and B.F. sought certiorari review after the Court of Civil Appeals dismissed their appeal as untimely. The lower court had found the appeal untimely because H.F. and B.F. failed to file a notice of appeal by the January 2, 2001 deadline following the trial court's December 18, 2000 order denying their postjudgment motion. They filed a 'Motion to Allow Late Filed Appeal' on January 3, 2001, claiming 'excusable neglect' due to their attorney not receiving notice of the December 18 order until that date. The trial court later ruled that their notice of appeal was timely based on this finding. However, the Court of Civil Appeals dismissed their appeal, stating that lack of notice does not constitute excusable neglect, citing precedents from Miller v. Amerada Hess Corp. and Bacon v. Winn-Dixie Montgomery, Inc. The Alabama Supreme Court granted certiorari to evaluate whether the Court of Civil Appeals' decision conflicted with its previous ruling in Ex parte S.W.T., where a similar claim of excusable neglect was accepted and the appeal was allowed. The Cullman County Department of Human Resources failed to contest the parents' motion for an extension of time to file a postjudgment motion and notice of appeal, leading the Court of Civil Appeals to conclude it could not review the merits of that order. Arguments presented for the first time on appeal were deemed inadmissible. The court found no distinction between this case and a prior case, S.W.T., where similar circumstances applied, as there was no opposition to the assertion of excusable neglect in the trial court. Consequently, the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals was reversed, and the case was remanded for consideration of the parents' appeal. The court noted that, in juvenile court, a party has 14 days from the judgment entry to file an appeal, and since the period for appealing the December 18, 2000 order expired on January 1, 2001 (a holiday), the parents had until January 2 to file their notice of appeal.