Sunday, September 26, 1999
Justin fight unlikely to go federal
Custody cases states' purview
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Attorneys on both sides of a two-state custody battle have said they might take the case to the federal court system if it cannot be resolved in Kentucky or Ohio. But some question whether the case would ever actually get there.
Domestic issues generally fall under the review of state courts, where the battle for Justin is now being fought. Precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court indicates that the federal system almost never gets involved in two-state custody fights.
In 1988 case of Thompson vs. Thompson, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that having different decisions from two states was not a compelling reason for federal involvement.
Richard Cullison, who is representing Regina Moore, the boy's biological mother, said that option could be studied if the case cannot be resolved by the state court systems in Ohio and Kentucky.
Susan Eisenman, the Columbus-based attorney representing the Ohio couple hoping to adopt Justin, said it's all speculation until both state appellate and supreme court systems are exhausted.
“We're a couple of years away from crossing over into the federal system if that's what we have to do,” she said. “This is all speculation right now.”
Other attorneys throughout the Greater Cincinnati area have weighed in on the case that involves a 2-year-old boy; the unmarried Covington couple that gave birth to him and eventually changed their minds about putting him up for adoption; and Rich and Cheryl Asente, the Girard, Ohio, couple that has been raising him since February 1998, when he was about 1 year old.
Kenton Circuit Judge Patricia Summe has ruled that the child should be returned to the biological parents, Ms. Moore and Jerry Dorning, saying they did not make an informed decision when they let Justin go live in Ohio.
The Asentes, who continue to raise Justin, have an appeal pending with the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
And, on the other side of the Ohio River, the biological parents have a pending appeal filed with the Ohio Court of Appeals. They are protesting a decision by Ohio Probate Judge R.R. Denny Clunk of Stark County that kept the Asentes' adoption petition alive.
University of Cincinnati law professor Christo Lassiter noted that Kentucky and Ohio appellate courts still must rule and that, depending on the outcome, the parties will have to decide whether they have the impetus to approach the federal system.
Mr. Lassiter noted that litigants often run out of the money and energy required to continue with a case until they get a favorable outcome.
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