Court of Appeals Summary Decision of the Month:
Denial of continuance for trial so newly retained counsel could attend reversed on appeal.
Appellant appealed from the findings of fact, conclusions of law, and judgment of the Jefferson Family Court. She alleged that the family court abused its discretion when it denied her motion for a continuance of a trial date so that her newly retained counsel could attend the trial. The Court of Appeals agreed. The case involved not only property and maintenance issues, but also appellant’s fundamental rights as a parent to custody and visitation with her minor children. While the Court recognized the family court’s discretion in such matters, it held that the family court was required to consider the totality of the circumstances in deciding whether to deny or grant a continuance and that the family court abused its discretion when it considered only the delay that would be caused by a continuance. In considering the issue, the Court of Appeals examined all relevant factors, including the length of delay; prior continuances; inconvenience; cause of the delay; complexity of the case; and identifiable prejudice. While not all of the factors weighed in favor of a continuance, the totality of the circumstances – including that custody of the children was awarded to appellant’s ex-spouse and that her visitation was suspended without any finding that the child would be seriously endangered – required reversal and remand.
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Here are individual summaries prepared by the AOC organized by legal topics this months PUBLISHED decisions only.
For a list of all archived monthly summaries, please click here for those at the AOC web site and click here for those posted here on this blog.
Please note some of these published decisions may have pending motions for discretionary review so you are cautioned to confirm finality of disposition by going to the AOC’s web site.
