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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
IN THE INTEREST OF: L.T.G., : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
A MINOR : PENNSYLVANIA
:
:
APPEAL OF: R.F., MATERNAL :
GRANDMOTHER :
:
:
: No. 2515 EDA 2019
Appeal from the Order Entered August 1, 2019
In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Juvenile Division at
No(s): CP-51-AP-0000939-2018
BEFORE: LAZARUS, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and McCAFFERY, J.
MEMORANDUM BY McCAFFERY, J.: Filed: April 9, 2020
R.F. (Grandmother) appeals from the order entered in the Philadelphia
County Court of Common Pleas, which: (1) dismissed her petition to
involuntary terminate the parental rights of T.G.1 (Father) to his minor child,
L.T.G. (Child); (2) dismissed Grandmother’s petition to adopt Child; and (3)
granted Father an ex parte protective (or stay-away) order against
Grandmother.2 Grandmother challenges the protective order only; she
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1 Father has not filed a brief with this Court.
2The trial court’s order also dismissed Grandmother’s petition to confirm the
consent of Child’s mother, G.F. (Mother), to Grandmother’s adoption.
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contends the trial court lacked statutory authority or jurisdiction to enter it.
We affirm.
Child was born in April of 2015; her parents are Father and Mother.
Grandmother is Child’s maternal grandmother. At the time of Child’s birth,
both parents were using opiates and/or heroin, and Grandmother and her
husband (Mother’s father) were Child’s primary caregivers.3 N.T. at 39. When
Child was seven months old, she and Mother moved in with Mother’s parents,
while Father moved to his parents’ home. Father initially had some visits with
Child, but after his and Mother’s relationship ended in January of 2017, Father
no longer had visits.
In June of 2017, Father completed drug rehab treatment. N.T. at 10.
Upon his request, Mother brought Child to see him once that month. Id. at
10-11. Thereafter, Father continued to ask for visitation, but Mother and her
family did not respond. Id. at 11.
Accordingly, on February 21, 2018, Father filed a complaint for custody,
seeking visitation with Child.4 Meanwhile, three months earlier, in November
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3Father testified he was taking opiates and Percocet, Mother testified she and
Father both had “drug problems,” while Grandmother testified they “were both
heroin addicts.” N.T., 8/1/19, at 9, 27, 39.
4 The custody matter is listed separately at another trial docket, and that
record is not currently before this panel. Nevertheless, Grandmother
attached, to her petition to confirm consent, a copy of the detailed six-page
custody order entered on November 28, 2018. Grandmother’s Petition to
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of 2017, Grandmother had also filed a complaint for custody. The parties
appeared for a hearing before the Honorable Stella Tsai on November 28,
2018.5 On that same day, Grandmother filed a petition to adopt Child, as well
as a petition to terminate involuntarily Father’s parental rights pursuant to
Subsections 2511(a)(1), (2), (6), and (b) of the Adoption Act.6 Following the
hearing, Judge Tsai granted Grandmother sole legal and primary physical
custody of Child, and granted Father partial custody in the form of supervised
weekly visits at the family courthouse.
Grandmother’s termination petition was listed at the instant docket,
before the Honorable Daine Grey, Jr. (trial court). On April 17, 2019, Father
filed the underlying counseled motion to dismiss Grandmother’s termination
petition. On June 7th, Grandmother filed a petition to confirm Mother’s
consent to Grandmother’s adoption of Child.
The trial court conducted a hearing on Father’s dismissal motion on
August 1, 2019. Father and Grandmother were each represented by counsel.
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Confirm Consent, 6/7/19, Exh. A (Custody Order, Phila. CCP Family Ct. Div.
Case 0C1701595, 11/28/18) (Custody Order, 11/28/18).
5 Father and Grandmother were each represented by counsel, who also
appeared on their behalf at the underlying hearing on Father’s petition to
dismiss Grandmother’s termination petition.
6 23 Pa.C.S. §§ 2101-2938.
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Father, Mother, and Grandmother testified.7 Following the presentation of
evidence, the trial court dismissed Grandmother’s petition to terminate
Father’s parental rights, as well as her petitions to adopt Child and to confirm
Mother’s consent to such an adoption. N.T. at 80-81. The trial court
proclaimed the hearing had concluded. For ease of review, we excerpt the
hearing transcript which indicated what transpired next:
THE COURT: . . . This hearing is over and everybody is
excused.
[Father’s counsel:] Thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: [Addressing Grandmother’s counsel: Y]ou need
to inform your client that a contempt of court is very possible in
this case because she admitted to violating the [custody] order.
You need to talk to your client.
Everyone is excused.
(Brief pause.)
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7Father also testified, and Grandmother acknowledged, that Grandmother had
not brought Child to the supervised visits, as required by the November 18,
2018 custody order. N.T. at 17-18, 49. Father stated Grandmother was “in
contempt of the court order,” he filed papers in the custody matter, and they
had “two court dates coming up.” Id. at 18.
We further note that throughout Grandmother’s testimony, the trial
court frequently directed her to respond only to counsel’s questions —
instructing her that she did not have “a license to sit on the stand and just
talk” — and to abide by the court’s commands for her to stop speaking when
an objection was sustained. N.T. at 40-46. The court advised Grandmother
to not “be defensive” in answering the questions posed by Father’s counsel.
Id. at 61. Grandmother also argued with the court over some of its rulings.
See id. at 47 (Grandmother stating “How is that an objection?,” after court
sustained objection).
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[Father’s counsel:] Your Honor, [Grandmother] did just leave
out [sic] and specifically said, “I’m going to have to kill him.”
THE COURT: Bring your client back in here. [Grandmother’s
counsel], I need your client back in here, now.
(Brief pause.)
THE COURT: Going back on the record.
[Grandmother’s counsel:] I can’t find her, I think she left.
THE COURT: [Father’s counsel,] how do you want to deal with
this?
[Father’s counsel:] I’ll be honest now that counsel is back in
the room, we actually had a PFA hearing and we had to have
sheriffs assist to leave out [sic], including myself. I had to have
a sheriff take me to the garage, Your Honor. As [t]he Court is well
aware, I’ve been practicing for quite some time now and I have
not really ever had these types of issues, so I’m kind of a fish out
of water and would take guidance from the Court.
THE COURT: Very often I would admonish people in this
situation. I can’t admonish someone who’s not here.
[Father], do you feel comfortable and safe? How do you feel?
[Father:] Honestly, they’ve threatened my life before.
THE COURT: The Court is going to issue a stay away order
against [G]randmother with respect to [F]ather . . . . The stay
away order is going to be from his person, his phone, place of
residence, his place of business, any letters or threating
correspondence.
* * *
THE COURT: [Grandmother’s counsel,] do you have any
objections?
[Grandmother’s counsel]: I definitely have objections. Okay.
[Grandmother] has been —
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THE COURT: Let me state my grounds. The purpose of this
stay away order is after this Court entered its ruling,
[G]randmother walked out and said that she was going to have
[to] kill [F]ather. That was a statement actually heard by [F]ather
as well as [F]ather’s attorney; am I correct with respect to that?
[Father’s attorney]: Yes, that’s correct. I was right here.
THE COURT: I heard something, I couldn’t tell exactly what,
but I saw and heard her mouth say something.
[Grandmother’s c]ounsel, as an officer of the Court, I have no
reason to disbelieve her statement. Do you have any reason, as
an officer of the court, do you have any reason to disbelieve your
colleague? Do you believe she is giving this Court false
information with respect to what your client said?
[Grandmother’s counsel]: I already said I did not hear her.
That’s the best I can do.
THE COURT: As a result, your objection is overruled, but
noted. . . .
N.T. at 81-84.
The court entered a written protective order, in favor of Father and
against Grandmother, “pursuant to [its] authority under Juvenile Act, 42
Pa.C.S.A. § 6301 . . . to ensure the safety and promote the best interests of
[Child].”8 Court Protective Order, 8/1/19. The face of the order stated it was
valid for one year, until August 1, 2020. Id.
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8 The trial court also cited Section 6351 of the Juvenile Act, which governs the
disposition of dependent children. See Court Protective Order, 8/1/19.
Because Child has not been adjudicated dependent, however, we deem
Section 6351 not to apply. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 6351(a) (“If the child is found
to be a dependent child the court may make any of the following
orders . . . .”).
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Grandmother filed a timely notice of appeal, together with a statement
of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a)(2)(i). 9 She
presents the following issues for our review:10
1. Did the trial court lack jurisdiction under the Juvenile Act 18
Pa.C.S.A. § 6301 motion for a protective order [sic] where the
trial court had closed the underlying case by granting . . . Father's
Motion to Dismiss Involuntary Termination as well as Dismissing .
. . Grandmother's Petition for Adoption and Petition to Confirm
Consent and had dismissed all parties from the courtroom?
2. Did the trial court abuse its discretion and violate the
constitutional due process rights of [Grandmother] by failing to
provide any attempt at meaningful notice on an oral motion for a
protective order where only mere seconds were given to looking
for [Grandmother] in the hallway outside the courtroom to locate
[Grandmother] after she had left the courtroom, and,
[Grandmother’s] counsel was not given an opportunity to contact
her client by text or mobile phone? Further, were
[Grandmother’s] constitutional due process rights violated at the
ex parte hearing where [her] counsel . . . was not permitted to
cross-examine the witnesses, nor present any testimony, and, the
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9 On November 26, 2019, following the filing of the notice of appeal and Rule
1925 statement, the trial court permitted Grandmother’s counsel, Mary
Catherine Baur, Esquire, to withdraw. On December 16, 2019, Grandmother’s
current counsel, Louisa Ashmead Robinson, Esquire, entered her appearance
in this Court.
10 Appellant’s Rule 1925(b) statement raised eight issues for review, including
whether the trial court: should have reviewed Grandmother’s termination
petition; erred in granting Father’s petition to dismiss the termination petition;
should have appointed counsel to represent Mother and Child; should have
permitted Grandmother’s husband to testify; and should have ordered drug
testing for Father. Grandmother’s Statement of Matters Complained of on
Appeal, 8/3/19, at 1-2. Grandmother, however, has abandoned all of these
issues on appeal, and instead pursues only one issue that was raised in the
Rule 1925 statement: whether the trial court should have scheduled a hearing
on its protective order. See id. at 2.
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entire ex parte hearing lasted less than five minutes with [F]ather
never even testifying that he heard the alleged threat, and, where
the trial court testified that he accepted the word of opposing
counsel as an officer of the court without having opposing counsel
cross-examined by [Grandmother’s] counsel . . . ?
3. Did the Juvenile trial court err as a matter of law by issuing a
protective order in a matter where the original, underlying case
was a juvenile matter and the Legislature has given exclusive
authority to issue protective orders to the Criminal Courts, and,
this order is exposing [Grandmother] to potentially grave
consequences for a period of one year including the possibility of
a warrantless arrest and felony charges for a period of one year,
and, this order has severe collateral ramifications in the open
contested custody matter between [Grandmother] and [F]ather?
Grandmother’s Brief at 6-7.11
We address Grandmother’s claims together. She contends the Juvenile
Act did not provide any authority for the trial court to issue a protective order.
Grandmother also avers the court lacked jurisdiction to issue the protective
order because the court had already ruled on the underlying petitions, and
thus there was no case or controversy currently before it, and the court had
excused the parties from the courtroom. Grandmother further asserts the
court violated her due process rights by conducting an ex parte hearing on the
protective order. She alleges the court did not allow enough time for her
counsel to look for her, and the court should have directed counsel to call
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11 We remind counsel: “The statement of the questions involved must state
concisely the issues to be resolved, expressed in the terms and circumstances
of the case but without unnecessary detail. The statement will be deemed to
include every subsidiary question fairly comprised therein.” See Pa.R.A.P.
2116(a).
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Grandmother’s cell phone to ask her to return to the courtroom. Grandmother
claims that because she was not present, the court should have scheduled a
hearing so that she could appear and be heard, and in any event, the court
erred in precluding her counsel from cross-examining witnesses. After careful
review, we disagree.
We emphasize Grandmother has not cited — and we have not
discovered — any authority prohibiting a Pennsylvania family court from
issuing a protective order. Instead, Grandmother relies upon Pa.R.C.P. 227.1,
which she properly states allows a “party” to file a post-trial motion. See
Pa.R.C.P. 227.1(a) (“After trial and upon the written Motion for Post-Trial
Relief filed by any part, the court may [grant the enumerated relief].”);
Grandmother’s Brief at 15-16. Grandmother extrapolates from this rule that
the trial court in this matter was not a “party.” Id. at 16. Grandmother also
cites Pa.R.A.P. 903(a), which she characterizes as stating a trial court “retains
jurisdiction for a party to file an appeal within thirty days.” Id. Grandmother
reasons Rule 903 does not provide the court any “jurisdiction to reach back
into the case to issue a protective order once it has been closed by either
dismissal or denial [sic].” Id.
We disagree that either Rule of Civil Procedure 227.1 and or Rule of
Appellate Procedure 903 prohibited the trial court from issuing a protective
order. Instead, the plain language of those rules simply provides,
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respectively, that a party may file a post trial motion, and that a party has 30
days to file an appeal. See Pa.R.C.P. 227.1; Pa.R.A.P. 903.
Grandmother also cites this Court’s decision in In the Interest of R.A.,
761 A.2d 1220 (Pa. Super. 2000) (R.A.), in which the trial court relied on a
Crimes Code statute, 18 Pa.C.S. § 4954,12 to issue a protective order in a
juvenile adjudication matter. In R.A., this Court held that Section 4954 did
not provide the court authority to issue the protective order, because the
juvenile proceedings were not “criminal” matters. Id. at 1225. While we
agree Section 4954 would likewise preclude the trial court from issuing a
protective order in this case, the trial court did not, as occurred in R.A.,
purport to enter the order pursuant to Section 4954.
Meanwhile, Grandmother makes no argument addressing Section 6301
of the Juvenile Act, upon which the trial court’s written order relied. See Court
Protective Order, 8/1/19. Section 6301 sets forth the purposes of the Juvenile
Act, including: “[t]o provide for the care, protection, safety and wholesome
mental and physical development of children coming within the provisions of
this chapter;” and “[t]o provide means through which the provisions of this
chapter are executed and enforced and in which the parties are assured a fair
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12See 18 Pa.C.S. § 4954 (“Any court with jurisdiction over any criminal matter
may, after a hearing and in its discretion, upon substantial evidence . . . issue
protective orders . . . .”).
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hearing and their constitutional and other legal rights recognized and
enforced.” 42 Pa.C.S. § 6301(b)(1.1), (4).
Furthermore, we note our Supreme Court has stated:
Although the [Pennsylvania] Constitution does not enumerate
every specific power inherent in courts and incidental to the grant
of judicial authority under Article V, the Judicial Code serves to
codify some of these non-particularized powers. Section 323 of
the Judicial Code provides:
Every court shall have power to issue, under its judicial
seal, every lawful writ and process necessary or suitable
for the exercise of its jurisdiction and for the enforcement
of any order which it may make and all legal and
equitable powers required for or incidental to the
exercise of its jurisdiction, and, except as otherwise
prescribed by general rules, every court shall have power
to make such rules and orders of court as the interest of
justice or the business of the court may require.
42 Pa.C.S. § 323. Section 912 of the Judicial Code similarly
establishes that every court of common pleas “shall have power
to issue, under its judicial seal, every lawful writ and process . . .
as such courts have been heretofore authorized by law or usage
to issue[,]” and every judge of a court of common pleas “shall
have all the powers of a judge or magisterial district judge of the
minor judiciary.” 42 Pa.C.S. § 912.
In re Lackawanna County, 212 A.3d 1, 12 (Pa. 2019).
In its opinion, the trial court stated its reasons for granting Father a
protective order against Grandmother:
[A]fter this Court issued its order granting Father’s motion to
dismiss [Grandmother’s] petition, [Grandmother] walked out of
the court stating that she’s “going to have to kill” Father in an
effort to keep the Child away from him. [Both Father and his
counsel heard this statement.] When this Court tried to recall
[Grandmother] in the courtroom, she had already left the building.
Coupled with the fact that Father testified that his life has been
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threatened by [Grandmother] and her family before, this Court
was justified in issuing the protective order.
Trial Ct. Op., 10/17/19, at 7.
We note that at the hearing, Father testified — and Grandmother
acknowledged — that she had not brought Child to the weekly supervised
visits, in violation of the November 18, 2018, custody order. N.T. at 18, 49.
This evidence supports the trial court’s finding that Grandmother’s threats of
violence related to her endeavor to keep Father from Child. Furthermore, we
reiterate Father’s counsel’s statement that Father “had a PFA hearing,” and
that both she and Father “had to have sheriffs assist” them in leaving the
courthouse. Id. at 81-82. In light of all the foregoing, as well as our review
of the hearing transcript, we conclude the trial court did not err in issuing the
one year ex parte protective order pursuant to its authority under Section
6301 of the Juvenile Act and the general powers of the Courts of Common
Pleas.13 See 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 323, 912, 6301; In re Lackawanna County, 212
A.3d at 12.
Order affirmed.
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13 We note the trial court’s opinion cited Fed.R.C.P. 65(b)(2) (“Every
temporary restraining order issued without notice . . . expires at the time after
entry — not to exceed 14 days — that the court sets.”) and two federal Third
Circuit Court decisions. Trial Ct. Op. at 7. We agree with Grandmother that
the court’s reliance on this federal authority is misplaced, where this case is
governed by the Pennsylvania Adoption Act, Pennsylvania Juvenile Act, and
the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure. Nevertheless, we may affirm the
court’s order on any basis. See In re E.M.I., 57 A.3d 1278, 1290 n.6 (Pa.
Super. 2012).
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Judge Kunselman joins the memorandum.
Judge Lazarus concurs in the result.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 4/9/20
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