Hermesmann v. Seyer
{{Short description|1993 American child support case in Kansas}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox court case
| name = Hermesmann v. Seyer
| court = Supreme Court of Kansas
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| imagesize = 150px
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| full name = State of Kansas, ex rel., Colleen Hermesmann v. Shane Seyer, a minor, and Dan and Mary Seyer, his parents
| date decided = {{start date|1993|03|05|df=y}}
| citations = [https://law.justia.com/cases/kansas/supreme-court/1993/67-978-3.html 252 Kan. 646], 847 P.2d 1273 (Kan. 1993)
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| decision by = Richard Winn Holmes
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| prior actions = State ex rel. Hermesmann v. Seyer (Kan. Dist. Ct. Shawnee County 1992)
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| italic title = yes
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Hermesmann v. Seyer (State of Kansas ex rel. Hermesmann v. Seyer, 847 P.2d 1273 (Kan. 1993)){{cite court |litigants=Hermesmann v. Seyer |vol=847 |reporter=P.2d |opinion=1273 |pinpoint= |court=Kan. |date=1993 |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/kansas/supreme-court/1993/67-978-3.html |accessdate=2018-07-21 |quote=}} was a precedent-setting Kansas, United States, case in which Colleen Hermesmann successfully argued that a woman is entitled to sue the father of her child for child support even if conception occurred as a result of a criminal act committed by the woman.{{cite book |last=Rowland |first=Debran |title=The Boundaries of Her Body: The Troubling History of Women's Rights in America |year=2004 |publisher=Sphinx Publishing |location=Naperville, Illinois |isbn=978-1-57248-368-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/boundariesofherb00rowl/page/448 448]–449 |url=https://archive.org/details/boundariesofherb00rowl|url-access=registration }}{{cite news |title=Court Tells Youth to Support Child He Fathered at Age 13 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/06/us/court-tells-youth-to-support-child-he-fathered-at-age-13.html |accessdate=9 June 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=6 March 1993}} The case was brought in her name by the then Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
Background
Colleen Hermesmann was a 16-year-old babysitter who in 1987 was hired to take care of 12-year-old Shane Seyer. The two began a sexual relationship, and when Hermesmann was 17 and Seyer was 13, the former became pregnant. The baby, a daughter, was born in 1989. Criminal charges were brought against Hermesmann by Shawnee County, Kansas, accusing her of "engaging in the act of sexual intercourse with a child under sixteen". Hermesmann ultimately took a plea bargain, pleading guilty to the lesser offense of "contributing to a child's misconduct".
In 1991, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, in Hermesmann's name, took Seyer to court seeking child support. Hermesmann's criminal culpability was not addressed in this trial, as this was purely a civil court case. The Department also sought and was awarded $7,000, {{inflation|US|7000|1991|fmt=eq|r=-2}},{{inflation/fn|US}} for its own costs.{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Court asked to rule whether 13-year-old owes child support |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6CEyAAAAIBAJ&pg=6800,6678204 |access-date=21 July 2018 |newspaper=Lawrence Journal-World |date=24 January 1993}} However, in the later Supreme Court hearing, the Department stated it never had any intention of collecting its award.{{cite journal |last=Lewis |first=Myrisha S. |title=Making Sex the Same: Ending the Unfair Treatment of Males in Family Law |journal=Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society |date=25 October 2012 |volume=27 |pages=257–280 |url=http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/wjlgs/files/2012/12/Lewis-Final.pdf |accessdate=9 June 2013}}
Kansas Supreme Court case
In 1993, the Kansas Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Seyer that he was not liable to pay for child support. The court held that the admitted facts established that, because being under 16 he had been legally unable to consent to sex, a crime against him had been committed under statutory rape law, but that Seyer had actually given consent to the acts under civil law. The court ruled that "at no time did Shane register any complaint to his parents about the sexual liaison with Colleen". The court also ruled that a mother's potential culpability under criminal statutes was of no relevance in determining the father's child support liability in a civil action.{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Teen Must Pay For Getting Sitter Pregnant |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/278872/TEEN-MUST-PAY-FOR-GETTING-SITTER-PREGNANT.html |newspaper=Deseret News |date=6 March 1993 |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304160921/https://www.deseret.com/1993/3/6/19035564/teen-must-pay-for-getting-sitter-pregnant}}{{cite news |title=13-year-old is responsible for child support – Court |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6q0zAAAAIBAJ&pg=6641,987582 |newspaper=Lawrence Journal-World |date=5 March 1993}} The court stated "The State's interest in requiring minor parents to support their children overrides the State's competing interest in protecting juveniles from improvident acts, even when such acts may include criminal activity on the part of the other parent".{{cite book |last=Cocca |first=Carolyn |title=Jailbait: The Politics of Statutory Rape Laws in the United States |year=2004 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany |isbn=978-0-7914-5906-5 |page=88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vTlGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88}}
Precedents set
The case established a precedent which has subsequently been used in the Kansas courts.{{cite web |title=24 Kan. App. 2d 324 No. 76,971 |url=http://www.kscourts.org/kscases/ctapp/1997/19970905/76971.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050309234912/http://www.kscourts.org/kscases/ctapp/1997/19970905/76971.htm |archivedate=9 March 2005 |publisher=Kansas Court of Appeal}} It is one of the earlier cases now cited in U.S. child-support guidelines which say that in every case that has addressed the issue the court has decided that an underage boy is liable for the support of his child even when the conception was the result of criminal conduct by the mother.{{cite book |last=Morgan |first=Laura W. |title=Child Support Guidelines: Interpretation and Application |edition=2nd |publisher=Wolters Kluwer |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4548-0113-9 |page={{nowrap|8{{not a typo|-}}130}} |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WS4GIZ3oj1wC&pg=SA8-PA130 |date=2012}}
In a 1997 case before the Florida District Court of Appeal, the court's decision cited Hermesmann, saying that the Kansas decision was taken even though the Kansas statute states "a person under 15 years of age is incapable of consent as a matter of law".{{cite web |title=DEPT. OF REV., BENNETT v. MILLER |url=http://www.leagle.com/decision/19971712688So2d1024_31528/DEPT.%20OF%20REV.,%20BENNETT%20v.%20MILLER |publisher=Leagle, Inc. |accessdate=17 June 2013}} The court also remarked that "the Kansas court did not address the question of whether lack of actual consent (apart from the statutory definition) could form the basis of a defense to an action to establish paternity". In this case also the question of whether actual non-consent might be a defense was not before the court.