Blackshear v. Blackshear

In Blackshear v. Blackshear, 52 Haw. 480, 478 P.2d 852 (1971), the divorce decree was entered in 1964. In the latter part of 1967, the divorced former husband sought a modification of the child support payments and "sought to deny his parentage of two of the four minor children involved in this case." Id. at 480, 478 P.2d at 853. "The matter of legitimacy was found to be res judicata" by the family court. Id. at 481, 478 P.2d at 853. In its opinion, the Hawaii Supreme Court stated that "appellant's position as to their two of the four minor children's parentage is without merit, this issue having been finally adjudicated below." Id. The court did not explain its statement. In light of HRS 332-1 (1955), claim preclusion is not the only reasonable interpretation. In Blackshear v. Blackshear, the appellant filed in the lower court certain motions by which he sought to modify the amount of child support owing on account of the four minor children decreed to be his in a divorce granted some three years before. In the motions, appellant also sought to deny his paternity of two of the four. Id. at 480, 478 P.2d at 853. The divorce decree had incorporated an agreement between the appellant and the appellee, the former Mrs. Blackshear, that had been approved by the decreeing court and filed in the divorce action. The agreement specified the amount of child support to be paid by the appellant for the support of "the four minor children of the marriage[,]" designating each child by name. Id. at 481, 478 P.2d at 853. In denying the motions, the lower court found the issue of paternity to be res judicata. On appeal, the Hawaii Supreme Court affirmed that conclusion, holding that "appellant's position as to their parentage is without merit, this issue having been finally adjudicated below." Id.