Clark v. Superior Court

I

A strong bipartisan consensus has emerged as to one way to hold down welfare costs: Require absent parents, usually fathers, to keep up their child support obligations. (See Wehunt v. Ledbetter (11th Cir. 1989) 875 F.2d 1558, 1561 [quoting a 1988 Sen. Rep. regarding certain amendments to the Social Security Act: “The bill reported by the Committee on Finance .... builds upon a strong consensus, joined in by liberals and conservatives alike, that the Nation’s welfare system must,” among other things “enforce the principle that child support must in the first instance come from parents”]; see also Levesque, Targeting “Deadbeat” Dads: The Problem With the Direction of Welfare Reform (1994) 15 Hamline J. Pub. L. & Pol’y 1, 2 [“The sense of crisis and urgency has fueled a rare consensus among liberals and conservatives on what ought to be done with the growing number of children *579 in poverty. . . . [IQ The consensus urges a simple resolution to the welfare problem: since the largest number of children in poverty live with single mothers, return fathers to their homes, either physically or economically.”].)

This consensus was reflected as early as 1974, when Congress…

I concur in the result but write separately because I cannot agree with most of the majority’s reasoning and find much of the dicta disturbing. Indeed, although the precise question we address is one of first impression, the answer is quite simple.

These indigent litigants are not entitled to taxpayer-funded counsel because they do not face the loss of physical liberty, and no other state or federal constitutional considerations mandate such representation.

As my brethren note, our United States Supreme Court in Lassiter v. Department of Social Services (1981) 452 U.S. 18, 25-27 [ 101 S.Ct. 2153, 2158-1260 , 68 L.Ed.2d 640 ], held one has an absolute right to appointed counsel only when facing the deprivation of physical liberty. Such is not the case here because the county may not enforce a reimbursement judgment by contempt. (Crider v. Superior Court (1993) 15 Cal.App.4th 227, 228 [ 18 Cal.Rptr.2d 757 ].)

Of course, that conclusion does not end the discussion but the result is the same. Indeed, the Lassiter court cautioned, “[A]s a litigant’s interest in personal liberty diminishes, so does his [or her] right to appointed counsel.” (Lassiter v. Department of Social Services,…

Laurence M. Watson, County Counsel, James L. Turner and Karyn J. Driessen, Deputy County Counsel, for Real Party in Interest.

Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General, Roderick E. Walston, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Carol Ann White and Mary A. Roth, Deputy Attorneys General, and Ruth Sorensen as Amici Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest.

OPINION

SILLS, P.J. —

A strong bipartisan consensus has emerged as to one way to hold down welfare costs: Require absent parents, usually fathers, to keep up their child support obligations. (See Wehunt v. Ledbetter (11th Cir.1989) 875 F.2d 1558, 1561 [quoting a 1988 Sen. Rep. regarding certain amendments to the Social Security Act: "The bill reported by the Committee on Finance .... builds upon a strong consensus, joined in by liberals and conservatives alike, that the Nation's welfare system must," among other things "enforce the principle that child support must in the first instance come from parents"]; see also Levesque, Targeting "Deadbeat" Dads: The Problem With the Direction of Welfare Reform (1994) 15 Hamline J. Pub. L. & Pol'y 1 , 2 ["The sense of crisis and urgency has fueled a rare consensus among liberals and…