Givens

City and County of San Francisco v. Givens

Good Law
101 Cal. Rptr. 2d 859·2000 Cal. App. LEXIS 909·2000 Daily Journal DAR 12679·85 Cal. App. 4th 51·2000 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 9460
Court of Appeal of CaliforniaNovember 29, 2000A088416California2,042 words

Opinion

Opinion

Sepulveda, J.

“The usual paternity suit involves a man, hereafter referred to as the defendant, who does not wish to be declared the father of the child. Because of the accuracy and statistical significance of modern blood testing, the California Legislature has adopted a statutory presumption of paternity. If the defendant’s blood test results in a particular numerical score, he is presumed to be the father. Family Code section 7555 . . . provides in relevant part: ‘(a) There is a rebuttable presumption, affecting the burden of proof, of paternity, if the court finds that the paternity index, as calculated by the experts qualified as examiners of genetic markers, is 100 or greater. This presumption may be rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence.’ ffl] . . . ffl] The defendant is entitled to introduce other expert testimony. (Fam. Code, § 7557.) Once the statutory presumption is triggered, the court must consider all of the evidence, including any blood test evidence. (Fam. Code, § 7554, subd. (b).)” (County of El Dorado v. Misura (1995) 33 Cal.App.4th 73, 82 [ 38 Cal.Rptr.2d 908 ].) One of the ways by which a defendant can rebut the presumption is to present evidence that he did…

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