442 A.2d 70 | Conn. Super. Ct. | 1981
The defendant has appealed from the denial of his motion to terminate and vacate an order for the support of a child whose paternity he had acknowledged in writing on May 1, 1975, his fatherhood having been previously affirmed by the *892
mother in accordance with General Statutes
In Stone it was held (1) that the provisions of General Statutes
The state concedes that the defendant was a member of the plaintiff class in Stone, the named plaintiff in that action having been authorized to represent all those who had signed "written statements to the effect that they are fathers of illegitimate children" where such persons or the mothers of the children reside in Connecticut.5 In that litigation the state was represented by the commissioners of social services and administrative services as parties-defendant.
To hold that the defendant may be denied relief upon the ground of nonretroactivity would deprive him of the benefits of the federal court decision to which he, as a member of the defined class, is as fully entitled as the named plaintiff in that case. A federal court judgment can be given no less force than that of a court of this state. Barber v. International Co.,
In Stone the federal court referred to General Statutes
The question remains whether the procedure employed by the defendant to implement his victory was proper. As we have noted, the record does not disclose that any enforcement proceeding to obtain a judicial order of payments has ever been instituted against the defendant, the only court record of the matter being the filing of the acknowledgment of paternity in the clerk's office previous to the defendant's motion. Unlike the named petitioner in Stone v. Maher, the defendant has not proved the existence of any court order applicable to him. His motion to "terminate and vacate all parental obligations, support orders, arrearages and agreements," was wholly inappropriate, since the power of the court to modify or vacate must necessarily be limited to judicial actions previously taken. It was also incumbent upon the defendant to seek modification and joinder of the mother and the child who had an interest in the matter. State v. Bashura,
There is no error.
In this opinion DALY and BIELUCH, Js., concurred.