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Name: In re Briana V.
Case #: B256073
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 2 DCA
Division: 2
Citation: Cal.App.4th
Summary

The appellate court may decline to address evidentiary support for a jurisdictional finding against father where father did not also contest the jurisdictional findings against mother that also applied to him. Luis V. was the custodial parent for his daughter, Briana, and her two sisters. He was separated from Briana’s mother, Chantha. The Department filed a petition when it learned that Luis had been recently arrested for failing to register as a sex offender, slapped Briana, exposed himself to one of Briana’s sisters, and allowed his brother to live in the home where he frequently used marijuana. Chantha had tested positive for methamphetamines. Chantha waived her rights and did not contest the petition. Luis contested the petition, but the juvenile court ordered the minors to be dependents of the court, and Luis appealed. The appellate court found that father’s appeal is not justiciable. Father challenged the sufficiency of the evidence as to jurisdiction as to his conduct as the offending parent (failure to register), but made no challenge to the two jurisdictional findings against mother, which were based on his other conduct. A jurisdictional finding that is good against one parent is good against both. In re Drake M. (2012) 211 Cal.App.4th 754, provides a narrow exception to this general rule, but does not apply where, as here, several jurisdictional findings have been sustained involving different conduct of the parent. Therefore, the court declined to address the evidentiary support for the challenged jurisdictional finding because there would still be two findings supporting jurisdiction.

Opinion Date: 04/28/2015