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Appeals court overturns Archuleta County judge’s faulty child neglect ruling

By and 02/07/2025 | updated 8 months ago

Colorado’s second-highest court agreed an Archuleta County judge abruptly and wrongly deemed a man’s children neglected after he did not appear for a hearing, even though there was no basis for such a ruling.

The county opened a child neglect case for two children based on the mother’s alleged substance abuse. Their father, identified as N.S., asked for a jury trial to determine whether the children were neglected — a step that can eventually lead to the termination of the legal parent-child relationship.

N.S. appeared with his lawyer at a series of three hearings, but at the fourth hearing he was not present. His lawyer did appear, however, and spoke about negotiations that could potentially resolve the case.

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Instead, District Court Judge A. Nathaniel Baca deemed the children neglected by default solely because N.S. failed to appear.

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N.S. appealed, arguing Baca was not authorized to declare the children neglected based only on N.S.’s non-appearance.

A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals noted the procedures in civil cases allow for default judgments, but the party requesting one “shall apply to the court.” In N.S.’s case, Archuleta County had not asked for Baca to rule on the default and he did it on his own.

Moreover, wrote Judge Daniel M. Taubman in the Feb. 6 opinion, a default judgment is reserved for a person who fails to “plead or otherwise defend.”

“Father requested a jury trial and appeared at each hearing before the final admit/deny hearing,” wrote Taubman. “Importantly, although father did not personally appear, he was represented by counsel through the conclusion of the hearing at which the juvenile court entered a default judgment against him.”

As a result, the circumstances did not show that N.S. failed to defend against the child neglect allegations. Taubman cited a 2014 Court of Appeals decision — which he also authored — that put judges on notice they could not enter default judgments against parents like N.S.

In that decision, Tabuman also analyzed whether judges could enter default judgments as a punishment against non-appearing parents. He concluded that was not authorized, either.

The panel overturned Baca’s default child neglect ruling.

The case is People in the Interest of K.S. et al.

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