Astonishing News Story About Child Support
Posted by Mr. Thoughtful on April 22, 2008
A bakery delivery guy is paying $611 of his monthly income of $1,600 to his ex-wife in child support. So far a pretty ordinary story, but things get more frightening. The ex-wife has a court order for him to pay $2,000/month. Since the order is for him to pay his ex-wife more than he makes, he is behind, to the tune of $61,000.
His ex-wife is trying to get him extradited to New York. According to the following story in the New York Daily News, under New York law since he owes more than $50,000, he “loses his right to appear in court to defend himself against her charges.”
If the NY Daily News is correct and that is indeed the law in New York, it is truly astonishing that a US citizen could lose his right to defend himself in court.
Timothy McVeigh had the right to appear in court to defend himself against the charges of blowing up the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing hundreds of people. He even had a first-rate lawyer appointed for him and paid by the taxpayers.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be soon tried in a US court, and even this guy, accused of masterminding the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing 3,000 people, will get to appear and defend himself in court. In fact, I’m pretty sure he will get the services of a first-rate lawyer to defend him, paid by the taxpayers.
But apparently not this bakery delivery guy, Robert Myers, who never killed anyone and pays more than a third of his income to his ex-wife already.
Some of you might think there is no way this could possibly be the law anywhere in the United States. Those of you with more than a passing knowledge of the constitutional guarantees of due process of law, or even those of you who have taken 8th grade civics, might think a person cannot be deprived of the opportunity to defend himself in court when he is charged with a crime.
I once thought this as well. But the more I see of how the law sometimes works, the less sure I am that things such as this can’t happen in the courts of this country. There are certainly constitutional principles that would prevent such things. But a constitution is only as strong as the people who enforce it. And among many people who should be enforcing it (judges and state legislators), there is a tendency to create major exceptions in some areas. One of these areas involves child support. So it would not greatly suprise me to find out that Robert Myers won’t get his day in court.
Another interesting part of the story is that the ex-wife is suing two of Robert Myers’s former employers, alleging they failed to garnish his wages to pay her the child support. At least one of those employers has asserted that it did pay her. Here is the story:
Chandra Myers will be in Brooklyn Federal Court today to face off against Sara Lee Bakeries and Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc., which distributes Thomas’ English Muffins, Entenmann’s and other treats.
Myers contends the bakery giants defied orders to garnish a total of $36,000 from Robert Sean Myers’ wages from 2001 to 2004.
“It is unfortunate in today’s society that we not only have deadbeat dads, but we have deadbeat companies,” declared Myers, who has latched onto a rarely used statute to demand a half-million dollars in penalties and interest along with the millions in damages from the firms.
Bimbo’s lawyers and Chandra Myers’ ex charge the suit is without merit. Sara Lee had no comment.
Robert Sean Myers, a Los Angeles bakery deliverer, said he has records showing that he’s attempted to meet child support demands for his 6-year-old daughter.
He insists he won’t settle the suit with his ex-wife because $611 of his $1,600 monthly income now goes to their daughter. He also has five other kids to support, he said.
But Chandra Myers has a standing order requiring him to pay $2,000 per month in support based on her expenses. Now $61,000 behind, Robert Sean Myers says he’s tried to negotiate a payment plan, but she’s intent on getting him extradited here. Under state law, if his owed child support exceeds $50,000, he loses his right to appear in court to defend himself against her charges.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/04/21/2008-04-21_queens_mom_sues_bakeries_for_failing_to_.html
Hat tip: http://www.overlawyered.com/2008/04/queens-mom-sues-bakeries-for-f.html
April 23, 2008 at 2:38 am
Mr. Thoughtful,
Thanks for the insightful post. Robert Sean Myers is my best friend, so I have first hand information regarding his plight. Not only has his right to due process been denied by the the Family Court in New York, as recently as March 28, 2008 his California drivers license was suspended because he did not have the resources to to appear in court. So ultimately he is currently unable to work, as his position as a route delivery driver requires his ability to drive. In California even those convicted of DUI’s can request special permits to allow them to continue to drive (under special circumstances) to earn a living, yet there are no such provisions for those whose lose their licenses as a result of child support arrears. The irony here is that he has been court ordered to pay a child support order which clearly exceeds his ability to pay (thus he will remain in arrears) and now he can’t even work, and the present support order remains at 2k. He has sought permission from the court to appear via electronic testimony, and has even asked the court for a continuance to give him enough time to gather the resources required to travel to New York from California, clearly a hardship when you earn less than 20,000 a year. However, both request were denied by the court. Moreover, the ex-wife who poses as a (custodial parent/ victim in open court) yet she she has multiple post on the Internet as “Dr. Chandra Cromwell” and “rxlady4you” record label executive, and real estate investor with a lucrative six figure salary, and poses in front of the Queens Family Court, clad with a smirk, and a fur coat (where is PITA) preparing to have him extradited to New York on an arrest warrant, while simultaneously filing motions against his former employers demanding 8 million dollars! This guy can’t even afford legal representation and yet the “victim ex wife” has the resources to sue major corporations. In truth, this woman is a bitter, egotist, and narcissist using her child support case as a springboard for media attention, and cash, not from her ex-husband Robert Sean Myers-as she knows his is a man of modest means, but from his former employers(two major corporations). Moreover, as this is something that won’t be printed in the media, this couple met on the Internet and were married for less than a year. They never even lived in the same household, yet because they were legally married, since the incecption of this matter the court has treated this case based on the “presumed needs of a child of a marriage” and failed to utilize the standard UIFSA child support calculations to determine a fair pro rata child support amount, or his actual income.
April 23, 2008 at 11:19 am
This is absolutely absurd. It seems that everyday that goes by I hear more and more stories that are along these lines. Mostly regarding the amount that one is to pay on a monthly basis for child support or that an individual was duped into thinking that a child was their’s only to find out the child is not and is still required by law to support that child. It kills me to think there are laws, anywhere in the United States, that remove your right to due process for any reason. This is a very sad story and I hope that something in the near future can be done about it, although I’m not going to hold my breath.
April 23, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Thank you for your comment Cynthia. It is interesting to hear more details that didn’t appear in the Daily News article.
The situation is truly frightening, almost Kafka-esque. Robert Myers is hit with a court order to pay out more than he makes. Predictably, he falls into arrears and then the machinery of the state goes to work, resulting in the revocation of his driver’s license, the resulting loss of his job, and his likely going to jail for who knows how long.
While he is in jail or otherwise not working his arrears will build. He’ll probably be in and out of jail for much of his life and will unfortunately be hamstrung in his efforts to hold a job.
And he can’t even get his day in court. He will apparently just have to go straight to jail, without an attorney or even the right to contest this horrible injustice.
Ironically, if he had robbed a bank to get the money to pay this court order, he would get his day in court and have a lawyer paid by the government.
Like you, I hope that the law will be changed to prevent this kind of injustice in the future. But also like you, I’m not holding my breath. State legislators and judges show no sign that they’re in the mood to change the disgusting and unjust laws which gave rise to this incident.
I’m going to write a post in the next day or two about a bill that was killed in the Tennessee legislature. It would have allowed men who were proved by DNA tests not to be fathers to stop paying child support to the mothers who deceived them into paying child support in the first place.
As the law stands now, in many states the man (I won’t say father bc he was proved not to be the father) has to keep paying child support even if he was tricked into thinking the child was his.
Austin, I think that’s just one example of the kind of thing you are talking about. In so many ways the man is at an extreme disadvantage in the courts in this country.
Few of the mostly male legislators are in the least bit concerned about this sorry state.
April 27, 2008 at 2:11 am
I’ve spoken to this woman and received a number of nasty emails from her, simply because I was involved in a lawsuit in which Bimbo Bakeries might potentially someday have to pay more money to some of its drivers. She made all sorts of threats to me, incorrectly assuming that I would somehow be in charge of distributing money that might be subject to her support order. I stopped opening her emails because she says the most outrageous things just to try to make your blood boil. She’s a nightmare. I can’t believe anyone would want any sort of relationship, even friend or coworker, with someone who spews such vitriol all the time.
April 28, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Counsel,
It’s unfortunate that this harridan has caused so many people so much annoyance, and worse.
It’s even more unfortunate that the law and judicial system allow her the weapons to cause Robert Sean Myers to lose his livelihood, extort money from him, and possibly put him in prison.
The laws should be changed so that these injustices won’t be commonplace. But I’m not holding my breath.
May 20, 2008 at 8:32 am
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