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Palmer v. Bertrand

Georgia's paternity statutes do not violate equal protection.

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Susan Bertrand brought this action to establish that Thomas Palmer is the father of her child and to obtain an award of child support. Palmer moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the statutory scheme for paternity actions set forth in OCGA § 19-7-43 et seq. is unconstitutional. The case proceeded to trial and the jury returned a verdict in favor of Ms. Bertrand. The trial court entered judgment on the jury’s verdict, and Palmer filed a motion for new trial asserting, in part, that the trial court erred in denying the motion to dismiss on constitutional grounds. The trial court denied the motion for new trial, and we granted this discretionary appeal to consider whether the paternity statutes violate principles of equal protection. Because fathers and mothers of illegitimate children are not similarly situated, and the paternity statutes actually decrease the effect of the inherent differences between the parents’ respective circumstances, we conclude that Georgia’s statutory paternity scheme does not violate equal protection.

Palmer contends that the paternity statutes create an improper gender-based classification that permits a male to be adjudged to be the father of a child and ordered to make corresponding child support payments, without according him the same parental rights which automatically enure to the mother of that same child.

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