Massachusetts NEVER had ANY jurisdiction over the Pelletiers, ever! Gov Deval Patrick can reasonably argue separation of powers since he is part of the executive branch and the courts are the judicial branch, but that still leaves out his checks and balances powers... and still says nothing about his full power over all other executive branch subordinates - including DCF... which is directly under him, as the Governor of Massachusetts, meaning he can *certainly* order DCF just about anything he wants, within reason, and that would certainly include releasing Justina since she is not even subject to MA jurisdiction, in the first place: Being permanent residents and citizens of Connecticut, the Pelletier family was never subject to involuntary personal jurisdiction by either MA-DCF or any Massachusetts court, in this case the Suffolk juvenile court of Judge Johnston. The Massachusetts Long Arm Statute, MGL c.223A, does not provide any legal grounds to subject the foreign-citizen Pelletiers to any Massachusetts proceedings. Section 2 limits jurisdiction ONLY to persons domiciled in, organized under the laws of, or maintaining his or its principal place of business in, this commonwealth: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleII/Chapter223A/Section2 Section 3 provides additional personal jurisdiction ONLY in other certain situations within the Commonwealth, and none of those apply to the Pelletiers or their *emergency* (non-regular) run to the Boston Children’s Hospital, either: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIII/TitleII/Chapter223A/Section3 And, that’s it! The Massachusetts Long Arm Statute does NOT apply to foreign citizens like the Pelletier family, and never did. Furthermore, this entire “51A” “Care and Protection” action falsely attempted over Justina falls under MGL c.119, which specifically and express limits within its opening policy and purpose statute (Section 1) to non-applicability over the Pelletier family, by two very important pieces of language, in the very first paragraph thereof by stating “to provide substitute care of children ONLY when the family itself or the resources available to the family are unable to provide the necessary care and protection (by which, of course, therefore, ANY attempted allegations by MA-DCF would have to be passed on and immediately deferred over to Connecticut DCF for any possible investigation/action), and in the second paragraph thereof by specifically and expressly limiting actions only to the children OF the commonwealth (emphasis added), which Justina was not, of course, being a resident and citizen of Connecticut. https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXVII/Chapter119/Section1 Furthermore, the Commonwealth can’t even really argue “minimum contacts” to establish personal jurisdiction of foreign residents under the MA long arm statute, just for the Pelletiers doing an *emergency* run of Justina to the Boston Children’s Hospital. See these three MA cases, but you should look for even other/better ones, too, of course: Lyons v. Duncan, 81 Mass. App. Ct. 766 (2012) masscases/cases/app/81/81massappct766.html Cunningham v. Ardrox, 40 Mass. App. Ct. 279 (1996) masscases/cases/app/40/40massappct279.html Salpoglou v. Widder, 899 F.Supp. 835 (D. Mass. 1995) leagle/decision/19951734899FSupp835_11600.xml/SALPOGLOU%20v.%20SHLOMO%20WIDDER,%20M.D.,%20P.A. and, maybe also review this scholarly law review article on the Massachusetts long arm statute: assets.wne.edu/159/22_arti_long_arm_1.pdf BUT THE OVERALL POINT IS THAT MASSACHUSETTS **NEVER** HAD ANY JURISDICTION OVER THE PELLETIER FAMILY, NEITHER MA-DCF, NOR THE JUVENILE COURTS. I am putting together an entire, full-blown webpage with much more information, including legal remedies available for the Pelletiers, as soon as possible, and will post to all Justina groups then.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 04:20:16 +0000