Lockman v. Lockman

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

LUNA LOCKMAN,1 § § No. 60, 2024 Respondent Below, § Appellant, § Court Below–Family Court § of the State of Delaware v. § § File No. CN23-05337 BETTY LOCKMAN, § Petition No. 23-24977 § Petitioner Below, § Appellee. §

Submitted: March 19, 2024 Decided: March 21, 2024

Before SEITZ, Chief Justice; VALIHURA and TRAYNOR, Justices.

ORDER

After consideration of the notice to show cause and the appellant’s response, it appears to the Court that:

(1) On February 14, 2024, the appellant, Luna Lockman, filed a notice of appeal from a Family Court commissioner’s January 24, 2024 order granting the appellee’s petition for a protection-from-abuse-order. The Senior Court Clerk issued a notice directing Lockman to show cause why this appeal should not be dismissed for this Court’s lack of jurisdiction to consider an appeal directly from a Family Court commissioner’s order.

1 The Court previously assigned pseudonyms to the parties under Supreme Court Rule 7(d).

(2) In her response to the notice to show cause, Lockman opines that her appeal was properly filed. Lockman is mistaken. The appellate jurisdiction of this Court over civil proceedings in the Family Court is limited to decisions issued by the judges of the Family Court.2 Under 10 Del. C. § 915(d) and Family Court Civil Procedure Rule 53.1(a), a party’s right to appeal from a commissioner’s order is to a judge of the Family Court.3 Whether interim or final, an order issued by a commissioner is not a final judgment for purposes of appeal to this Court.4 In short, this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider Lockman’s appeal, and it must therefore be dismissed.

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED, under Supreme Court Rule 29(b), that the appeal be DISMISSED.

BY THE COURT:

/s/ Karen L. Valihura Justice

2 See 10 Del. C. § 1051(a) (“From any order, ruling, decision or judgment of the [Family] Court in any civil proceeding… there shall be the right of appeal as provided by law to the Supreme Court.”); Redden v. McGill, 549 A.2d 695, 697-98 (Del. 1988) (holding that the Court’s appellate jurisdiction over civil proceedings in the Family Court is “limited to orders, rulings, decisions or judgments of the judges of [the Family] Court”). 3 See 10 Del. C. § 915(d)(1), (2) (detailing procedures for filing appeals from final and interim orders issued by commissioners); Del. Fam. Ct. Civ. P. R. 53.1(a) (“An interim or final order of a commissioner may be appealed to a judge of the [Family] Court….”). 4 See Redden, 549 A.2d at 697-98.