Judges: WRITTEN BY: Paul L. Douglas, Attorney General Mel Kammerlohr, Assistant Attorney General
Filed Date: 10/18/1983
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
REQUESTED BY: Charles D. Brewster, Buffalo County Attorney, Kearney, Nebraska 68847
1. Under Neb.Rev.Stat. §
2. May the county board designate a county attorney or his deputy county attorney as the `authorized attorney' under §
1. Criminal actions only.
2. No.
1. Prior to the 1983 amendment, the pertinent part of Neb.Rev.Stat. §
It shall be the duty of the county attorney, . . . to immediately file complaint against the nonsupporting parent or stepparent of the dependent child under section
28-706 or file a civil petition against the nonsupporting parent or stepparent under the provisions of section43-512.03 whenever the recovery of child support appears to be practicable.
The above provisions of §
It shall be the duty of the county attorney or authorized attorney, as provided in section
43-512 , . . . to immediately file complaint against the nonsupporting parent or stepparent of the dependent child under section28-706 , if the attorney is the county attorney or a deputy county attorney, or file a civil petition against the nonsupporting parent or stepparent under the provisions of section43-512.03 , if the attorney is an attorney other than the county attorney or deputy county attorney, whenever the recover of child support appears to be practicable.
(Emphasis added.)
As can readily be seen, before the 1983 amendments the county attorney's office could satisfy its duty by filing either a complaint or a civil petition. However, it is also clear that the 1983 amendments have limited the duty of the county attorney to filing a criminal complaint and have limited the filing of a civil petition as the remedy to be used by an attorney other than the county attorney or his deputy. At the same time, the Legislature, by amendments to
The new section appears to be clear and unambiguous.
It is a well-founded rule of statutory construction that `A statute is open to construction only where language used requires interpretation or may reasonably be considered ambiguous.' Omaha Public Power District v. Nebraska StateTax Commissioner,
It is our opinion that §
2. As set forth under question 1 above, the 1983 amendments to §
The statute is also unambiguous in this regard and for the same reasons given above, not subject to interpretation. Obviously, if the county board designated a county attorney or a deputy county attorney as the `authorized attorney,' he would not be `other' than the county attorney or deputy county attorney as required for the purpose of filing a civil petition.
Respectfully submitted, PAUL L. DOUGLAS Attorney General Mel Kammerlohr Assistant Attorney General APPROVED:Paul L. Douglas Attorney General