Unrelated Man’s Custody of Girl Is Overturned

A state appeals court has reversed a highly controversial ruling that not only awarded sole custody of a then-5-year-old girl to an unrelated Van Nuys man but revoked the visitation rights of her biological mother, who has not seen the child in more than two years.

With no blood tie to the child, the man should not have been legally declared her “natural father,” the appeals court ruled, sending the case back to family court in Los Angeles to again try to determine how to divide custody and visitation rights.

In 1993, Douglas Kevin Thomas was awarded custody of Courtney Thomas, who will be 8 this month, on the grounds that he had been so involved in her daily care--as a close friend of her single mother--that he had earned the status of being her father.

The ruling came after the girl’s mother, Catherine Thomas of Thousand Oaks, twice risked prison by violating court orders and fled with the child rather than surrender her to Kevin Thomas.

The relationship was so close that Kevin Thomas was listed on Courtney’s birth certificate as her father, although he is openly gay, and even changed his name to match hers and her mother’s--from Douglas Kevin McCain to Douglas Kevin Thomas.

But the three-judge appeals court, with one judge dissenting, found that despite the significant role Kevin Thomas played in the girl’s life, he could not be given the rights of a natural father.

“Expanding the definition of natural parent in the manner advocated . . . could expose others to litigation brought by child-care providers of long standing, relatives, successive sets of stepparents or other close family friends,” Judge James R. Brandlin wrote in a 14-page opinion issued Friday.

Brandlin, who called the case “Solomonic,” added that the ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Martha Goldin “effectively deprived Courtney . . . of her former home, her natural mother and her half-brothers.”

A lawyer for Catherine Thomas said she wept with joy when told of the decision and was emotionally overcome to the point that she was unable to speak.

“She realized for the first time in several years that she is going to see her daughter again,” said attorney Michael Goch of Encino, who handled the appeal for Thomas for free because she had long ago run out of money for legal fees.

Goch said Thomas--who was never declared an unfit parent--was handicapped from the outset because she lacked Kevin Thomas’ financial resources.

Even though Goldin’s decision in 1993 technically allowed Thomas to seek monitored visits with Courtney, Goch said, she was unable to afford them. The court required that they take place in a secured facility with a professional escort because of her record of fleeing with the girl.

“Justice requires money, and when you don’t have it, you don’t get justice,” Goch said.

Kevin Thomas’ lawyer, paternity rights specialist Glen H. Schwartz of Encino, said he “loved” the appeals court decision because it recognized the significance of Kevin Thomas in the life of Courtney. He also said he fully expects the status quo to be maintained when the case returns to Goldin’s court for review.

“Obviously, I’m somewhat disappointed with the Court of Appeal that it did not feel it could invest Kevin with the title of ‘legal father,’ ” Schwartz said.

“But that is a distinction without a [practical] difference because we feel absolutely confident that the same trial court that heard this case will find it is in Courtney’s best interest to remain with Kevin.”

The appeals court held, however, that “custody may not be awarded” to Kevin Thomas over Catherine Thomas’ objections without a finding that giving her custody of her daughter “would be detrimental to Courtney.”

Schwartz added that Kevin Thomas has never had any objections to Courtney seeing her mother. But he said Catherine Thomas had made no effort to see the child since July, 1993, when they were captured in Pittsburgh and returned to Los Angeles.

Goch adamantly denied that, saying that Thomas very much wanted to see her daughter but could not afford the visits’ requirements. He also said that soon after Goldin’s decision in Kevin Thomas’ favor, Catherine Thomas tried phoning her daughter at Kevin Thomas’ home but received no response.

The bizarre and heart-rending case began before Courtney was born in February 1988, when Kevin Thomas and Catherine Thomas--friends since 1977--allegedly agreed to raise the coming child together. And indeed, the appeals court took note that Kevin Thomas visited Courtney in the hospital every day after her birth, undaunted by her many congenital defects.

Once she was home, the court continued, he took an active role in her daily care--taking her to doctors and to special educational programs as she got older, and bringing her to his own home on weekends.

But in 1992, Catherine and Kevin had a falling out, the exact cause of which has never been fully disclosed.

In an interview with The Times in 1993, Catherine Thomas claimed she had never really agreed to raise Courtney with Kevin but that Kevin had insinuated himself into their lives and was gaining too much control, to her increasing alarm.

Catherine Thomas tried to limit contact between Kevin and Courtney, and in September 1992, Kevin Thomas went to court seeking formal recognition as Courtney’s father, as well as custody rights. When he was granted visitation rights--Courtney was to continue living with her mother at that point--Catherine Thomas panicked and ran away with the child to Vancouver, Canada.

Once they were located--Kevin Thomas hired private investigators and undertook an international search--Catherine Thomas voluntarily returned to Los Angeles and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor parental child stealing. Kevin Thomas, meanwhile, was granted temporary custody of Courtney but Catherine Thomas was allowed monitored visits.

The arrangement was formalized following a trial in June 1993. Soon after, Catherine Thomas fled with Courtney again, this time during an overnight visit at her home that was being monitored by Kevin Thomas’ companion. The mother and daughter were arrested in a Pittsburgh train station after another traveler recognized them from a nationally broadcast news show on the case.

Catherine Thomas was convicted of felony child stealing and placed on three years probation. Goldin then declared Kevin Thomas to be Courtney’s natural father, granted him sole legal and physical custody, and denied Catherine Thomas any right to visit the child--subject to subsequent court order.

Goch said that in practical terms that meant Catherine Thomas had to hire a lawyer, petition the court, and prove she could pay for a monitor in order to see her child. The burden was placed on her, he said, adding that she was so emotionally and financially drained at that point that she felt unable to fight.

Even appealing the decision was a struggle. Goch and three other lawyers took the case pro bono, but they had to come up with the money to pay for transcripts of the family court trial. Friends of Catherine Thomas helped raise between $5,000 and $7,000 in donations.

Two years and what Goch estimated as $70,000 in potential legal fees later, the case was argued before the appeals court Nov. 30.