Review of refusal of leave to appeal in child welfare case
Supreme Court order 15 October 2020, HR-2020-1968-A, (case no. 20-066246SIV-HRET), civil case, appeal against decision.
A (Counsel Thomas Horn) v. X municipality (Counsel Anette Olsen)
Justices: Matningsdal, Webster, Noer, Bergh, Høgetveit Berg
The Court of Appeal had not granted leave to appeal against the District Court's judgment in a child welfare case, see section 36-10 subsection 3 of the Dispute Act. A mother with a severe hereditary disease had been deprived of the care of her daughter who was 14 years old at the time of the judgment. The appeal in the Supreme Court, which conducted an oral hearing, concerned the scope of the mother's access to her daughter. The Supreme Court found that the District Court's reasons for why it could not comply with the mother and daughter's wishes for overnight stays, for contact visits without supervision to and for the mother to be able to freely call her daughter, were not sufficient to demonstrate that the limitations did not amount to a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court of Appeal's decision was set aside for the part heard by the Supreme Court.