On Monday, June 3, 2019 New Covenant Legal Services (NCLS), a St. Louis City-based
legal services organization filed a petition in Cole County Circuit Court against the Missouri
Family Support Division (“FSD”) and a number of its employees. The petition seeks monetary
damages and declaratory relief on behalf of Mr. Jamie Wesley related to a wrongful license
suspension as well as subsequent child support collection efforts. The license suspension
occurred in September of 2018 and cost Mr. Wesley the loss of his employment as a professional
truck driver. Wesley’s case has been well documented in a recent story by St. Louis Post
Dispatch columnist, Tony Messenger, and a subsequent editorial that appeared in the PostDispatch on May 28, 2019.
The multi-count petition also makes numerous Constitutional Due Process challenges
concerning a number of other aggressive collection tactics that are routinely utilized by FSD
against fathers who allegedly owe past child support. The petition specifically attacks the FSD
policy of allowing FSD employees with no legal training to arbitrarily impose collection efforts
without court orders or judicial oversight. Wesley also challenges the FSD practice of allowing
massive child support arrearages to be assessed against incarcerated individuals who have no
ability to either pay or challenge the arrearages as they accumulate.
Recent Comments