Category Archives: Juveniles

September 15, 2008

Peremptory Challenge to Judge After Remand Has Its Limits

Virtually every civil litigator knows about the procedure afforded by Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6 for disqualification of the judge assigned to the case.  Commonly called “papering the judge,” the requirements of the section are so meager that such challenges are also referred to as “peremptory” challenges, though not technically so (to my mind), and my guess is that any civil litigator who has practiced for more than a few years has invoked section 170.6 at least once.

Maybe you didn’t know that this disqualification procedure is available even after reversal on appeal.  Subdivision (a)(2) of section 170.6 provides

A motion under this paragraph may be made following reversal on appeal of a trial court’s decision, or following reversal on appeal of a trial court’s final judgment, if the trial judge in the prior proceeding is assigned to conduct a new trial on the matter.  Notwithstanding paragraph (3), the party who filed the appeal that resulted in the reversal of a final judgment of a trial court may make a motion under this section regardless of whether that party or side has previously done so.  The motion shall be made within 60 days after the party or the party’s attorney has been notified of the assignment.

Since appellants frequently feel they were treated unfairly by the trial judge in the first instance, the ability to “paper the judge” after a reversal on appeal is a critically important consideration.  It may be the one thing that convinces an aggrieved party to appeal, when that party might otherwise have been resigned to accept an adverse judgment because the prospect of having to retry the case before the same judge the party thinks is an idiot is simply too daunting.

But you’ve got to be careful about when you count on it and when you don’t, as the real parties in interest learned in C.C. v. Superior Court, case no. G040580 (4th Dist. Sept. 11, 2008), a juvenile dependency proceeding in which, after succeeding on appeal by obtaining a reversal of a reunification order, real parties “papered the judge.”  Petitioner filed a petition for writ of mandate, and the court of appeal grants the petition.

The language allowing a peremptory challenge on remand was added in 1985 to avoid perceived bias against an appellant of a trial judge whose judgment or order had been reversed on appeal.  (Stegs Investments v. Superior Court (1991) 233 Cal.App.3d 572, 575-576.)  But the statute applies only where the remand requires “a ‘reexamination’ of a factual or legal issue that was in controversy in the prior proceeding.”  (Geddes v. Superior Court (2005) 126 Cal.App.4th 417, 424.)  It does not apply to the performance of a ministerial act.  (Stegs Investments v. Superior Court, supra, 233 Cal.App.3d at p. 576.)

The problem for real parties, however, is that the remand order required the trial court to perform only ministerial acts.  Those were: (1) to enter a new order denying reunification services and (2) setting a permanent plan selection hearing.  The court rejected the real parties’ argument that the subsequent hearing would require a reexamination of the same issues considered in the reunification hearing.

The real parties in interest claim, “the juvenile court in the present case will undoubtedly revisit the core determinations upon which this Court based its reversal,” meaning it will have to consider the strength of the bond between the children and the mother at the permanent plan selection hearing.  This claim is true, but the consideration of the parent-child bond at the permanent plan selection hearing is not for purposes of reunification; rather, it is to determine whether to avoid the termination of parental rights and select a different permanent plan.  (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.26, subd. (c)(1)(B)(i).)  This consideration will take place in a different legal context from the disposition hearing and will involve facts as they then exist.  On remand, however, the juvenile court was merely directed to enter an order denying reunification services and to set a permanent plan selection hearing.  The implementation of these directions will not constitute a reexamination of an issue of fact or a retrial of the dispositional issues. 

Thus, “[b]ecause the matter was not remanded for a reexamination of an issue of fact or a retrial of the dispositional issues, we grant the petition and direct that the case be returned to [the challenged judge].”

The same considerations should not apply in the typical civil trial, where past facts are what are at issue.  But any time that future consideration of an issue will depend on facts as they then exist, “papering the judge” is apparently not an option after remand.

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Posted in: California Procedure, Judges, Juveniles

September 19, 2007

When is an Order not an Order on the Merits?

When it trails the present hearing to another date, for one — at least if it purports to be an order terminating parental rights.  Thus, the court of appeal dismisses an appeal from such an order in In re Q.D., case no. G038343 (4th Dist. Sept. 18, 2007).

Mother appealed from a purported order terminating her parental rights.  Mother, her attorney, and a Vietnamese translator were at the hearing on her behalf.  Mother, through her counsel, waived her right to a contested hearing.  Only after the court stated its findings and orders from the bench, including an order that parental rights be terminated, did Mother object.  She claimed her waiver of a contested hearing was inadvertent and due to an ambiguity in the translation to Vietnamese.  The trial court, again from the bench, “trailed” the hearing to the following day.  Its minute order did likewise, but not before setting forth “the full panoply of orders and findings normally associated with the termination of parental rights.”

At the next day’s hearing, mother’s counsel moved to set aside the findings of the previous day’s minute order.  The trial court was inclined to set aside the previous day’s order and give the mother a contested hearing on the termination issue, but concuded it could not because the minute order it entered the previous day had terminated appellant’s parental rights and Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26, subdivision (i) precludes modification of an order terminating parental rights.

Mother appealed from the minute order entered at the conclusion of the first day’s proceedings.  The court of appeal finds that “there is actually no ‘order’ to appeal from” based on the following analysis:

As section 366.26, subdivision (i)(1) reflects, the order terminating parental rights must come at the end of the hearing. This must be so because when the court makes that order, it has no power to do anything further with respect to the issue. The proceeding is finished. Thus, the court cannot both officially make that order and trail the hearing to another day for further consideration.

In this case, as reflected in both the court’s oral statements and its minute order, the section 366.26 hearing did not end on February 8, 2007. Instead, the hearing was trailed for what the minute order characterized as a “366.26 hrg.” the next day. That provision for a further section 366.26 hearing the next day is simply incompatible with the conclusion the hearing had already been completed, and the final order entered, on that first day.

When the totality of the February 8, 2007 minute order is considered, it cannot be reasonably construed as a final order terminating M.’s parental rights. Accordingly, we have no choice but to dismiss this appeal and remand the case for further proceedings to complete the “trailed” section 366.26 hearing, including a ruling on whether or not to re-open and allow M. to contest the termination of her parental rights.

Had the mother’s lawyer asked the trial court at the conclusion of the first day’s hearing to explicitly defer ruling on the termination issue, I think the court would have accommodated that request, especially in light of the court’s willingness to grant relief the following day had it not found its hands tied.

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Posted in: Appellate Jurisdiction, Appellate Procedure, Family Law, Juveniles

September 18, 2007

Mother Ordered to In-Patient Drug Rehabilitation has Standing to Appeal, but Her Kids Don’t

The mother of three minor children is determined to be incapable of providing regular care and supervision for them.  (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 300.)  The children are placed with their maternal grandmother, with supervised visits from the mother.

The juvenile court orders the mother to complete an in-patient drug treatment program as part of the disposition care plan and leaves all prior orders in effect, including the children’s placement and supervised visits from the mother.

Do the children have standing to appeal?  In In re Neil D., case no. B195487 (2d Dist. August 28, 2007, ordered published Sept. 17, 2007), the Court of Appeal says “no.”  Since the order appealed from leaves prior orders in effect, including the children’s placement and visitation, the children are not aggrieved parties.

That answer surprises me a little, because it seems to me that in-patient drug rehabilitation would necessarily interfere with visitation.  Even though the court later notes that the mother could continue to visit while in rehab, it does not rely on that fact in determining that the children lack standing.

Mother, on the other hand, has standing to appeal.  Her claim that the in-patient requirement amounts to coerced incarceration raises a constitutional issue, and the order “arguably affects Mother’s task of reunifying with her children.”

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Posted in: Appellate Jurisdiction, Appellate Procedure, California Procedure, Juveniles, Standing to Appeal