As a general rule, only a person “aggrieved” by a judgment has standing to appeal from it. Is a mother without reunification services “aggrieved” by a judgment granting her 18-year-old child’s request for the termination of dependency jurisdiction? The Court of Appeal answers “no” in In re J.C., case no. G048720 (4th Dist. January 21, 2014), and dismisses the appeal. J.C., the child of divorced parents, had been living with her father before being declared a dependent of the court a few months after her 15th birthday, when the court found that her father failed to ensure she attended school or get treatment for a psychiatric condition. After treatment at a…
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California Supremes keep Ninth Circuit Prop 8 appeal alive
The California Supreme Court’s much-anticipated opinion in Perry v. Brown was filed this morning. The court unanimously found that the Prop 8 proponents, who have a pending Ninth Circuit appeal from the federal district court decision finding the law unconstitutional, have standing to defend the law in court when the state attorney general refuses to do so. Answering certification of that question from the Ninth Circuit, the California Supreme Court concludes its long (61-page) decision with an unequivocal “yes”: In response to the question submitted by the Ninth Circuit, we conclude, for the reasons discussed above, that when the public officials who ordinarily defend a challenged state law or appeal…
- Appellate Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Standing to Appeal, Statutory Construction, Waiver of Issues
Court has No Duty During Recommitment Proceedings to Consider Suitability for Outpatient Treatment
In People v. Rish, case no. B198727 (2d Dist. June 16, 2008), Rish appealed from from an order recommitting him to the California Department of Mental Health for treatment as a mentally disordered offender pursuant to Penal Code section 2972. He claimed that the trial court erred by failing to consider whether he was suitable for outpatient treatment, even though he did not raise this alternative in the trial court. The Court of Appeal determines that Rish waived the issue by failing to raise it. As a matter of statutory construction, Section 2972, subdivision (d) does not impose a duty on the court to evaluate suitability for outpatient treatment sua sponte. The court reached the…
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Petition by One Parent in Juvenile Proceedings Does not Give other Parent Standing to Appeal Resulting Order
Rooting for the mother of your children to win her petition for modification isn’t enough to give you standing to appeal the ensuing order denying modification. Thus, in In re D.S., case no. C055069 (3d Dist. Oct. 31, 2007), the court of appeal dismisses the father’s appeal from the order denying the mother’s petition for modification. Appellant father appealed both from the order denying mother’s petition for modification and from the order terminating his and the mother’s parental rights. But he never joined in the petition, which the court denied as untimely. Since he did not join in the petition, he is not aggrieved by its denial, which had no…
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Not Every Procedural Error is Jurisdictional
I know that sounds self-evident. But a jurisdictional challenge is your last hope on appeal if you’re relying on procedural irregularities that you let pass without objection. That’s because a jurisdictional defect can be raised any time in the course of the proceedings, so a party on appeal does not have to worry about having waived it. But the appellant in In re Angel S., case no. C054446 (3d Dist. Oct. 23, 2007, modified and ordered published Nov. 13, 2007) isn’t able to pull it off. The appellant in Angel S. had her probate guardianship of her 2-year-old great niece terminated after the girl suffered severe head injuries in appellant’s…
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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 of Austin women’s drug and alcohol treatment, 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…