In Re Michael K.

185 Cal. App. 4th 1112, 111 Cal. Rptr. 3d 187, 2010 Cal. App. LEXIS 938
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 22, 2010
DocketH034209
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 185 Cal. App. 4th 1112 (In Re Michael K.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re Michael K., 185 Cal. App. 4th 1112, 111 Cal. Rptr. 3d 187, 2010 Cal. App. LEXIS 938 (Cal. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Opinion

PREMO, J.

In 2005, the Legislature approved a plan to close Agnews State Hospital (Agnews). As part of the closure plan, it passed Senate Bill No. 962 (2005-2006 Reg. Sess.), which was signed by the Governor and enacted into law on October 5, 2005. The Welfare and Institutions Code, as amended by Senate Bill No. 962, authorizes the State Department of Developmental Services (DDS) and the State Department of Social Services (DSS) to jointly establish and administer a pilot project for licensing and regulating adult residential facilities for persons with special health care needs, known as a Senate Bill No. 962 Home (hereafter Senate Bill No. 962 Home). 1 Senate Bill No. 962 Homes are residences that can accommodate four to five individuals with significant developmental disabilities in a community setting.

Michael K. (hereafter referred to as Michael for clarity) is a gravely disabled adult who has resided at Agnews since 1986. Gail B. and James K. (hereafter referred to as Gail and James for clarity) are his parents and coconservators. When the Legislature approved the plan to close Agnews, San Andreas Regional Center (SARC) determined that Michael would be placed in a Senate Bill No. 962 Home. 2 Gail and James objected because they wished Michael to be placed in Sonoma Developmental Center *1117 (Sonoma). In 2008, an administrative law judge upheld the objection and ordered SARC to place Michael in Sonoma. But in 2009, the public defender, purporting to act on behalf of Michael 3 and under the authority of In re Hop (1981) 29 Cal.3d 82 [171 Cal.Rptr. 721, 623 P.2d 282] (Hop), filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus contending that Michael should be placed in the Senate Bill No. 962 Home. Gail and James appeared and objected. SARC appeared and asked for a court order for Michael’s placement. The trial court granted the petition. On appeal, Gail and James contend that the trial court failed to give deference to the administrative decision. Michael, represented by court-appointed counsel, counters that substantial evidence supports the trial court’s order. SARC has made no appearance on appeal. We agree with Gail and James. We therefore reverse the order.

LEGAL BACKGROUND

The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Lanterman Act) (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 4500 et seq.) 4 “grants persons with developmental disabilities the right to receive treatment and services to meet their needs, regardless of age or degree of handicap, at each stage of life. These individuals are ‘consumers’ of the treatment and services they receive. [Citation.] The state must pay for these services through contracts with various private nonprofit corporations for the operation of regional centers for the developmentally disabled, such as [SARC], and requires regional centers to develop an IPP [individual program plan] for each consumer that sets forth the treatment and services to be provided for the consumer.” (Conservatorship of Whitley (2007) 155 Cal.App.4th 1447, 1454, fn. 3 [66 Cal.Rptr.3d 808] (Whitley).)

The Legislature enacted the Lanterman Act to “establish certain rights of the so-called developmentally disabled persons, primarily their entitlement to the maximum degree of personal liberty and autonomy consonant with their handicap. [Citations.] The legislative mandate directs, therefore, such persons be situated in the least restrictive placement possible. [Citation.] To implement this goal, the statutes create entities known as regional centers, such as [SARC] here, which have the primary responsibility to locate community placements for developmentally disabled persons. These centers must, with respect to persons already admitted to state hospitals, such as *1118 [Michael], screen the records of all such admittees to determine whether less restrictive placements are possible; and with respect to prospective new admissions of such persons to state hospitals, the centers must consider alternative placements first. [Citations.] No developmentally disabled person may be admitted to a state hospital ‘except upon the referral of a regional center.’ [Citation.] The legislative intent stated for this statutory scheme is that developmentally disabled persons may lead more ‘independent, productive, and normal lives.’ ” (In re Borgogna (1981) 121 Cal.App.3d 937, 940-941 [175 Cal.Rptr. 588].)

The Probate Code provides for the appointment of a conservator of the person for “a person who is unable to provide properly for his or her personal needs” (Prob. Code, § 1801, subd. (a)) or a conservator of the estate “for a person who is substantially unable to manage his or her own financial resources or resist fraud or undue influence” (id., subd. (b)). Generally, a Probate Code conservator has the care, custody, and control of the conservatee and is empowered to fix the residence of the conservatee anywhere in the state and make health care decisions if the conservatee has been adjudicated to lack the capacity to make health care decisions. (Id., §§ 2351, 2352, 2355.)

The Probate Code additionally provides for the appointment of a “limited conservator” of the person, estate, or both “for a developmentally disabled adult.” (Prob. Code, § 1801, subd. (d).) “The limited conservator shall secure for the limited conservatee those habilitation or treatment, training, education, medical and psychological services, and social and vocational opportunity as appropriate and as will assist the limited conservatee in the development of maximum self-reliance and independence.” (Id., § 2351.5, subd. (a)(2).) But a limited conservator is not empowered absent court order to fix the residence of the limited conservatee or give medical consent. (Id., subd. (b).) 5

“The Legislature, in relevant provisions of the [Lanterman Act] . . . details the rights and relief available to . . . legal representative[s], such as [Gail and James] acting as [Michael’s] [co]conservator[s], who believe[] a placement decision has been proposed that is not in [their] conservatee’s best interests. Those statutory provisions direct that a legal representative’s objection to a proposed community placement is to be resolved by an *1119 administrative fair hearing procedure followed by superior court review if the conservator, or another party, remains dissatisfied with the result.” (Whitley, supra, 155 Cal.App.4th at p. 1453, citation & fn. omitted.)

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

We appreciate Administrative Law Judge Karen J. Brandt’s comprehensive decision and adopt from it as indicated by unattributed quotation marks.

Michael was bom prematurely in 1976 and has lived at Agnews since 1986. He is a person with profound mental retardation, with an IQ of 10.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
185 Cal. App. 4th 1112, 111 Cal. Rptr. 3d 187, 2010 Cal. App. LEXIS 938, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-michael-k-calctapp-2010.