Matter of C.B.

2017 MT 83, 392 P.3d 598, 2017 Mont. LEXIS 150, 387 Mont. 231, 2017 WL 1328153
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedApril 11, 2017
Docket15-0698
StatusPublished

This text of 2017 MT 83 (Matter of C.B.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matter of C.B., 2017 MT 83, 392 P.3d 598, 2017 Mont. LEXIS 150, 387 Mont. 231, 2017 WL 1328153 (Mo. 2017).

Opinion

04/11/2017

DA 15-0698 Case Number: DA 15-0698

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA

2017 MT 83

IN THE MATTER OF:

C.B.,

Respondent and Appellant.

APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Thirteenth Judicial District, In and For the County of Yellowstone, Cause No. DI 15-038 Honorable Michael G. Moses, Presiding Judge

COUNSEL OF RECORD:

For Appellant:

Chad Wright, Chief Appellate Defender, Danny Tenenbaum, Assistant Appellate Defender, Helena, Montana

For Appellee:

Timothy C. Fox, Montana Attorney General, Tammy K Plubell, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana

Scott D. Twito, Yellowstone County Attorney, Billings, Montana

Submitted on Briefs: February 8, 2017

Decided: April 11, 2017

Filed:

__________________________________________ Clerk Justice Michael E Wheat delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 C.B. suffers from bipolar affective disorder, manic severe with psychotic features.

She has received treatment from the Billings Clinic Psychiatric Center (“Clinic”)

periodically for several years. She appeals the Thirteenth Judicial District Court’s order of

involuntary commitment dated October 19, 2015. She claims that the District Court

erroneously held that the State had satisfied its burden of proof authorizing commitment.

She further asserts that the District Court improperly authorized the administration of

involuntary medications by misconstruing the applicable statute, § 53-21-127(6), MCA.

Lastly, C.B. claims her counsel was ineffective. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶2 C.B. is a single twenty-eight-year-old female with a lengthy history of mental

illness. Her medical records reveal that she is frequently noncompliant with prescribed

medications, is aggressive, combative and abusive to family members, and is repeatedly,

if not chronically, homeless and unemployed. Additionally, she has periodic encounters

with law enforcement usually precipitated by reports that she is walking in vehicle traffic

and creating a danger to herself and others. While interacting with the officers, she

generally displays volatile, bizarre behavior and is, at times, incoherent.

¶3 Between April 2015 and October 2015, officers transported C.B. to the Billings

Clinic four times. As a result, the Yellowstone County Attorney filed four petitions for

commitment: April 23, August 13, October 1, and October 13, 2015. The first three

petitions were dismissed following four to seven days of Clinic inpatient treatment during

2 which C.B. received her medications and stabilized sufficiently to be discharged. The

October 13, 2015 petition was not dismissed and following appointment of counsel and a

professional person/evaluator, Dr. Amy Schuett, the District Court conducted an

evidentiary hearing on October 19 at which C.B. and Dr. Schuett testified.

¶4 In the court’s post-hearing October 19, 2015 Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law

and Order, the District Court made the following factual findings: (1) on October 9, 2015,

the Billings Police Department responded to a report of a woman wandering in traffic; (2)

when the officers arrived they found a disoriented and incoherent C.B. and transported her

to the Billings Clinic; (3) the Clinic staff, who knew C.B., conducted an evaluation and

administered necessary medication; (4) the Clinic requested the County Attorney to file a

petition for commitment to the Montana State Hospital (MSH); and (5) the Petition was

filed on October 13, 2015. The court further found that while C.B. was hospitalized at the

Clinic between October 9 and the October 19 evidentiary hearing, she became compliant

with her medication but had not improved sufficiently to be safely discharged. The court

also found that C.B.’s multiple short-term hospitalizations were ineffective and unable to

stabilize her for a term longer than a few days or weeks.

¶5 The District Court’s legal conclusions included: (1) the State had proven to a

reasonable degree of medical certainty that C.B. suffered from a mental disorder; (2) C.B.

is unable to care for herself; (3) MSH is the least restrictive treatment option available; and

(4) involuntary administration of medications is authorized as it “may be necessary” to

facilitate treatment.

¶6 C.B. appeals.

3 ISSUES

¶7 A restatement of the issues on appeal is:

¶8 Did the District Court err in concluding that the State had satisfied its burden of

proof authorizing commitment?

(A) Did the District Court erroneously rely upon inadmissible hearsay in Dr. Schuett’s report and testimony to support its finding that C.B. required commitment?

(B) If Dr. Schuett’s hearsay testimony was properly admitted, did the District Court correctly determine that the State presented substantial evidence that C.B. was unable to provide for her own basic needs?

¶9 Did the District Court err by authorizing the administration of involuntary

medication when it “may be necessary”?

¶10 Did C.B. receive effective assistance of counsel?

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶11 We review a district court’s civil commitment order to determine whether the

court’s findings of fact are clearly erroneous and its conclusions of law correct. In re C.V.,

2016 MT 307, ¶ 15, 385 Mont. 429, 384 P.3d 1048.

¶12 In determining whether counsel provided effective assistance in an involuntary

commitment proceeding, we review five critical areas: (1) appointment of competent

counsel; (2) counsel’s initial investigation; (3) counsel’s interview with the client; (4) the

patient-respondent’s right to remain silent; and (5) counsel’s role as an advocate for the

patient-respondent. We consider the whole record and evaluate each factor based on the

facts and circumstances of the entire case. In re C.R., 2012 MT 258, ¶ 28, 367 Mont. 1,

289 P.3d 125 (internal citations and quotations omitted).

4 DISCUSSION

¶13 Did the District Court err in concluding that the State had satisfied its burden of proof authorizing commitment?

(A) Did the District Court erroneously rely upon inadmissible hearsay in Dr. Schuett’s report and testimony to support its finding that C.B. required commitment?

¶14 On appeal, C.B. claims that the District Court erred in concluding that the State had

proven that C.B.’s circumstances satisfied the criteria for commitment to MSH. She

specifically asserts that the court erroneously relied upon inadmissible hearsay evidence in

Dr. Schuett’s report and during her testimony to support its finding that she required

commitment. She further argued, in the alternative, that if the hearsay testimony was

properly admitted, the State did not present substantial evidence that C.B. was unable to

provide for her own basic needs.

¶15 As argued by C.B., the alleged hearsay statement included in Dr. Schuett’s

report/testimony is the assertion that C.B. was picked up by the police on October 9, 2016,

for “walking in and out of traffic.” She claims that when the police arrived, she was

standing in front of a house and was not walking in traffic. The Billings Clinic admission

report appears to be the source of this challenged fact. The admitting nurse on October 9,

2016, was told by the officers delivering C.B. to the Clinic that she was wandering in

traffic. The nurse included this statement in the Clinic’s admission report and it was

repeated in the subsequent Petition for Commitment.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2017 MT 83, 392 P.3d 598, 2017 Mont. LEXIS 150, 387 Mont. 231, 2017 WL 1328153, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matter-of-cb-mont-2017.