Sexual Offender Registration Review Board v. Berzett

801 S.E.2d 821, 301 Ga. 391, 2017 WL 2623882, 2017 Ga. LEXIS 532
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJune 19, 2017
DocketS17A0082
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 801 S.E.2d 821 (Sexual Offender Registration Review Board v. Berzett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sexual Offender Registration Review Board v. Berzett, 801 S.E.2d 821, 301 Ga. 391, 2017 WL 2623882, 2017 Ga. LEXIS 532 (Ga. 2017).

Opinion

HINES, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal by the Sexual Offender Registration Review Board from a final order of the Superior Court of Fulton County declaring that OCGA § 42-1-14, which sets forth a procedure for the classification of sexual offenders according to their recidivism risks and in subsection (e) requires any “sexually dangerous predator” to wear and pay for an electronic GPS monitor for the rest of his life,1 violates several provisions of the United States and Georgia Constitutions. In that order, the superior court also issued a writ of prohibition against the Board. For the reasons that follow, we vacate the superior court’s judgment and remand the case with direction that it be dismissed.

On April 5, 2006, Kenneth Berzett pled guilty to child molestation, and in 2009, the Board classified him as a sexually dangerous [392]*392predator. See OCGA § 42-1-14 (a). In 2014, the Board granted Ber-zett’s request for an out-of-time reevaluation of his classification, but ultimately upheld its classification decision. See OCGA § 42-1-14 (b). Berzett then petitioned the superior court for judicial review of his classification, see OCGA § 42-1-14 (c), and, in a separate action, he simultaneously filed a petition for declaratory judgment, alleging that OCGA § 42-1-14 is unconstitutional and also seeking injunctive relief against enforcement or application of the electronic monitoring requirement. As to the petition for judicial review, the superior court affirmed the Board’s classification of Berzett and denied his request for relief, and Berzett did not appeal the superior court’s decision.

Meanwhile, the Board filed a motion to dismiss the declaratory judgment action. After the final decision on the petition for judicial review, the Board asserted in a supplement to its motion to dismiss that Berzett’s request for declaratory judgment had become moot because there was no longer an active controversy between Berzett and the Board, any ruling on the constitutionality of OCGA § 42-1-14 would have no practical effect on Berzett, and he no longer faces uncertainty as to any future undirected action. Although the superior court dismissed one of Berzett’s constitutional claims, it denied the Board’s motion to dismiss as to all other claims, deciding that, inter alia, those claims are not moot and a petition for declaratory judgment is a proper vehicle for raising them. On subsequent cross-motions for summary judgment, the superior court granted summary judgment to the Board on one constitutional claim but granted summary judgment to Berzett on all of his other constitutional claims. The superior court held that Berzett is not subject to the electronic monitoring obligations imposed on sexually dangerous predators and issued a writ of prohibition against the Board and its officers and agents that prohibited them from requiring Berzett to wear or pay for GPS monitoring pursuant to OCGA § 42-1-14 (e), from gathering, storing, or distributing any data regarding his movements obtained as a result of such monitoring, and from otherwise enforcing any provision of OCGA § 42-1-14 (e) as to Berzett.

On appeal, the Board contends that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over this petition for declaratory relief because no actual controversy existed between the Board and Berzett. Indeed, this issue is jurisdictional. See Fulton County v. City of Atlanta, 299 Ga. 676, 676, n. 2 (791 SE2d 821) (2016). The Declaratory Judgment Act, OCGA § 9-4-1 et seq., “gives superior courts the power to declare rights and other legal relations of any interested party in ‘cases of actual controversy’ under OCGA § 9-4-2 (a) and ‘in any civil case in which it appears to the court that the ends of justice require that the [393]*393declaration should be made.’ OCGA § 9-4-2 (b).”2 Walker v. Owens, 298 Ga. 516, 518 (783 SE2d 114) (2016) (citation omitted). “However, the presence in the declaratory judgment action of a party with an interest in the controversy adverse to that of the petitioner is necessary under either subsection (a) or (b).” Pangle v. Gossett, 261 Ga. 307, 308 (1) (404 SE2d 561) (1991). Under those subsections, there can be no actual or justiciable controversy if, among other things, the questions in the case have become moot or there are no “ ‘interested parties asserting adverse claims upon a state of facts which have accrued.’ ” Fulton County, 299 Ga. at 677 (citation omitted). See also Pilgrim v. First Nat. Bank of Rome, 235 Ga. 172, 174 (219 SE2d 135) (1975). A petition for declaratory judgment is moot when the relief, if granted, would have no practical effect on the underlying controversy See Babies Right Start v. Ga. Dept. of Public Health, 293 Ga. 553, 555 (2) (a) (748 SE2d 404) (2013); Pimper v. State of Ga., 274 Ga. 624, 626 (555 SE2d 459) (2001). Moreover, “ ‘ “[t]he proper scope of declaratory judgment is to adjudge those rights among parties upon which their future conduct depends.” ’ ” GeorgiaCarry.Org v. Atlanta Botanical Garden, 299 Ga. 26, 28 (1) (785 SE2d 874) (2016) (citation omitted).

The interest of the respondent to the petition for declaratory judgment in this case is statutorily determined. Under OCGA § 42-1-14 (a) and (b), the Board is required to make the initial risk assessment and classification of sexual offenders, to decide on petitions for reevaluation of the classification, and to make a risk assessment upon request of a superior court that is considering a petition pursuant to OCGA § 42-l-19forreleasefromtheregistrationrequire-ments and residency and employment restrictions placed on certain sexual offenders. See generally Gregory v. Sexual Offender Registration Review Bd., 298 Ga. 675, 678-684 (1) (784 SE2d 392) (2016). The Board does not, however, receive payment for the cost of the electronic [394]*394monitoring system that sexually dangerous predators are required to wear, place the monitors on them, or play any role in the post-classification administration of the monitoring system or any other requirements and restrictions placed on sexual offenders.

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Bluebook (online)
801 S.E.2d 821, 301 Ga. 391, 2017 WL 2623882, 2017 Ga. LEXIS 532, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sexual-offender-registration-review-board-v-berzett-ga-2017.