State v. Lodge

608 S.W.2d 910, 24 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 88, 1980 Tex. LEXIS 410
CourtTexas Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 26, 1980
DocketB-9431, B-9615
StatusPublished
Cited by168 cases

This text of 608 S.W.2d 910 (State v. Lodge) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lodge, 608 S.W.2d 910, 24 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 88, 1980 Tex. LEXIS 410 (Tex. 1980).

Opinions

STEAKLEY, Justice.

These are companion cases. The question for decision is whether the mootness doctrine applies to appeals from involuntary commitments for Temporary Hospitalization in a mental hospital for a period not to exceed 90 days pursuant to the provisions of the Texas Mental Health Code, Art. 5547.1 The Austin Court of Civil Appeals has ruled in Jones v. State, 599 S.W.2d 897, that an appeal from a temporary involuntary commitment became moot when the patient was discharged. The San Antonio Court of Civil Appeals in Lodge v. State, 597 S.W.2d 773, has ruled otherwise. The court in Jones v. State, expressly declined to follow [911]*911the holding in Lodge v. State.2 We granted writ of error in both cases and now rule that the appeals from the orders of commitment were not precluded by the mootness doctrine.

Art. 5547-31. Application for temporary hospitalization, provides in part:

A sworn Application of Temporary Hospitalization of a proposed patient may be filed with the county court of the county in which the proposed patient resides or in which the proposed patient is found or in which the proposed patient is hospitalized by court order. The Application may be made by any adult person, or by the county judge, and shall state upon information and belief that the proposed patient is not charged with a criminal offense, that he is mentally ill, and that for his own welfare and protection or the protection of others he requires observation and/or treatment in a mental hospital. (Italics added).

Art. 5547-39a. Notice of Appeal and Art. 5547-39b. Transcript on Appeal, provide:

Art. 5547-39a.

The person ordered committed may appeal the Order of Temporary Hospitalization by filing written notice thereof with the County Court within five (5) days after the Order of Temporary Hospitalization is entered.

Art. 5547-39b.

When notice of appeal is filed, the clerk shall immediately send a certified transcript of the proceedings to the Court of Civil Appeals of the county.

Art. 5547-39d. Hearing of Appeals, provides:

... Such cases shall be advanced on the docket and given a preference setting over all other cases. The Courts of Civil Appeals may suspend all rules concerning the time for filing briefs and the docketing of cases.

Art. 5547 — 40. Prerequisite to Commitment, provides:

No person may be committed to a mental hospital for an indefinite period unless he has been under observation and/or treatment in a mental hospital for at least sixty (60) days pursuant to an Order of Temporary Hospitalization entered within the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the filing of the Petition or unless he has been under observation and/or treatment in a mental hospital under an Order entered pursuant to Section 5 of Article 46.02, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1965, for at least sixty (60) days within the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the date of the indefinite commitment hearing.

As seen in the provisions of these statutes, an application for temporary hospitalization must charge that the proposed patient is mentally ill, and that his own welfare and protection or the protection of others requires commitment to a mental hospital. It is further apparent from these statutory provisions that it was intended that one involuntarily committed to a mental hospital would have a viable appeal if he is temporarily confined in response to the application. This legislative purpose would be frustrated in most instances by the application of the mootness doctrine to orders for temporary commitment. A person involuntarily committed to a mental hospital for temporary hospitalization for a period not to exceed 90 days may be discharged at any time during the period of commitment; and in many if not most instances this, or even if the full 90 days is observed, will be at a time when an appeal from the order of commitment could not have been given appellate review and decision.

For all practical time frames, then, only orders for an indefinite commitment would afford persons an effective appeal. Under Art. 5547-40, however, an indefinite corn-[912]*912mitment may not be ordered unless the person has been under observation and/or treatment in a mental hospital for at least 60 days pursuant to an order of Temporary Hospitalization within the immediately preceding 12 months. Thus, the necessary predicate for an order of indefinite commitment, and hence the availability of an effective appeal, can always be defeated by discharge from the mental hospital within the first 60 days of the temporary confinement. And this would continue to be true if successive temporary commitments are ordered.

There are two recognized exceptions to application of the mootness doctrine. One is termed the “capable of repetition yet evading review” exception, see Southern Pacific Terminal Company v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 219 U.S. 498, 31 S.Ct. 279, 55 L.Ed. 310 (1911); the other is termed the “collateral consequences” exception, see Sibron v. New York, 392 U.S. 40, 88 S.Ct. 1889, 20 L.Ed.2d 917 (1968); cited in Carrillo v. State, 480 S.W.2d 612 (Tex.1972). We rejected the mootness contention in Carrillo and wrote that a minor should have the right to clear himself by appeal; and that this right should not be removed because the sentence given is so short that it expires before appellate steps can be completed, or the probated sentence is lifted before such time. We recognized that stigma attached to an adjudication of juvenile delinquency and that such adjudication carried with it deleterious collateral effects and legal consequences. We emphasized that a juvenile would have no way to exonerate himself by appeal if it were made moot by the compulsory serving of a relatively short sentence. Cf. Vitek v. Jones, 445 U.S. 480, 100 S.Ct. 1254, 63 L.Ed.2d 552 (1980); Addington v. Texas, 441 U.S. 418, 99 S.Ct. 1804, 60 L.Ed.2d 323 (1979); Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584, 99 S.Ct. 2493, 61 L.Ed.2d 101 (1979); Humphrey v. Cady, 405 U.S. 504, 92 S.Ct. 1048, 31 L.Ed.2d 394 (1972).

We are mindful of the difference in the consequences of an adjudication of delinquency, as in Carrillo, as well as those in the context of the cases cited immediately above, and an involuntary commitment to and confinement in a mental hospital for care and treatment, as here. Each, however, is manifestly severe and prejudicially unfair if the commitment is one that would not stand upon review in an effective appeal. The United States Supreme Court emphasized in Vitek v. Jones, that the Court in Humphrey v. Cady

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Bluebook (online)
608 S.W.2d 910, 24 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 88, 1980 Tex. LEXIS 410, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lodge-tex-1980.