Archer v. State, 95-918

• Decision Date: 04 September 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-918,95-918
• Citation: 681 So.2d 296
• Parties: 21 Fla. L. Weekly D1999 Sharon ARCHER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 296

681 So.2d 296

21 Fla. L. Weekly D1999

Sharon ARCHER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 95-918.

District Court of Appeal of Florida First District.

Sept. 4, 1996.

Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender; David P. Gauldin, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General; Wendy S. Morris, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

BENTON, Judge.

Sharon Archer appeals her involuntary placement in Florida State Hospital. She argues that the circuit court erred in denying her motion to dismiss, and in finding that the State had presented clear and convincing evidence demonstrating that she met the criteria for involuntary placement. We reverse on the second ground.

Ms. Archer was originally civilly committed by a court order that is not at issue here. On October 19, 1994, in accordance with section 394.467(4), Florida Statutes (1993), a hearing officer from the Division of Administrative Hearings conducted a hearing on the hospital administrator's request for an order of continued involuntary placement. On November 30, 1994, the hearing officer entered an amended final order denying continued involuntary placement, finding:

The Administrator did not prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that the patient has a mental illness that cannot be treated in an available and appropriate less restrictive setting without serious risk that the patient will harm [her]self, either by self-destructive behavior or by neglect, or will harm others.

The administrator of Florida State Hospital did not appeal the hearing officer's order denying the request for continued involuntary placement or otherwise seek review in accordance with section 120.68, Florida Statutes (1993).

Instead, on January 3, 1995, the hospital administrator filed a new petition for involuntary placement. The petition, quoting section 394.467(1)(a) 2.a., Florida Statutes (1993), alleges that Ms. Archer is mentally ill, has refused voluntary placement, is unable to determine whether placement is necessary, and

is manifestly incapable of surviving alone or with the help of willing and responsible family or friends, including available alternative services, and without treatment, [s]he is likely to suffer from neglect or refuse to care for [her]self and such neglect or refusal poses a real and present threat of substantial harm to h[er] well-being.

On January 25, 1995, the day Ms. Archer filed a motion to dismiss the petition for involuntary placement, a hearing was held. On January 26, 1995, the trial court filed the written order for involuntary placement appealed here.

Appeal From Commitment Order Not Moot

The order Ms. Archer is appealing committed her involuntarily for no more than six months, which have since elapsed. § 394.467(4), Fla. Stat. (1993). This passage of time does not, however, moot the appeal. For one thing, an order of involuntary placement may serve as the predicate for continued involuntary placement orders, which can extend an original six months' confinement. "If a circuit judge's order of initial involuntary placement is erroneous, subsequent administrative orders of continued involuntary placement, predicated as they are on the initial order, do not render challenges to that order moot." Everett v. State, 524 So.2d 1091, 1092-93 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988). The record in the present case does not reveal whether Ms. Archer has been released or remains involuntarily committed.

Even if Ms. Archer has been released, moreover, her appeal is not moot, under the cases. "An issue is moot when the controversy has been so fully resolved that a judicial determination can have no actual effect." Godwin v. State, 593 So.2d 211, 212 (Fla.1992)(citing Dehoff v. Imeson, 153 Fla. 553, 15 So.2d 258 (1943)). "[A]n otherwise moot case will not be dismissed if collateral legal consequences that affect the rights of a party flow from the issue to be determined." Id.

In Godwin v. State, 593 So.2d 211 (Fla.1992), our supreme court held that an appeal from a civil commitment order under chapter 394 did not become moot by virtue of release from confinement, because section 402.33(8), Florida Statutes (1993), allowed imposition of a lien for the costs of involuntary commitment, even after discharge.

Godwin's appeal is not moot because section 402.33(8) allows for the imposition of a lien for unpaid fees flowing from an involuntary commitment, and HRS has not indicated a waiver of its right to impose a lien.

Godwin, 593 So.2d at 214. Our supreme court explained at some length why the matter was not moot even when no lien had in fact been filed and despite the appellant's poverty:

The imposition of a lien under section 402.33(8) on the property of an involuntarily committed person is a collateral legal consequence. In all probability, a lien will be filed by the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS) long after the expiration of the time for filing an appeal from an order of commitment. In fact, the discretion as to whether and when to file the lien rests solely with HRS. Because section 402.33(8) affects a person involuntarily committed beyond the person's initial release, the statute has collateral legal consequences.

Godwin, 593 So.2d at 213. The court made clear that it was concerned with the legal possibility and not the factual probability of a lien:

The State argues that even if section 402.33(8) does provide a collateral legal consequence, Godwin failed to show that the consequences applied to her case. The State notes that section 402.33(2)(g) reads in part: "[f]ees, other than third-party benefits and benefit payments, may not be charged for services provided to indigents whose only sources of income are from state and federal aid."

Further, section 402.33(1)(g) defines "state and federal aid" as "cash assistance o[r] cash equivalent benefits based on an individual's proof of financial need, including, but not limited to, aid to families with dependent children and food stamps." The statutory exceptions are limited to protecting persons whose sole income is from "[s]tate and federal aid." Even if Godwin does not receive state or federal aid she nevertheless may be indigent, and subject to imposition of a lien in the future despite her indigency. The State further argues that section 402.33(6)(a) keeps HRS from collecting fees against Godwin. Section 402.33(6)(a) provides: "[t]he department may not require a client or responsible party to pay fees it may assess that exceed the client's or responsible party's ability to pay." While section 402.33(6)(a) may restrict HRS's ability to collect fees from Godwin, the statute does not rule out the possibility that HRS may attach a lien to Godwin's property in the future. In this case, HRS has been silent as to whether it will file a lien in the future, and, therefore, Godwin still is subject to the possibility of a collateral legal consequence.

Godwin, 593 So.2d at 213-14.

Ozbourn v. State, 651 So.2d 795, 797-98 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)(footnote omitted). See Caudle v. State, 478 So.2d 361 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). The supreme court's decision in Godwin overruled Taylor v. State, 536 So.2d 1050 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988). For the reasons explicated in Godwin and Ozbourn, we turn to the substance of the appeal.

Motion To Dismiss Denied

Section 394.467(1), Florida Statutes (1993), vests circuit courts with authority to grant petitions for initial involuntary placement. See Bentley v. State ex rel. Rogers, 398 So.2d 992 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981). Section 394.467(4)(f), Florida Statutes (1993), requires administrative hearing officers to authorize continued involuntary placement if a person committed by a court continues to meet the criteria. Liebman v. State, 555 So.2d 1242 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989). But "if it is shown at the hearing that the patient does not meet the criteria for involuntary placement, he is entitled to be released," § 394.467(4)(a), Fla. Stat. (1993), once the initial six-month hold expires, absent the initiation of new judicial proceedings.

Before taking evidence on the administrator's petition, the trial court heard argument on appellant's motion to dismiss. In support of the motion, Ms. Archer's counsel argued that the administrator was attempting to circumvent the statutory scheme and vitiate the authority of the Division of Administrative Hearings by filing a new petition for involuntary placement in circuit court based on the same allegations the hearing officer had found not proven and so insufficient to justify continued placement. Like the trial court, we are unwilling to assume, without any evidentiary support, that judicial proceedings were instituted here other than in good faith.

The circuit court denied the motion to dismiss, concluding:

I do not view this proceeding as being an appeal of ... hearing officer Cle[a]v[i]nger's order of ... November 30. I don't have the authority to review that....

There is no way for me to tell whether this is some sort of retaliatory thing. Generally it isn't the Hospital's role or goal in those things. In any event, seeing how people's mental conditions are changeable, the fact that she may have not met the criteria for involuntary hospitalization back at the time this hearing was conducted doesn't necessarily mean that she doesn't now.

I don't know whether she does or not. I'll take the evidence and then try to make that determination. I don't see the fact that she had a prior hearing whether it was with a DOAH officer or with another judge six months ago would necessarily result in a final decision one way or the other.

We have little to add to the learned circuit judge's analysis.

Even though the criteria for continued involuntary placement are identical to the criteria for initial placement, § 394.467(4)(a), Fla. Stat. (1995), and the parties may be viewed as the same in both proceedings, the lapse of time created a different "cause of action." Cf. Gator Shoe...