A.C. v. Ind. Dep't of Child Servs. (In re M.S.)

• Decision Date: 20 February 2020
• Docket Number: Supreme Court Case No. 19S-JC-505
• Citation: 140 N.E.3d 279
• Parties: In the MATTER OF M.S. (Minor Child in Need of Services); A.C. (Mother), Appellant, v. Indiana Department of Child Services, Appellee.
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

140 N.E.3d 279

In the MATTER OF M.S. (Minor Child in Need of Services);

A.C. (Mother), Appellant,

v.Indiana Department of Child Services, Appellee.

Supreme Court Case No. 19S-JC-505

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Argued: October 15, 2019

Decided: February 20, 2020

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: Zachary J. Stock, Indianapolis, Indiana

ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE: Curtis T. Hill, Jr., Attorney General of Indiana, Robert J. Henke, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana

On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 18A-JC-2843

David, Justice.

Indiana law provides that a trial court must dismiss a petition alleging a child is in need of services if the court does not conclude a factfinding hearing within 120 days of the filing of the petition by the State. Ind. Code § 31-34-11-1(d). Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure, however, allow a party to move for a continuance if that party can show "good cause" for why a continuance is necessary in a particular case. Ind. Trial Rule 53.5. The issue presented in this case is whether the legislature's 120-day constraint on a CHINS proceeding may be enlarged under our trial rules if a party to the proceeding—in this case the Mother—moves for a good faith continuance that results in the conclusion of factfinding beyond the codified 120-day limit. Finding that this time period may be extended only for good cause, we affirm the trial court's denial of Mother's motion to dismiss the CHINS petition.

Facts and Procedural History

On November 12, 2017, the Department of Child Services (DCS) received reports alleging several children, including M.S., were victims of neglect. The allegations stemmed from an incident in which one child received a critical injury that ultimately resulted in that child's death. M.S. was removed from the care of her mother, A.C., and placed with her maternal grandmother. On November 14, 2017,¹ DCS filed a verified petition alleging M.S. was a child in need of services (CHINS) under Indiana Code section 31-34-1-1. The initial hearing on the CHINS petition took place that same day.

A factfinding hearing was held on December 13, 2017. At the hearing, both parents waived the requirement that factfinding be concluded within sixty days of the date the petition was filed and the matter was continued to February 23, 2018. In the meantime, Mother requested production of documents from the Danville Police Department relating to the investigation of the death of Mother's child. The Department moved to quash Mother's subpoena duces tecum and the matter was set for a hearing on February 16, 2018. At the hearing, Mother requested a continuance to resolve the discovery dispute, but the trial court expressed uncertainty over whether it could extend the factfinding hearings beyond the statutory 120-day deadline. Still, all parties agreed to waive the deadline and the trial court continued the factfinding hearing and ordered limited discovery of documents possessed by the Danville Police Department.

A full factfinding hearing was held on March 16, 2018. At the hearing, Mother submitted over 2,000 video recordings into evidence—each lasting about two minutes in length. The trial court granted Mother an additional seven days to identify which of the videos were most relevant to the CHINS petition. On April 10, Mother moved for an extension of time so she could continue her review of the recordings.

Factfinding concluded on April 17, 2018, but the final order adjudicating M.S. as a CHINS was not issued until October 8, 2018. In the intervening time, Mother requested judgment be entered immediately because M.S. was still placed outside of Mother's care. At the dispositional hearing on October 31, 2018, Mother requested that the matter be dismissed in light of recent caselaw from our Court of Appeals regarding formal deadlines for CHINS actions. The trial court entered a dispositional order on November 2, 2018, which denied Mother's oral motion to dismiss and ordered continued placement of the child with the maternal grandmother. After the court's order was issued, Mother renewed her motion to dismiss on grounds that factfinding was not completed within the statutorily imposed 120-day limit. The trial court denied the motion and Mother appealed.

In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the matter with instructions to dismiss the case without prejudice. Matter of M.S. , 124 N.E.3d 1234, 1237 (Ind. Ct. App. 2019). In its opinion, the court relied on the plain language of Indiana Code section 31-34-11-1 and its prior decision in Matter of T.T. , 110 N.E.3d 441 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018), to conclude that the General Assembly clearly intended that a factfinding hearing in a CHINS proceeding must be completed—without exception—within the 120-day timeframe set forth by statute. Id. at 1236.

DCS petitioned for transfer, which we granted, thereby vacating the Court of Appeals opinion. Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A).

Standard of Review

Matters of statutory interpretation present pure questions of law and are thus reviewed de novo . In re Adoption of B.C.H. , 22 N.E.3d 580, 584 (Ind. 2014) (citing Gardiner v. State , 928 N.E.2d 194, 196 (Ind. 2010) ). We "presume[ ] that the legislature intended for the statutory language to be applied in a logical manner consistent with the statute's underlying policy and goals." Rodriguez v. State , 129 N.E.3d 789, 793 (Ind. 2019) (citing Nicoson v. State , 938 N.E.2d 660, 663 (Ind. 2010) ).

Discussion and Decision

We are asked to consider whether a party to a CHINS proceeding may move for a continuance that places the action outside of the legislatively prescribed timeframe and then seek dismissal because the codified deadline has expired. Here, Mother moved for a continuance, albeit for good cause, to resolve a discovery dispute and sort through more than 2,000 different video recordings. In her motion to dismiss, however, Mother argued that the statute is clear: CHINS proceedings must be dismissed if factfinding is not concluded within the prescribed time limit. On the other side of this dispute, DCS argues that such a rigid interpretation would lead to a Catch-22. Stated differently, DCS believes the trial court faced two choices: either rush through the case without important evidence or allow the parties to build their case and risk dismissal for failure to complete the hearing within the statutory timeframe.

We begin our analysis with the statute governing the amount of time a court may take to complete a factfinding hearing in a CHINS case. In relevant part, Indiana Code section 31-34-11-1 provides:

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), unless the allegations of a petition have been admitted, the juvenile court shall complete a factfinding hearing not more than sixty (60) days after a petition alleging that a child is a child in need of services is filed in accordance with IC 31-34-9.

(b) The juvenile court may extend the time to complete a factfinding hearing, as described in subsection (a), for an additional sixty (60) days if all parties in the action consent to the additional time.

...

(d) If the factfinding hearing is not held within the time set forth in subsection (a) or (b), upon a motion with the court, the court shall dismiss the case without prejudice.

While our Court has previously weighed in on other aspects of this provision, see, e.g., In re K.D. , 962 N.E.2d 1249 (Ind. 2012) (discussing the requirement to hold a factfinding hearing under Indiana Code section 31-34-11-1 when one parent admits the allegations of a CHINS petition and the other parent denies the allegations), we have not yet had the opportunity to review the statute's procedural timeline. Our Court of Appeals, however, has decided several cases that turn on the meaning of this statute.

One such case is Matter of J.R. , 98 N.E.3d 652 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018), trans. not sought . Over the parents' objection, the trial court in Matter of J.R. continued a CHINS case to a date outside of the sixty-day limit imposed in subsection (a) of the statute. The child was adjudicated as a CHINS and the parents appealed, arguing that the trial court erred in denying their motion to dismiss. The Court of Appeals reversed, finding:

[T]here is no longer any reason to believe that the General Assembly intends Indiana Code section 31-34-11-1 to mean anything other than what its clear language indicates, i.e. that a factfinding hearing shall be completed within sixty days of the filing of a CHINS petition and that the failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.²

Id. at 655 (emphasis in original). Further, the court noted, "if we were to allow the deadline to be ignored here, trial courts could habitually set these matters outside the time frame and there would be no consequence whatsoever." Id.

This statute was again interpreted in Matter of T.T. , 110 N.E.3d 441, 443 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018), trans. not sought . In that case, the mother acquiesced to DCS's motion to continue a CHINS action outside of the 120-day window. Once beyond 120 days, the mother moved to dismiss on grounds that the factfinding hearing had not been completed within the statutory timeframe. The trial court denied the motion, but the Court of Appeals reversed, finding that the General Assembly clearly intended the 120-day period to be a hard deadline. Id. Further, the court found that although the statute allowed for waiver of the sixty-day deadline, no such provision enabled waiver of the 120-day deadline. Id. Thus, the court held, "[t]o allow the parties to agree to dates beyond the maximum 120-day limit would thwart the legislative purpose of timely rehabilitation and reunification of families that are subject to CHINS proceedings." Id.

These cases are instructive though not controlling. We agree, for example, that the sixty-day deadline may be waived with the consent of both parties for any reason. See Matter of J.R. , 98 N.E.3d at 655. Further, we accept that the General Assembly has made CHINS actions a priority...