Ex Parte Trant v. Schrader and Dunham
| Decision Date | 26 October 1943 |
| Docket Number | No. 20441.,20441. |
| Citation | 175 S.W.2d 161 |
| Parties | EX PARTE JOHN TRANT, PETITIONER, v. DR. PAUL SCHRADER AND DR. L.H. DUNHAM, RESPONDENTS. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Chas. V. Garnett for petitioner.
Roy McKittrick and Wm. B. Teasdale for respondents.
The petitioner, John Trant, was received into State Hospital No. 2, located at St. Joseph, Missouri, on February 5, 1943, and has since been detained therein. He seeks our writ upon the theory that the said hospital is retaining him without warrant of law. The hospital, through its constituted authorities, by its return filed herein, justifies detaining petitioner upon the sole ground that he was committed to the hospital in virtue of the judgment of the County Court of Buchanan County, Missouri, rendered on February 5, 1943.
By answer to the return, petitioner charges that the judgment of the county court committing him to the hospital is invalid and void, because: (1) At the time the county court entered its order it was without jurisdiction over his person for the reason that notice of the hearing was not served on him a reasonable time before the date set for said hearing; (2) at the time of service of the purported writ, petitioner was under arrest and in the custody of the Sheriff of Buchanan County, and actually in the county jail of said county, without warrant or authority of law, and therefore could not voluntarily appear at said hearing. We think other matters alleged in the answer to the return need not be set out.
The question presented is, was the judgment of February 5th a valid one. If valid, petitioner is rightfully detained; if void, he is entitled to be released.
The petitioner having filed his own petition in this court and not being represented by counsel, we thought it proper that counsel be appointed to represent him, and appointed Charles Garnett, an attorney of this bar, to so represent him. The attorney general, through an assistant, Mr. Teasdale, appeared for the authorities of State Hospital No. 2. An agreed statement of facts was filed, showing substantially the following: That John Trant, the petitioner, is a citizen and resident of Buchanan County, Missouri, and prior to his confinement, lived with his father. On or about the night of February 3, 1943, he left his home and started to Kansas City, Missouri, intending to solicit rides along the highway. His father, fearing that he might become a victim of some accident, caused him to be taken in charge by the police department of St. Joseph, and he was placed in the county jail of that county. On the following day, February 4th, his father filed an information with the clerk of the Buchanan County Court, charging that petitioner is insane. On February 5th, the clerk issued a notice to petitioner, notifying him of the filing of said information and that a hearing would be held thereon before said county court on said 5th day of February; that said notice was served on petitioner on said 5th day of February, by the sheriff of Buchanan County, and the return of the sheriff thereon so shows; that on February 5th, a hearing was had before said county court, resulting in the entry of its order and judgment finding petitioner insane and committing him to State Hospital No. 2 at St. Joseph.
Petitioner was not present before the county court at the time of said hearing. In addition to the admitted facts, we heard oral testimony which was to the effect that the hearing in the county court was in the forenoon of February 5th; that the father of petitioner had employed an attorney to represent him, which attorney consulted petitioner in the county jail and then appeared before the county court advising the court that the petitioner was a person of unsound mind. The Superintendent of State Hospital No. 2 gave it as his opinion that the petitioner was still a person of unsound mind and a proper person to be confined in the state hospital.
We are not passing on the question of petitioner's sanity or insanity. We shall discuss and decide the sole question of whether he is now legally confined.
It is contended that the notice of the hearing issued on February 5th and served on the same day and the hearing had on the same day, is in effect no notice, and therefore the order made is void. We think this contention must be sustained. Prior to 1937, our statutes providing for the confinement of indigent county patients in state hospitals for the insane made no express provision for giving written notice of the time and place of the hearing, but our courts had uniformly held that reasonable notice must be given to sustain the order of confinement. [Hunt v. Searcy, 167 Mo. 158; Shanklin v. Boyce, 275 Mo. 5; State ex rel. Perry v. Holckamp (Mo. Sup.), 51 S.W. (2d) 13.] In 1937, the General Assembly repealed certain sections of Article 2, Chapter 46, Revised Statutes 1929, relating to the confinement of county patients in state hospitals, and provided, by what is now section 9336, Revised Statutes 1939, that after proper complaint had been filed the county clerk "shall cause the alleged insane person to be notified of the proceeding by written notice stating the nature of the proceeding, time and place when such proceeding will be heard by the court, and that such person is entitled to be present at said hearing and to be assisted by counsel. Such notice shall be signed by the clerk under the seal of the court and served in person on the alleged insane person a reasonable time before the date set for such hearing. ... (Italics ours.)
From the admitted and undisputed facts, it seems clear that petitioner was not served with written notice "a reasonable time before the date set for such hearing". In State ex rel. Perry v. Holckamp, supra, in discussing a similar provision in a statute relating to insanity hearings in the probate court, the Supreme Court said:
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