In re Civil Commitment of Giem

• Decision Date: 13 December 2007
• Docket Number: No. A06-1588.,A06-1588.
• Citation: 742 N.W.2d 422
• Parties: In the Matter of the Civil COMMITMENT OF Terrance John GIEM.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

742 N.W.2d 422

In the Matter of the Civil COMMITMENT OF Terrance John GIEM.

No. A06-1588.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

December 13, 2007.

Mary Margaret Huot, St. Paul, MN, for Appellant.

Margaret Gustafson Samec, Hugo, MN, for Respondent.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

GILDEA, Justice.

This case involves the subject matter jurisdiction of the district court to consider Ramsey County's petition to commit appellant Terrance John Giem as a sexual psychopathic personality (SPP) and/or a sexually dangerous person (SDP). Giem contends that the district court lost subject matter jurisdiction over the petition when it did not hold a hearing on the merits of the petition within the deadlines set forth in Minn.Stat. § 253B.08, subd. 1 (2006). The district court and the court of appeals held that Giem waived the right to have the merits hearing held within the statutory deadlines. Because we hold that the district court did not lose subject matter jurisdiction, but that the court's determination that Giem waived his right to an immediate hearing was clearly erroneous, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

Giem is a Level 3 sex offender. He was scheduled for release from the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Moose Lake on October 27, 2005. But on October 19, Ramsey County petitioned for his civil commitment as an SPP and/or SDP. The district court conducted an initial hearing on the petition on October 26, 2005. At that hearing, Giem's attorney stated, "although [Giem] does not agree with the petition, he would like to have insight into where he's at right now and * * * is willing to go to the security hospital * * *. [H]e's not really in agreement with the petition, but has waived his preliminary hearing." The district court asked Giem, "[D]o you understand what [your attorney] just said" and "is this what you have chosen to do today?" To each question Giem responded, "Yes, Your Honor." The court then scheduled prehearing examinations for November 18, 2005, and asked, "Do we want to try to set a[ ] date [for the merits hearing] at this point?" Giem's attorney replied, "Your Honor, we'd like to wait with that until after the exam, actually."¹

The court held a hearing on February 23 for the purpose of scheduling the merits hearing. At that time, Giem moved orally and in writing that the petition be dismissed because 125 days had passed since its filing and the district court had not conducted a merits hearing. Giem's motion was based on section 253B.08, subdivision 1, which provides that "the hearing on a commitment petition * * * shall be held within 90 days from the date of the filing of the petition."² In the alternative, Giem demanded that his hearing be held within 5 days of his request. This alternative request was based on the other timing provision in the same subdivision:

The proposed patient * * * may demand in writing at any time that the hearing be held immediately. Unless the hearing is held within five days of the date of the demand * * * the petition shall be automatically discharged if the patient is being held in a treatment facility pursuant to court order.

Minn.Stat. § 253B.08, subd. 1. There is no dispute that Giem was being held in a treatment facility pursuant to a court order.³

At the hearing, Giem's attorney argued that Giem wanted to have the merits hearing as soon as possible because the examinations were complete. His attorney stated that she was ready and available for such a hearing. The district court denied Giem's motion, stating that "[a]ny delays if they can be characterized as such with regard to bringing this case on for trial has [sic] been the result of the acquiescence of [Giem]" and "I believe that [Giem] does have a right to a trial in a timely manner, but he has waived his right by his acquiescence * * *." The court further noted that as a practical matter the attorneys and judge could not be made available for the hearing within 5 to 15 days. On March 6, the court issued a written order "[b]y agreement of the Court and counsel" continuing the merits hearing to May 8-12, 2006.

On March 22, Giem filed an appeal with the Minnesota Court of Appeals from the order denying both his motion to dismiss and the demand for a merits hearing within 5 days. The court of appeals dismissed the appeal as taken from a nonappealable order and said, "The February 23 order is not appealable because it does not deny a motion to dismiss on the ground of lack of subject-matter jurisdiction."

Giem subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The district court heard this motion on May 1, but at that time Giem's attorney asked the court to continue the motion to dismiss and postpone the hearing in order to implement a less restrictive alternative than commitment and to find Giem a place to live and a treating psychologist. The court questioned Giem to ensure that he understood his attorney's request and that he agreed to it. Giem confirmed his understanding and agreement. The court then ordered a continuance until June 26.

At the June 26 court appearance, the district court considered Giem's argument that he was unable to formulate a less restrictive alternative because Ramsey County Human Services refused to appoint a case manager. Giem asked the district court to order Ramsey County to appoint a case manager to his case, continue the case to permit the preparation of the alternative plan, or dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The court denied Giem's motion to dismiss, but ruled that to the extent that Giem's motion could be construed as a demand for an immediate hearing pursuant to section 253B.08, subdivision 1, it was granted and the court ordered the merits hearing to commence on July 5.

The merits hearing on the petition to civilly commit Giem as an SPP and/or SDP was held July 5-7, 2006. The district court committed Giem as an SDP on August 18, 2006. Giem appealed to the court of appeals, arguing that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the civil commitment petition because it failed to comply with the deadlines in section 253B.08, subdivision 1. The court of appeals ruled that the deadlines "do not define or limit" the district court's subject matter jurisdiction. In re Civil Commitment of Giem, 727 N.W.2d 198, 203 (Minn. App.2007). Rather, the court held the deadlines to be statutory rights that were subject to waiver and that Giem had waived them. Id. at 203-04, 205. We granted Giem's petition for review.

I.

Giem argues that the district court lost subject matter jurisdiction to hear the petition to commit him as an SPP and/or SDP when it failed to provide him a hearing on the merits of the commitment petition pursuant to the deadlines set forth in section 253B.08, subdivision 1. Subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law that we review de novo. Johnson v. Murray, 648 N.W.2d 664, 670 (Minn.2002).

We turn first to an examination of the statute that Giem contends divested the district court of subject matter jurisdiction. There are two different timing provisions in section 253B.08, subdivision 1, and both appear to apply to the county's petition. First, the district court "shall" hold a hearing within 90 days from the date of filing—or up to an additional 30 days for good cause shown—on a commitment petition for an SPP and/or SDP. Minn.Stat. § 253B.08, subd. 1. The statute further provides that "[t]he proceeding shall be dismissed if the proposed patient has not had a hearing on a commitment petition within the allowed time." Id. Second, the proposed patient "may demand in writing at any time that the hearing be held immediately." Id. The hearing must be held within 5 days of the date of the demand—or 10 additional days for good cause shown—otherwise "the petition shall be automatically discharged if the patient is being held in a treatment facility pursuant to court order." Id. Neither deadline was satisfied in this case.

We turn next to an examination of the consequence of the district court's failure to meet the statutory deadlines. The parties do not dispute that the court had subject matter jurisdiction over the petition when the county filed it on October 19, 2005. But because the statutory deadlines were not met, Giem argues the court lost the authority to conduct any further proceedings on the petition.⁴ See Robinette v. Price, 214 Minn. 521, 526, 8 N.W.2d 800, 804 (1943) (noting that subject matter jurisdiction refers to a court's authority to hear and decide an issue in controversy).

Giem argues that the timing provisions in section 253B.08, subdivision 1 are mandatory and not merely directory. He contends, in essence, that the legislative requirements that the petition "shall be dismissed" in the first part of the statute and the phrase "shall be automatically discharged" in the second part of the statute mean that the timing provisions are mandatory. In other words, because the legislature has provided for consequences if the deadlines are not met, the deadlines are mandatory and therefore necessarily jurisdictional.⁵

But there is a fundamental difference between finding that a deadline is mandatory and concluding that it operates to take away the district court's authority to act. We recently discussed the difference between deadlines as procedural tools and deadlines operating as jurisdictional limits. Rubey v. Vannett, 714 N.W.2d 417 (Minn.2006). As we noted there, one aspect of the difference is that defects in subject matter jurisdiction cannot be waived by the parties. Id. at 422. We attempted in Rubey to lend more clarity to the analysis of this important distinction. In that case, we held that a provision in our rules of civil procedure requiring that motions for a new trial be heard within 60 days did not restrict the district court's subject matter jurisdiction. Id. Rather, we held that the provision was "a procedural tool." Id.⁶...