In re Dept. of Family & Protective Services

• Citation: 273 S.W.3d 637
• Decision Date: 09 January 2009
• Docket Number: No. 08-0524.,08-0524.
• Parties: In re DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY & PROTECTIVE SERVICES, Relator.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

273 S.W.3d 637

In re DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY & PROTECTIVE SERVICES, Relator.

No. 08-0524.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Argued November 12, 2008.

Delivered January 9, 2009.

Rehearing Denied February 13, 2009.

Mimi Van Han, Sandra D. Hachem, Harris County Senior Assistant Attorney, Harris County Attorney's Office, Houston, TX, for Relator.

Douglas Ray York, Pavlad, Brown & York, L.L.P., Houston, TX, for Real Party in Interest.

Glenn H. Devlin, Devlin & Phillips, Kay Paul Whyburn, Houston, TX, for Person in Interest.

Alene Ross Levy, Haynes & Boom, L.L.P., Houston, TX, for Amicus Curiae.

Justice JOHNSON delivered the opinion of the Court in which Chief Justice JEFFERSON, Justice WAINWRIGHT, Justice GREEN, and Justice WILLETT joined.

The Department of Family and Protective Services brought this parental-rights termination case and was appointed temporary managing conservator of two children. The trial court ordered the mother's parental rights terminated before the one-year dismissal date prescribed by the Family Code, but then, after the dismissal date, granted the mother's motion for new trial. The trial court neither rendered another final order nor entered an extension order, and the mother moved to dismiss the case more than nineteen months after the Department was first appointed temporary managing conservator. Her motion to dismiss was denied. We hold that the Family Code required the case to be dismissed and the trial court abused its discretion by failing to do so.

I. Background

The Department of Family and Protective Services filed suit to terminate K.W.'s parental rights to two children. On July 18, 2006, the trial court entered an order appointing the Department managing conservator of the children. In accordance with the Family Code in effect at the time, the order also set a dismissal date of July 23, 2007. See TEX. FAM.CODE § 263.401(a).¹ A bench trial took place on June 28, 2007 and July 10, 2007. On July 10, 2007, the judge orally ordered K.W.'s parental rights terminated. In August 2007, K.W. filed a motion for new trial. On August 21, 2007, the court entered a written order of termination, but on August 28, 2007, it granted K.W.'s motion for new trial. The court did not enter an order extending the time for which the case was to be retained on its docket. Id. § 263.401(b).²

The case was set for trial on December 4, 2007, but the trial was continued by agreement because the attorneys were in trial elsewhere and reset for April 22, 2008. On March 6, 2008, almost eight months after the one-year dismissal date, K.W. filed a motion to dismiss. The court denied the motion.

K.W. petitioned the court of appeals for mandamus directing the trial court to dismiss the case. The court of appeals held that the granting of a new trial had the legal effect of vacating both the July 10, 2007 and the August 21, 2007 orders of termination and returning the case to the docket as though there had been no previous trial or hearing. 265 S.W.3d 545, 550. It also held that because the effect of granting the new trial was to return the case to the docket, K.W.'s motion to dismiss was timely. Id. at 553; see TEX. FAM.CODE § 263.402(b).³ The court of appeals granted mandamus relief directing the trial court to dismiss the case.

One justice in the court of appeals dissented to the denial of en banc review and argued that the time limits specified in the Family Code are jurisdictional. 265 S.W.3d at 557-58 (Keyes, J., dissenting). The dissenting justice would have denied relief on the basis that the trial court lost jurisdiction to take any action when the one-year dismissal date passed and an extension order had not been entered. Id.

The Department asserts that the court of appeals abused its discretion and seeks a writ of mandamus ordering the court of appeals to vacate its directive to the trial court.

II. Jurisdiction

If the dismissal dates set by the Family Code are jurisdictional, then the trial court had jurisdiction only to dismiss the case once the dates had passed, and its orders beyond those dates are void. Thus, we first address whether the trial court retained jurisdiction over the case after the time limits set by the Family Code had passed.

Family Code section 263.401, in relevant part, provided that when the Department files a suit to terminate the parent-child relationship and is appointed conservator of the children, as was the case here, then

(a) Unless the court has rendered a final order or granted an extension under Subsection (b), on the first Monday after the first anniversary of the date the court rendered a temporary order appointing the department as temporary managing conservator, the court shall dismiss the suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed by the department that requests termination of the parent-child relationship or requests that the department be named conservator of the child.

(b) The court may not retain the suit on the court's docket after the time described by Subsection (a) unless the court finds that extraordinary circumstances necessitate the child remaining in the temporary managing conservatorship of the department and that continuing the appointment of the department as temporary managing conservator is in the best interest of the child. If the court makes those findings, the court may retain the suit on the court's docket for a period not to exceed 180 days after the time described by Subsection (a).

....

(c) If the court grants an extension but does not render a final order or dismiss the suit on or before the required date for dismissal under Subsection (b), the court shall dismiss the suit. The court may not grant an additional extension that extends the suit beyond the required date for dismissal under Subsection (b).⁴

In construing these statutory provisions, our objective is to determine and give effect to the Legislature's intent. State ex rel. State Dep't of Highways & Pub. Transp. v. Gonzalez, 82 S.W.3d 322, 327 (Tex.2002); see also TEX. GOV'T CODE § 312.005; Am. Home Prods. Corp. v. Clark, 38 S.W.3d 92, 95 (Tex.2000). We look first to the plain and common meaning of the statute's words. Gonzalez, 82 S.W.3d at 327. We determine legislative intent from the statute as a whole and not from isolated portions of it. Id.

Construing the relevant provisions according to the foregoing principles, we conclude that the trial court did not lose jurisdiction when the dismissal dates passed. Both subsections 263.401(a) and (b) provide time limits for which the trial court may retain the case on its docket, and for which it would clearly have jurisdiction. But, although subsection 263.401(a) provides for what is called the "one-year dismissal date" and subsection 263.401(b) provides for a 180-day extension of that one-year dismissal date (if the trial court finds that certain circumstances exist), nothing in the language of section 263.401 indicates that these deadlines are jurisdictional. The statute merely states that the trial court "shall dismiss the suit" and "may not retain the suit on the court's docket" when the deadlines expire. TEX. FAM.CODE § 263.401(a), (b).

On the other hand, section 263.402 provides that a party may waive its right to dismissal if the party "fails to make a timely motion to dismiss the suit or to make a motion requesting the court to render a final order before the deadline for dismissal." Id. § 263.402. Subject-matter jurisdiction, however, cannot be waived. Alfonso v. Skadden, 251 S.W.3d 52, 55 (Tex.2008) (per curiam) (citing Univ. of Tex. Sw. Med. Ctr. at Dallas v. Loutzenhiser, 140 S.W.3d 351, 358 (Tex.2004)). Thus, if the Legislature intended for the deadlines to be jurisdictional, it would not have expressly permitted them to be waived.⁵

Additionally, treating the statutory deadlines as jurisdictional could result in collateral attacks upon some termination orders well after completion of the termination proceedings and even after adoption of the children by other parties. See Dubai Petroleum Co. v. Kazi, 12 S.W.3d 71, 76 (Tex.2000) ("[A] judgment will never be considered final if the court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction."). Construing the dismissal dates as jurisdictional would not be reasonable in light of the Legislature's rationale in promulgating them to begin with: prompt and final resolution of parental-rights termination cases. See TEX. GOV'T CODE § 311.021(3) (providing that it is to be presumed the Legislature intends just and reasonable results when it enacts statutes); In re B.L.D., 113 S.W.3d 340, 353 (Tex.2003). We hold that the dismissal dates are not jurisdictional.

III. Failure to Dismiss

A. Standard of Review

We review a trial court's interpretation of the law de novo. State v. Shumake, 199 S.W.3d 279, 284 (Tex.2006). A trial court has no discretion in determining what the law is or properly applying the law. In re Tex. Dep't of Family & Protective Servs., 210 S.W.3d 609, 612 (Tex.2006). If the trial court fails to properly interpret the law or applies the law incorrectly, it abuses its discretion. Id.

Mandamus relief is proper to correct a clear abuse of discretion when there is no adequate remedy by appeal. In re Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 148 S.W.3d 124, 135-36 (Tex.2004). A court of appeals improperly issues mandamus if the trial court did not abuse its discretion or if the record fails to demonstrate the lack of an adequate remedy on appeal. Id.

B. Discussion

The Legislature has granted the Department authority to take possession of children and file suit to seek the termination of parental rights, as it did in this case. See TEX. FAM.CODE §§ 161.001, 262.001(a). However, the Legislature has prescribed with particularity how certain aspects of such suits must be conducted. The statute is clear that the suits must be dismissed on the first Monday after the first anniversary of the date the Department was appointed temporary managing conservator of the children, absent the rendering...