Lodge v. State, 16284

• Decision Date: 06 February 1980
• Docket Number: No. 16284,16284
• Citation: Lodge v. State, 597 S.W.2d 773 (Tex. Ct. App. 1980)
• Parties: Wyline Elizabeth LODGE, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Civil Court of Appeals

Page 773

597 S.W.2d 773

Wyline Elizabeth LODGE, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 16284.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, San Antonio.

Feb. 6, 1980.

Rehearing Denied April 9, 1980.

Ray Leach, Bill McKee, Legal Aid, San Antonio, for appellant.

John R. Heard, San Antonio, filed amicus curiae brief.

Bill M. White, Crim. Dist. Atty., Mitchell L. Weidenbach, Asst. Crim. Dist. Atty., San Antonio, for appellee.

CADENA, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the trial court, sitting without a jury, directing that appellant, Wyline Elizabeth Lodge, be confined in a mental hospital for a period not exceeding 90 days. The order was based on findings that appellant is mentally ill "and requires observation and/or treatment in a mental hospital for his (sic) own welfare and protection or the protection of others." Such temporary involuntary commitment to a mental hospital is permitted by section 38(b) of the Texas Mental Health Code. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 5547-38(b) (Vernon 1958 & Supp. 1980).

The State suggests that the case is moot because appellant was released from the hospital 13 days after she was committed. At the time she was discharged, however, appellant had already perfected her appeal to this Court.

The State, relying on In Re Ivey, 534 S.W.2d 163 (Tex.Civ.App. Austin 1976, writ ref'd n. r. e.), and on two other decisions by Courts of Civil Appeals ¹ which followed the Ivey holding, contends that the discharge of appellant from confinement terminated the existence of an actual controversy between the parties and rendered the cause moot; so that any opinion by this Court would amount to no more than an advisory opinion. We disagree.

There are two recognized exceptions to the mootness doctrine. The first exception was applied in Southern Pacific Terminal Co. v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 219 U.S. 498, 31 S.Ct. 279, 55 L.Ed. 310 (1911), which involved an attack on the validity of an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission. In rejecting the contention that the expiration of the order rendered the controversy moot, the Supreme Court pointed out that the short duration of orders such as the one before it would normally result in their expiration before review could effectively be accomplished. Under such circumstances, where the questions involved in the controversy are important and of a continuing nature, the mootness doctrine will not be applied. The Court described such controversies as "capable of repetition, yet evading review." Id. at 515, 31 S.Ct. at 283.

The Southern Pacific Terminal exception is applicable where the likelihood of the recurrence of a controversy of short duration is coupled with the presence of a paramount interest in assuring adequate appellate review of a dispute having public significance. See Weinstein v. Bradford, 423 U.S. 147, 148, 96 S.Ct. 347, 46 L.Ed.2d 350 (1975); Maryland Cas. Co. v. Pacific Coal & Oil Co., 312 U.S. 270, 273, 61 S.Ct. 510, 85 L.Ed. 826 (1940).

The lower federal courts have applied this exception in several cases involving involuntary civil commitments for mental illness. See Rex v. Owens, 585 F.2d 432, 435 (10th Cir. 1978). Appeals from temporary civil commitment orders are deemed to satisfy the "capable of repetition, yet evading review" requirement because the appellant generally suffers from recurring stages of mental illness which require short-term involuntary confinements which invariably expire before there is an opportunity for appellate review. See In Re Ballay, 482 F.2d 648, 651 (D.C.Cir.1973).

The second exception to the mootness rule is generally referred to as the "collateral consequences doctrine." This exception is most often applied by the federal courts in criminal cases where the adverse collateral consequences of a criminal conviction are viewed as preserving the existence of the dispute although the convicted person has completely served the sentence imposed. See, e. g., Sibron v. New York, 392 U.S. 40, 55-56, 88 S.Ct. 1889, 20 L.Ed.2d 917 (1968); Pollard v. United States, 352 U.S. 354, 358, 77 S.Ct. 481, 1 L.Ed.2d 393 (1957). In order to obtain a finding of mootness in such cases the prosecution must show that there is "no possibility" of adverse collateral consequences flowing from the conviction. 392 U.S. at 57, 88 S.Ct. 1889.

The collateral consequences doctrine has also been applied by lower federal courts in order to permit appellate review of temporary involuntary civil commitments after discharge of the petitioner from confinement. See Justin v. Jacobs, 449 F.2d 1017, 1018-20 (D.C.Cir.1971). The doctrine is applicable because the adverse collateral consequences of being adjudicated mentally ill remain to affect the patient long after his release. See In Re Ballay, 482 F.2d 648, 651-52 (D.C.Cir.1973).

Apparently, there are no Texas cases applying the Southern Pacific Terminal exception. In Ivey, the Austin Court of Civil Appeals referred to this exception, as well as the collateral consequences doctrine and, without discussion or explanation, refused to apply either to a case involving a temporary involuntary civil commitment for mental illness. The Ivey opinion merely referred to the cases in which one or the other of the two exceptions had been applied, and declared that the appeal was moot because appellant had been released from confinement, thus ending "the existence of an actual controversy" which "is essential to the exercise of appellate jurisdiction." 534 S.W.2d at 165.

The Texas Supreme Court declined to dismiss the collateral consequences doctrine as cavalierly as did the Court of Civil Appeals in Ivey. Carrillo v. State, 480 S.W.2d 612 (Tex.1972), involved an appeal by a minor from an order declaring him to be a delinquent child. Because the sentence had expired, the State argued, as it does here, that the case was moot. The Texas Supreme Court, relying on Sibron v. New York, supra, rejected the mootness contention, saying that a minor's right to appeal "should not be removed because the sentence given is so short that it expires before appellate steps (have been) completed or the probated sentence is lifted before such time." 480 S.W.2d at 617. The Court pointed to the stigma and collateral consequences which flow from an adjudication of delinquency and declared that such consequences "may not be insignificant." Significantly, the holding that a minor must be given the right to clear himself by appeal, even after he had served his sentence, was reached after the Court had noted that in the "ordinary civil case" where the judgment of the trial court has been "voluntarily satisfied, such as by paying the money judgment, then the whole case is moot" and all judgments and orders are set aside. 480 S.W.2d at 616-17.

In Ivey, the Carrillo opinion was deemed worth nothing more than a passing reference as another case in which the collateral consequences doctrine had been applied. We conclude that the Carrillo rationale is applicable to a case involving temporary involuntary civil commitment to a mental hospital for a period not to exceed 90 days following a finding of "mental illness." The stigma and adverse consequence flowing from a judicial determination of mental illness are too well known to require repetition here. See Lessard v. Schmidt, 349 F.Supp. 1078, 1094 (E.D.Wis.1972); Note, Developments in the Law of Civil Commitment of the Mentally Ill, 87 Harv.L.Rev. 1190, 1193-1201 (1974). The consequences of a commitment for mental illness are often barely distinguishable from those collateral consequences which flow from a conviction of crime, or an adjudication of delinquency in the case of a minor. See State v. Turner, 556 S.W.2d 563, 565-66 (Tex.1977); Comment, Overt Dangerous Behavior as a Constitutional Requirement for Involuntary Civil Commitment of the Mentally Ill, 44 U.Chi.L.Rev. 562, 563 (1977). A person who has been discharged from confinement following involuntary commitment to a mental hospital cannot be said to stand in the same position as one who has "voluntarily" satisfied a judgment in the "ordinary civil case."

Appellant's release from confinement in this case can have little or no effect on the consequences of a formal judicial declaration of mental illness. The certificate of discharge in this case recites merely that appellant was released because she had "received maximum hospital benefits." Assuming that mental illness can be "cured," the certificate of discharge does not purport to reflect that appellant has been cured. A recital that a person "has received maximum hospital benefits" may be no more than a euphemistic way of saying that the mental illness cannot be successfully treated with the equipment and facilities available at the place of involuntary detention or, worse, that the person's mental illness is "incurable." At best, such a statement is ambiguous concerning the realization of any benefits at all. It is not even a statement that the person "no longer requires hospitalization," which is one of the reasons provided by statute for release of patients from mental hospitals. See Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 5547-80 (Vernon Supp.1980).

The conclusion that appellant's discharge does not render the case moot finds further support in the fact that the record before us reveals at least one prior occasion on which appellate was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital and then released after being confined for about a week. The possibility of the repetition of involuntary confinement of appellant for periods too short to permit appellate review cannot be dismissed as being too remote to be considered.

Appellant challenges the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support the order of involuntary confinement.

The State produced only one witness who testified concerning appellant's mental condition. Both the court and counsel used the title "doctor" in addressing this witness. However, there is no evidence indicating...