State v. Bertrand, 2003 WI 102 (Wis. 7/9/2003)

• Decision Date: 09 July 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-0678.,02-0678.
• Citation: 2003 WI 102
• Parties: State of Wisconsin ex rel Brook Grzelak, Petitioner-Appellant-Petitioner, v. Daniel Bertrand, Warden, Respondent-Respondent.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

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2003 WI 102

State of Wisconsin ex rel Brook Grzelak, Petitioner-Appellant-Petitioner, v. Daniel Bertrand, Warden, Respondent-Respondent.

No. 02-0678.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Opinion Filed: July 9, 2003.

REVIEW of a decision of the Court of Appeals. Reversed.

For the petitioner-appellant-petitioner there were briefs by Jennifer S. Mirus, Amy S. Dixon, andBoardman, Suhr, Curry & Field LLP, Madison, and oral argument by Jennifer S. Mirus.

For the respondent-respondent the cause was argued by John J. Glinski, assistant attorney general, with whom on the brief was Peggy A. Lautenschlager, attorney general.

JON P. WILCOX, J.

¶ 1 This case is before the court on a petition for review filed by petitioner-appellant Brook Grzelak. Grzelak seeks review of an unpublished opinion of the court of appeals, State ex rel. Grzelak v. Bertrand, No. 02-0678, unpublished order (Wis. Ct. App. Aug. 27, 2002), summarily affirming a judgment by the Brown County Circuit Court, Mark A. Warpinski, Judge, which denied certiorari relief from penalties imposed pursuant to prison conduct reports filed against petitioner. The issue is whether Grzelak's naming of Warden Bertrand in his petition for certiorari review of disciplinary conduct reports was sufficient to establish jurisdiction for the circuit court to reach the merits of the petition. For the reasons stated below, we find that under the facts and circumstances of this case and the applicable law, at the time Grzelak filed his petition, Grzelak's naming of Warden Bertrand was sufficient. We therefore reverse the decision of the court of appeals.

I. BACKGROUND

¶ 2 The facts of this dispute are relatively straightforward and undisputed. While Grzelak was an inmate at Green Bay Correctional Institute, he was disciplined pursuant to five conduct reports filed between January 28, 2000 and March 6, 2000. On June 30, 2000, Grzelak, acting pro se, filed a petition with the Brown County Circuit Court, seeking a writ of certiorari to obtain relief from the prison discipline.

¶ 3 On November 2, 2000, the circuit court refused to issue a writ of certiorari for two of the five reports. The circuit court found that Grzelak had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies with respect to one of the reports and had thus abandoned any challenge to it. The court also found that Grzelak's substantive challenge to another report had no merit. The circuit court then issued a writ of certiorari for the remaining three reports. The subject of this appeal is Grzelak's petition pertaining to these three remaining reports. With respect to these three reports, Grzelak alleged procedural errors, including lack of notice, inability to compel attendance of witnesses, and untimely or inadequate service of complaints. There is no dispute as to whether Grzelak exhausted his administrative remedies within the Inmate Complaint Review System (ICRS) in relation to these three reports.¹

¶ 4 On February 28, 2002, the circuit court dismissed the writ of certiorari, concluding that it did not have proper jurisdiction because Grzelak named Warden Daniel Bertrand (the warden) as the respondent, rather than the Secretary of the Department of Corrections (the secretary). The circuit court reasoned that because each of the reports culminated in the secretary determining that the discipline should stand and because on certiorari a petitioner is entitled to a review of a final agency determination, what Grzelak was seeking was a review of the secretary's decision. Relying on State ex rel. Kulike v. Town Clerk, 132 Wis. 103, 105, 111 N.W. 1129 (1907), the court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction because Grzelak's writ was misdirected, as the secretary should have been named as the respondent instead of the warden.

¶ 5 Grzelak then appealed the denial of certiorari relief to the court of appeals. The court of appeals summarily affirmed the circuit court's judgment relating to all five reports. Grzelak has not further appealed the court of appeals' determinations that the substantive challenge to one report lacked merit and that he had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies with respect to the other. The court of appeals agreed with the circuit court that Grzelak's failure to name the secretary as the respondent in his petition deprived the court of jurisdiction, as it pertained to the three reports at issue here. Relying on State ex rel. Smith v. McCaughtry, 222 Wis. 2d 68, 74, 586 N.W.2d 63 (Ct. App. 1998), abrogated in part by State ex re. Hensley v. Endicott, 2001 WI 105, 245 Wis. 2d 607, 629 N.W.2d 686, the court concluded that the secretary is the final administrative authority on procedural matters, not the warden. Further, the court of appeals found that based on Kulike, because Grzelak had misdirected his petition to the warden, the court was without jurisdiction to decide the petition's merits. Grzelak then appealed the jurisdictional issue relating to the three reports and we granted the petition for review on December 3, 2002.

II. ISSUE

¶ 6 The issue presented to this court is whether a court has jurisdiction to hear a petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of procedural issues relating to prison discipline when the petitioner mistakenly names the warden of the correctional institution as the respondent in the petition instead of the Secretary of the Department of Corrections. We reverse the decision of the court of appeals for the following reasons. First, we find the statutes and case law regarding the proper party to serve at the time Grzelak filed his petition to be ambiguous. Second, we find that Grzelak's naming of the warden was reasonable under the facts and circumstances of this case, such that the circuit court had jurisdiction to hear the merits of his petition.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 7 We are asked to review the court of appeals' determination that Grzelak's naming of the warden in his petition was insufficient to confer jurisdiction upon the circuit court. When a party alleges a writ of certiorari is misdirected, it is challenging the sufficiency of the petition. See State ex rel. Christie v. Husz, 217 Wis. 2d 593, 598, 579 N.W.2d 243 (Ct. App. 1998). The legal sufficiency of the petition is a question of law, which this court reviews de novo. See Gritzner v. Michael R., 2000 WI 68, ¶17, 235 Wis. 2d 781, 611 N.W.2d 906.

IV. ANALYIS

¶ 8 In order to determine the proper party to be named as respondent in this petition for writ of certiorari, it will be helpful to review the administrative code provisions, statutes, and case law that Grzelak was required to follow to appeal the disciplinary action taken pursuant to the conduct reports. Prisoner conduct reports are created pursuant to Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 303.66 (June 1994). The security director at the institution then reviews the conduct reports. Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 303.67 (June 1994). An inmate may then seek a due process hearing for major violations pursuant to Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 303.76 (June 1994) in front of the adjustment committee. This decision may then be appealed to the superintendent (warden) of the institution. Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 303.76(7). For minor violations, an inmate may seek a less formal hearing, in front of a hearing officer, whose decision may also be appealed to the warden. Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 303.75 (June 1994).

¶ 9 At the time petitioner Grzelak filed his petition, in June of 2000, Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 303.76(7)(d) (June 1994) provided that "[t]he superintendent's decision is final." As of December 2000, this section was changed to read as follows: "The warden's decision is final regarding the sufficiency of the evidence. An inmate may appeal procedural errors as provided under s. DOC 310.08(3)." Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 303.76(7)(d) (May 2003). This reference to Wis. Admin. Code § DOC ch. 310 (Apr. 1998) did not exist at the time Grzelak filed his petition. Section DOC 303.76(7)(d) (June 1994) was changed to reflect the court of appeals' ruling in Smith, which explained that the decision of a warden with respect to procedural matters is not final and must be reviewed through the ICRS process. Smith, 222 Wis.2d at 74-75.

¶ 10 Wisconsin Admin. Code § DOC ch. 310 (Apr. 1998), entitled "Complaint Procedures," establishes the ICRS and the procedures governing its operation. Section DOC 310.08(3) provides that "[a]fter exhausting the appeal in s. DOC . . . 303.76, an inmate may use the ICRS to challenge the procedure used by the adjustment committee or hearing officer, by a program review committee, or by any decisionmaker acting on a request for authorized leave." The multi-step ICRS process is outlined in Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 310.06. The process begins with the filing of a complaint by the inmate under Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 310.09. Next, Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 310.11 describes the options the institution complaint examiner (ICE) has for dealing with the complaint. The ICE's decision is then reviewed by the "appropriate reviewing authority" under Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 310.12. A dissatisfied inmate may then appeal the decision of the appropriate reviewing authority to the corrections complaint examiner (CCE). Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 310.13. The final step in the process is a review of the CCE's decision by the Secretary of the Department of Corrections under Wis. Admin. Code § DOC 310.14. These internal agency procedures for appealing prison disciplinary actions are not at issue in this case. The issue in this case is the proper procedure for getting into court after the administrative process has been exhausted.²

¶ 11 Notably, unlike every other step in the review process, there are no code provisions that outline the procedures an inmate must follow to seek certiorari review of the secretary's decision (for procedural issues) or the warden's decision (for substantive issues). Only two statutory provisions provide any guidance to an inmate as to how the certiorari...