In re LAUREN P., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.
RIVERSIDE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
CORALEE T., Defendant and Appellant;
DANIEL P., Defendant and Respondent.
Court of Appeals of California, Fourth District, Division Two.
*765 COUNSEL
Donna L. Groman, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, and Rick M. Stein for Defendant and Appellant.
William C. Katzenstein, County Counsel, and Tanya E. Galvan, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Konrad S. Lee, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Respondent.
Mary Elizabeth Handy, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Minor.
[Opinion certified for partial publication.[*]]
OPINION
RICHLI, J.
In this juvenile dependency proceeding, the juvenile court dismissed two successive petitions alleging that Daniel P. (Dan P.) had sexually abused his daughter, Lauren P. Each time, the juvenile court found insufficient evidence of the alleged sexual abuse. Coralee T., Lauren's mother, appeals from the dismissal of the second petition. The department of public social services (DPSS), although it did not itself appeal, supports Coralee's position. Both Dan and Lauren do not; they urge us to affirm.
Initially, we questioned the appealability of the dismissal order. In the published portion of this opinion, however, we hold that the order was indeed appealable, and that Coralee is sufficiently aggrieved by it to have standing. In the unpublished portion, we hold that dismissal of the petition is supported by substantial evidence. Hence, we will affirm.
I
PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On February 15, 1994, DPSS filed a juvenile dependency petition with respect to Lauren. As against Dan, it alleged sexual abuse (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 300, subd. (d)); as against Coralee, it alleged failure to supervise and protect (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 300, subd. (b)) specifically, that Coralee *766 "may not be able to protect the minor due to attempts by father to gain custody through Family Law Court."
On February 16, 1994, at a detention hearing, Dan denied the allegations against him; Coralee admitted the allegations against her.
Beginning on March 23, 1994, the juvenile court, Commissioner Cornelia Hartman presiding, held a contested jurisdictional hearing. On March 28, 1994, it found insufficient evidence to sustain the petition, and it therefore granted Dan's motion to dismiss the entire petition.
On April 29, 1994, DPSS filed a subsequent petition. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 342.)[1] Like the original petition, it alleged sexual abuse against Dan, and failure to supervise and protect against Coralee; however, the specific instances of sexual abuse it alleged all occurred in April 1994, immediately following the dismissal of the original petition.
At a jurisdictional hearing on July 27, 1994, the subsequent petition was amended by stipulation. As amended, the sole alleged basis for dependency jurisdiction was that "irreconcilable differences" between Dan and Coralee had "placed their daughter, Lauren, at risk for emotional or sexual abuse...." Both Dan and Coralee admitted this allegation.
At a dispositional hearing on September 26, 1994, Dan was allowed to withdraw his stipulation to amend the petition. A new jurisdictional hearing was set on the allegations of the subsequent petition as originally filed.
*767 Beginning on October 31, 1994, the juvenile court, Thomas N. Douglass, Jr., presiding,[2] held a contested jurisdictional hearing. On November 14, 1994, it found the allegations of the petition untrue, and it dismissed the entire petition "without prejudice."
On December 27, 1994, Coralee filed a timely notice of appeal.
II
FACTUAL BACKGROUND[*]
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III
APPEALABILITY AND STANDING
(1a) Shortly after this appeal was filed, we questioned whether the order dismissing the petition was appealable, and if so, whether Coralee was aggrieved by it so as to have standing to appeal. We asked Coralee to submit a letter brief addressing these issues; after we received it, we reserved the question for decision together with the merits of the appeal. We invited the parties to discuss appealability and standing in their briefs.
In her opening brief, Coralee contends that the order was appealable, and that she does have standing. Interestingly, the other parties do not disagree; indeed, Lauren specifically concedes that the order was appealable. Although we believe the issue is not frivolous and deserves discussion, in the end we conclude that respondents have "caved" for good reason.
A. Finality of the Dismissal Order.
(2) A "judgment" in a juvenile dependency proceeding "may be appealed from in the same manner as any final judgment...." (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 395.) If the juvenile court dismisses a dependency petition based on insufficiency of the evidence, the dismissal is a final judgment and hence appealable. (In re Sheila B. (1993)
(1b) Here, there would be no question that the dismissal order was appealable, but for the fact that the juvenile court purported to dismiss "without prejudice." Its characterization of its own order, however, is not controlling. It could not preclude review of an otherwise appealable order by labeling it "without prejudice." (Steen v. Board of Civil Service Commrs. (1945)
We hasten to add that we do not believe that was what the juvenile court was trying to do. Obviously it was concerned that, even though it found the proof at the hearing insufficient, Dan might actually have molested Lauren. Evidently it wanted to leave the door open to a new petition alleging similar sexual abuse. The fact remains that the dismissal followed a trial on an issue of fact; hence, it was on the merits and res judicata. (In re Sheila B., supra,
B. Standing to Appeal From the Dismissal Order.
(3) In juvenile dependency proceedings, as in civil actions generally (see Code Civ. Proc., § 902), only a party aggrieved by the judgment has standing to appeal. (In re Gary P. (1995)
(1c) It could be argued that the only party aggrieved by dismissal of the petition was DPSS. A juvenile dependency petition can only be filed by a public agency. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 325; see also Welf. & Inst. Code, § 272.) A parent or other person who believes the agency should file a petition can apply to the agency, showing facts that would support dependency jurisdiction. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 329.) Then, if the agency fails or refuses to file a petition, the applicant can seek judicial review of its decision. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 331.)
Once a petition has been filed, however, both parents are entitled to notice of and an opportunity to be heard at all subsequent proceedings. (Welf. & *769 Inst. Code, §§ 302, subd. (b), 349.) At the jurisdictional hearing, the public agency has the burden of proof; if it fails to meet its burden of proof, the juvenile court is statutorily required to dismiss the petition. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 350, subd. (c); see also Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 355, 356.) However, it has been held that this statute cannot be applied literally so as to prevent other parties from presenting evidence in support of the petition. (Guadalupe A. v. Superior Court (1991)
We have found only two cases directly pertinent to the standing issue. In the first, In re Tomi C., supra,
When the father appealed, the minors argued that his appeal should be dismissed. The Court of Appeal agreed, for two reasons. First, it held that the voluntary dismissal, without prejudice, was not a final judgment. (218 Cal. App.3d at pp. 697-698.) Second, it held that the father was not aggrieved: "Even if father could have successfully defended against the allegations in the petition, he could not thereby regain custody of his children since the custody issue had already been decided in family court. Moreover, to the extent father believes mother is unfit to care for the minors, he may make an application to the probation officer to initiate section 300 proceedings. ([Welf. & Inst. Code,] § 329; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 1405(e).)" (Id., at p. 698.)
In the second case, Allen M. v. Superior Court (1992)
The father sought a writ of mandate to compel dismissal. He and the department argued that the department had discretion to dismiss a petition unilaterally, and that the minors lacked standing to prosecute the dependency and hence to object to the dismissal. (
In a footnote, the court added, "In re Tomi C., supra,
We agree with Allen M. that the public agency is not the only party whose interest is affected by the dismissal of a dependency petition. Any parent who takes the position that dependency jurisdiction is warranted is aggrieved by dismissal of the petition. Just as a parent must be permitted to present evidence and to argue in opposition to dismissal below, so such a parent must be allowed to appeal from a dismissal on the merits.
The state's exclusive power to initiate a dependency proceeding does not equate to an exclusive interest in the outcome of the proceeding. "A parent's interest in the companionship, care, custody and management of his children is a compelling one, ranked among the most basic of civil rights." (In re Marilyn H. (1993)
We also agree with Allen M. that Tomi C. must be limited to its facts. First, in Tomi C., the father sought to appeal from dismissal of a petition which alleged wrongdoing by him. Here, by contrast, it is the mother who seeks to appeal from dismissal of a petition alleging wrongdoing by the father. Second, the court in Tomi C. relied on the fact that the juvenile court could not give custody to the father, because the family court had already granted it to the mother; here, custody remained unresolved. Third, the court in Tomi C. reasoned that the father could have applied to the department to file a new petition against the mother, and, if it refused, he could have sought judicial review. Here, however, the dismissal would be res judicata. A party who would be bound by res judicata is sufficiently aggrieved to assert appellate rights. (Life v. County of Los Angeles (1990)
We conclude that Coralee is sufficiently aggrieved by the dismissal order to have standing to appeal from it.
IV
THE SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT DISMISSAL OF THE PETITION[*]
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*772 V
DISPOSITION
The order of dismissal is affirmed.
Hollenhorst, Acting P.J., and McDaniel, J.,[**] concurred.
NOTES
[*] Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rules 976 (b) and 976.1, this opinion is certified for publication with the exception of parts II and IV.
Notes
[1] Section 342, governing subsequent petitions, provides that: "In any case in which a minor has been found to be a person described by Section 300 and the petitioner alleges new facts or circumstances, other than those under which the original petition was sustained, sufficient to state that the minor is a person described in Section 300, the petitioner shall file a subsequent petition. This section does not apply if the jurisdiction of the juvenile court has been terminated prior to the new allegations." (Italics added.)
Dan contends that the use of a subsequent petition was improper because the original petition had been dismissed. Coralee, on the other hand, tries to suggest that a subsequent petition was proper. She argues that when she admitted the original petition's allegation against her of failure to protect, Lauren was found to be a person described by section 300, subdivision (b); she further contends that the juvenile court dismissed the original petition only as against Dan, and not as against her.
We believe Dan has the better side of this argument. At the jurisdictional hearing, the juvenile court clearly found there was insufficient evidence of sexual abuse by Dan, and hence insufficient evidence of failure to protect by Coralee. Thus, although it noted that Coralee had admitted the allegations against her, it ruled, "I'm going to dismiss the whole petition."
Dan, however, never objected below to the use of a subsequent petition, and has never argued that it prejudiced him in any way. Accordingly, the error is irrelevant to this appeal.
[2] Commissioner Hartman disqualified herself.
[*] See footnote, ante, page 763.
[**] Retired Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Fourth District, sitting under assignment by the Chairperson of the Judicial Council.