Opinion
No. 1-452 / 00-1418.
Filed October 24, 2001.
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Crawford County, Mary L. Timko, Associate Juvenile Judge.
A minor child appeals a juvenile court dispositional order providing that the child's custody be transferred to Juvenile Court Services for placement in a contract foster home. APPEAL DISMISSED.
James S. Niblock of Reimer, Lohman, Reitz Niblock, Denison, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Charles K. Phillips, Assistant Attorney General, and Stephen A. Brannan, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee State.
Warren L. Bush, Wall Lake, for mother.
Heard by Vogel, P.J., and Miller and Eisenhauer, JJ.
J.L.F. was adjudicated delinquent in May 1999. At the initial dispositional hearing in July 1999, the juvenile court ordered J.L.F. to probation with in-home placement. On July 24, 2000, the court modified the disposition and transferred custody of J.L.F. to Juvenile Court Services for placement in a contract foster home. J.L.F. appealed the modified disposition, but while the appeal was pending, the delinquency petition was dismissed pursuant to an oral stipulation. Such dismissal typically renders an appeal moot. See Christensen v. Iowa Dist. Ct., 578 N.W.2d 675, 679 (Iowa 1998) (dismissal appropriate "when judgment, if rendered, will have no practical legal effect upon the existing controversy").
Although stipulating to dismissal of the underlying case, J.L.F. resists dismissal of the appeal, arguing his case raises important legal issues and policy considerations that should be decided by an appellate court of this state. See In re M.T., ___ N.W.2d ___ (Iowa 2001) (noting courts have discretion to hear otherwise moot appeal where matters of public importance are presented and the problem is likely to recur). We cannot agree. After serious consideration of appellant's arguments, we find no convincing reason to reach the merits of the appeal. The issues presented are moot, and the matter should be dismissed.
APPEAL DISMISSED.