Opinion
B310032
12-06-2021
In re SAMUEL A., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. v. PATRICIA A., Defendant and Appellant. LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, Plaintiff and Respondent,
Liana Serobian, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
APPEAL from orders of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, No. 19CCJP00325A Daniel Zeke Zeidler, Judge. Reversed.
Liana Serobian, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.
PERLUSS, P. J.
Patricia A., mother of now-five-year-old Samuel A., appeals the juvenile court's orders of November 4, 2020 and December 17, 2020 denying without a hearing her petitions pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 388 to vacate the March 12, 2020 order appointing a guardian ad litem for her and return Samuel to her custody or place him in the custody of a nonrelated family friend.
Statutory references are to this code.
Patricia filed a section 388 petition in propria persona on November 3, 2020, which the court accepted for filing even though she was represented by counsel. The court denied the petition without a hearing, finding it did not state a prima facie case for relief. On November 17, 2020 Patricia filed a new section 388 petition in propria persona that was nearly identical to the one filed on November 3, 2020 but for the inclusion of attachments. On November 18, 2020 the court denied that petition without a hearing for the same reason. On December 17, 2020 the court summarily denied a similar section 388 petition filed by Patricia's counsel. Patricia has appealed each of these orders.
On September 21, 2021 this court reversed the March 12, 2020 order appointing a guardian ad litem for Patricia and directed the juvenile court to vacate that order and all subsequent orders from hearings in which Patricia had been denied the right to directly communicate with her counsel. (In re Samuel A. (2021) 69 Cal.App.5th67.)
On October 22, 2021 we advised counsel for Patricia, Samuel and the Los Angeles County Department of Children of Family Services that, in light of our opinion in In re Samuel A., supra, 69 Cal.App.5th 67, we intended to summarily reverse the orders at issue in this appeal unless the Department showed cause on or before November 4, 2021 why we should consider the appeal on the merits. Patricia's counsel filed a letter brief urging us to summarily reverse the court's orders; the Department did not respond to our order to show cause.
Accordingly, in light of our opinion in In re Samuel A., supra, 69 Cal.App.5th 67, we reverse the juvenile court's orders of November 4, 2020 and December 17, 2020 denying Patricia's section 388 petition without a hearing.
WE CONCUR: SEGAL, J., FEUER, J.