Folsom Police Dept. v. M.C.
Annotate this CaseAppellants Folsom Police Department and City of Folsom (collectively, Folsom) appealed a trial court’s order denying a petition filed under Welfare and Institutions Code section 8102 for authorization to dispose of firearms that were confiscated from respondent M.C. after police officers detained M.C. for psychiatric evaluation under a section 5150 involuntary hold. The trial court denied the petition, relying on City of San Diego v. Kevin B., 118 Cal.App.4th 933 (2004) for the proposition that Folsom had no authority to petition for such authorization, as M.C. was not “evaluated” during the involuntary hold. Folsom contended the trial court erred when it relied on Kevin B. to deny the petition. The Court of Appeal found the trial court indeed erred when it ruled that it had no authority to conduct a forfeiture hearing under section 8102 because M.C. had not been both assessed and evaluated during an involuntary hold under section 5150. "Section 8102 does not so require [:] the trial court could not even consider Folsom’s petition, because M.C. was not assessed and evaluated. While there is language in Kevin B. that appears to suggest that only assessment and evaluation triggers the confiscation provisions of section 8102, that language is dicta, as it was unnecessary to the decision, since Kevin B. was never even detained. ... Here, by contrast, M.C. was detained (and assessed, but not evaluated) and then released, satisfying the threshold requirement of section 8102 (c). Accordingly, we conclude the trial court’s ruling was in error." Judgment was vacated and the matter remanded for a hearing on the merits.
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