Renee B. v. Dane County DHS, 2013AP2273, District 4, 4/10/14; court of appeals decision (1-judge; ineligible for publication); case activity
A circuit court’s decision to give grandparents notices of CHIPS hearings under the ch. 48 summons statute, § 48.27(2), doesn’t mean the grandparents have the right to intervene in the proceeding. While David S. v. Laura S., 179 Wis. 2d 114, 507 N.W.2d 94 (1993), held that the general intervenor statute, § 803.09, does not apply to TPR proceedings, and that parties to the proceeding are determined by § 48.42(2), which prescribes who must be summoned, that holding doesn’t turn a summons statute into an intervenor statute:
¶14 Renee and Jay misconstrue the supreme court’s holding in David S. The court in David S. did not conclude that Wis. Stat. § 48.42(2) dictates who may intervene in TPR proceedings. Rather, the court narrowly determined that the general intervenor statute, Wis. Stat. § 803.09, does not apply to TPR proceedings. Thus, intervention in a TPR proceeding may not be achieved through that statute. Furthermore, even if Renee and Jay are correct that the supreme court effectively held in David S. that intervention in a TPR proceeding is controlled by the summons statute for TPR proceedings, Renee and Jay have not developed an argument as to why a supreme court holding specific to a TPR proceeding and a TPR specific statute is likewise applicable to a CHIPS proceeding. …
