Renee J. v. Superior Court

Renee J. petitions for extraordinary relief from the trial court’s order terminating her reunification services with her daughter, Sayrah R., and resetting the matter for a permanency planning hearing. She contends the trial court erred in applying the California Supreme Court’s interpretation of Welfare and Institutions Code section 361.5, former subdivision (b)ClO) , adjudged in an earlier phase of this case (Renee J. v. Superior Court (2001) 26 Cal.4th 735 [ 110 Cal.Rptr.2d 828 , 28 P.3d 876 ]), because the California Legislature almost immediately overrode that interpretation by amending the statute. In the unusual (to say the least) circumstances of this case, we agree. We conclude the Legislature intended its statutory amendment to be a clarification, and applied to all cases still pending, including this one. That retroactive clarification of the law provides an exception to the doctrine of law of the case. Although the trial court had no way of knowing about the statutory change at the time it ruled, and thus cannot be faulted for that ruling, it is proper for Renee to raise the legal argument for the first time at the appellate level, and proper for us to reverse…