North Bay Regional Center v. Maldonado

I.

INTRODUCTION

For over 20 years, Virginia Maldonado (Maldonado) has been the conservator for her developmentally disabled adult brother, Roy Whitley (Whitley). She appeals from an order of the superior court, entered over her objection after a two-day evidentiary hearing, granting the North Bay Regional Center’s (NBRC) request to move Whitley from the Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC) to a smaller community facility in Fairfield, California. In this appeal, the sole issue we consider is whether it was appropriate to seek immediate relief in the superior court to resolve Maldonado’s challenge to the change-of-placement decision.

The Legislature, in relevant provisions of the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 4500 et seq.) (hereafter the Lanterman Act), details the rights and relief available to a legal representative, such as Maldonado acting as Whitley’s conservator, who believes a placement decision has been proposed that is not in her conservatee’s best interests. Those statutory provisions direct that a legal representative’s objection to a proposed community placement is to be resolved by an administrative fair hearing…