Teeter

This cause presents the question of proper forum for filing a petition to commit a presently hospitalized mentally retarded person under Welfare and Institutions Code section 6500 et seq. (All statutory citations are to Welf. & Inst. Code.) A number of such petitions were filed in Ventura County against inmates of Camarillo State Hospital, one of whom was respondent Teeter. Prior to their commitment to Camarillo State Hospital all such inmates originally resided in counties other than Ventura. The precise question is whether under section 6502 the petition for respondent’s commitment as a mentally- *935 retarded person should have been filed in Los Angeles County rather than in Ventura County. Section 6502 provides: “A petition for the commitment of a mentally retarded person to the State Department of Health for placement in a state hospital may be filed in the superior court of the county in which such person resides, by any of the following persons

Respondent Teeter was committed to a mental hospital, Pacific State Hospital, in 1947 at the age of 16. At that time he resided in Los Angeles County with his parents. In 1962 he was transferred to Atascadero State…