In the Matter of M.K.S.

Summary

The Montana Supreme Court affirmed an involuntary mental health commitment order for M.K.S. The Court held that although the failure to file the statutorily required written report implicated procedural due process, the omission did not cause sufficient prejudice to warrant plain-error relief.

Holdings

1. The appeal was not moot because involuntary commitment is capable of repetition yet evading review.
2. The statutory requirement that the professional person file a written examination report is a procedural protection implicating the respondent's constitutional right to due process.
3. The failure to file the written report did not constitute reversible plain error because M.K.S. failed to show that the omission caused the type of fundamental unfairness, manifest miscarriage of justice, or compromise of judicial integrity required for discretionary plain-error review.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the failure of the professional person to file the written report required by § 53-21-123, MCA, constituted plain error requiring reversal of the involuntary commitment order.
2. Whether the appeal was moot because the commitment period had ended or M.K.S. had been released.

Disposition

affirmed