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Office of the Revisor of Statutes

Office of the Revisor of Statutes

MISCELLANEOUS

Special Rules of ProcedureGoverning Proceedings Under theMinnesota Commitment and Treatment Acts

Rule 5.Case Captions

Civil commitment proceedings shall be captioned in the name of the person subject to the petition as follows: In the Matter of the Civil Commitment of: (Full Name of Respondent), Respondent.

The same caption shall be used in proceedings before the judicial appeal panel established under Minnesota Statutes, section 253B.19, except that the designation in the caption of the committed individual as "Respondent" shall be omitted.

(Amended effective October 1, 2016.)

Advisory Committee Comment - 1999

A person subject to commitment proceedings is referred to as the respondent throughout these rules. The court and counsel shall be sensitive to the correct pronunciation of a respondent's name.

Advisory Committee Comment - 2016

An individual who is committed as mentally ill and dangerous, as a sexually dangerous person, or as a sexual psychopathic personality is committed indeterminately. In these cases, the process for a reduction in custody begins with a petition filed with the Commissioner of Human Services and heard by the special review board, which makes a recommendation to the Commissioner or the judicial appeal panel. To avoid confusion or inaccurate party designations in judicial appeal panel proceedings, the rule is amended to clarify that the party designation of respondent is removed from captions related to judicial appeal panel proceedings.