424 Mass. 473

The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, Inc.1 vs. Commissioner of the Department of Mental Retardation

(No. 3).

Bristol.

November 5, 1996.

March 13, 1997.

Present: Abrams, Lynch, Greaney, Fried, & Marshall, JJ.

Judith S. Yogman, Assistant Attorney General (Lucy A. Wall, Assistant Attorney General, with her) for the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Retardation.

Roderick MacLeish, Jr. (Peter F. Carr, II, with him) for the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, Inc.

*474Cathy E. Costanzo (Richard Ames with her) for P. Bennett & others.

Lynch, J.

This is an appeal from an interlocutory order modifying the preliminary injunction entered in Judge Rotenberg Educ. Ctr., Inc. v. Commissioner of the Dep’t of Mental Retardation (No. 1), ante 430 (1997).

The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, Inc. (JRC), and the class of all patients, their parents, and guardians, brought a contempt action in the Bristol County Probate and Family Court against the commissioner of the Department of Mental Retardation (department). While the action was pending a Probate Court judge issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the department from decertifying JRC. The department petitioned a single justice of the Appeals Court, pursuant to G. L. c. 231, § 118, first par.,2 for interlocutory relief.3 On May 11, 1995, the single justice modified the preliminary injunction by ordering JRC to stop using certain aversive treatments.4 JRC appealed from the single justice’s order to a full panel of the Appeals Court.

In related cases “guardianship counsel” filed a motion on behalf of the patients, seeking to enjoin JRC from using certain aversive treatments.5 On April 14, 1995, the Probate Court judge entered an order on the motion and guardianship counsel petitioned for interlocutory relief in the Appeals *475Court. On June 7, 1995, a single justice vacated the April 14, 1995, decision and entered an order consistent with the May 11, 1995, interlocutory order. JRC again sought review from a full panel of the Appeals Court.

The single justice consolidated the appeals and we granted the department’s application for direct appellate review.6

For the reasons stated in Judge Rotenberg Educ. Ctr., Inc. v. Commissioner of the Dep’t of Mental Retardation (No. 2), ante 471 (1997), this appeal is dismissed as moot and we need not consider whether the modification of the preliminary injunction was proper.7

So ordered.

Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, Inc. v. Commissioner of Department of Mental Retardation
424 Mass. 473

Case Details

Name
Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, Inc. v. Commissioner of Department of Mental Retardation
Decision Date
Mar 13, 1997
Citations

424 Mass. 473

Jurisdiction
Massachusetts

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