Friday, December 01, 2006

In Re K.W. (Cal. Ct. App. - Nov. 21, 2006)

No published opinions by the California Court of Appeal today. Not a single published opinion by the Ninth Circuit either.

I didn't know that today was a three-day holiday weekend. Or has everyone in the judiciary just decided that the first day of December is a freebie?

The break nonetheless does allow me to go back and write about a couple of cases in the last couple of weeks that I had brief thoughts about but which nonetheless did not mention. Like this one.

You know there's utterly nothing good -- nothing at all -- that's going to come out of a fact pattern that includes this paragraph:

"In late February 2004 Tabitha, then 14 years old, gave birth to K.W. A day after the birth, Tabitha tested positive for marijuana metabolites. Tabitha was not responsive to the newborn; hospital staff had to wake up Tabitha to feed K.W., and once awakened, she soon went back to sleep even though the baby continued to cry. As a result, a nurse had to feed the baby."

A case from San Diego. How depressing.