In re Jessica M (1999)

In In re Jessica M., 49 Conn. App. 229, 714 A.2d 64 (1998), appeal dismissed, 250 Conn. 747, 738 A.2d 1087 (1999) the Court determined that the appeal was moot. Before the Supreme Court heard the case but after the Appellate Court had affirmed the trial court's judgment dismissing a petition to terminate parental rights; In re Jessica M., supra, 49 Conn. App. 229; the commissioner had filed a subsequent petition to terminate the respondent mother's parental rights, which the trial court granted. The respondent mother did not appeal, and the respondent father voluntarily relinquished his parental rights prior to the trial on that termination petition. In re Jessica M., supra, 250 Conn. at 748. The Supreme Court vacated the judgments of the Appellate Court and the trial court, and dismissed the appeal. Id., 749. The commissioner appealed from the trial court's dismissal of a petition for termination of parental rights, which order was affirmed by this court. The Court granted certification, limited to the issue of whether this court properly affirmed the trial court's judgment that the respondents' parental rights could not be terminated on the grounds of (1) failure to achieve personal rehabilitation or (2) acts of parental commission or omission that denied the child necessary care, guidance or control. While the appeal was pending in the Supreme Court, the commissioner filed a second petition for termination, which the trial court granted. The respondent mother did not appeal from the termination order, and the respondent father voluntarily relinquished his parental rights prior to the trial on the second petition. The commissioner, therefore, moved to vacate the judgments of the Appellate Court and the trial court with respect to the first petition, claiming that the appeal had become moot and "the issues decided by those courts were not subject to review by the Supreme Court." Id. at 749. The Supreme Court granted the motion to vacate. Id.