Rosato And Associates: Accused Part 17

"You're mixing metaphors."

"Sue me." Mary thought a minute, simmering. "Generally the law is that you can't be civilly committed unless you're a danger to yourself or others. Allegra is neither."

"But mental health law is a specialized field, I know. I edited an article on it for our law review."

"What was the gist?"

"That was ages ago and under California law, I'm not sure what Pennsylvania law is. There has to be a statute. Stand by." Judy reached into her purse, pulled out her iPhone, and started tapping the touch screen. "Look at me, reduced to Googling 'Mental Health Act and minors in Pennsylvania.' Legal research isn't supposed to be this easy."

"Whatever works." Mary slid her hand in her blazer pocket, pulled out her BlackBerry, and scrolled through the phone log until she reached John Gardner, then pressed Call. "I'm calling her father. He called me, and his cell number is still in the phone. I want to know what's going on and tell him we're not going to let him do this to her."

"Mary, hang on a sec." Judy kept pressing b.u.t.tons on her iPhone, frowning at the small screen. "We don't know her legal rights yet."

"Then I'll just yell at him, like Bennie would have." Mary cheered at the very notion. She was turning into a bada.s.s before her own eyes. Maybe it had been in her all along, if she had somebody like Allegra to fight for. "You know what they say, 'When you have the law, argue the law. When you have the facts, argue the facts. When you don't have either, pound the table.'"

Judy laughed, surprised. "You're on fire, girl."

"You're d.a.m.n right I am. John Gardner is a bully, and he's bullying his own daughter." Mary listened to the call ringing in her ear. "I bet he doesn't pick up, the coward."

"Hey, he's represented by Patel. We're supposed to call Patel."

"Ask me if I care. Allegra is our client. Did he pick up a phone to call us?" Mary felt her blood pounding in her temples. "What did they do to that poor kid, anyway? Did they handcuff her? Put her in a straitjacket? That's appalling."

Judy didn't look up. "If he doesn't answer, leave a nice message. Remember, you're a professional."

"What were they thinking?" Mary gritted her teeth as the call kept ringing. "She's trying to get answers to some questions she's been wondering about for a long time, her own sister's murder. Isn't she ent.i.tled to that?"

"Evidently, no." Judy looked up from her iPhone screen with a frown. "Something called Act 147 establishes the statutory rights for minors and parents to mental health treatment in Pennsylvania."

"Okay. Wait. Hold on, I'll put it on speaker." Mary pressed the b.u.t.ton for the speakerphone, and they both listened as the call stopped ringing and John Gardner's voice came on saying curtly, "John Gardner, Gardner Group, please leave a message."

Judy's eyes flared, a calming blue. "Be nice," she whispered.

Mary cleared her throat when she heard the click, then said, "John, this is Mary DiNunzio and Judy Carrier, calling about Allegra's whereabouts. She's our client, and she has a right to speak with us. Please give me a call immediately at this number. Thanks so much."

"Nice job, because the law is not on our side." Judy read from her screen while Mary hung up. "Under Section1.1(b), the parent of a minor under 18 may consent to inpatient treatment on the recommendation of a physician who has examined the minor. The minor's consent is not necessary."

"Really?" Mary asked, aghast. She was about to put her phone away when she noticed that she had missed two calls and a text from Anthony. She didn't have time to listen to the messages, but scrolled automatically to the text, which read, can you come for drinks tonight with my colleagues? She groaned. "Oh, no."

"What is it?"

"Anthony wants me to celebrate tonight with his friends."

"Oh how horrible. What a pain. Who does he think he is, your future husband?"

"Very funny." Mary felt a guilty twinge, but texted quickly, sorry, have to work. Will explain later. She hit Send. "Now what were you saying about the statute?"

"It's evidently a change in the law. The parent can consent for the minor, which defines 'consent' out of existence as far as a minor is concerned, if you ask me. The parents have all the cards."

Mary's thoughts raced ahead. "So what rights does Allegra have? She has to have some."

"Under Section 1.1(b)(7), at the time of admission, they have to explain the nature of her treatment and the right to object to treatment, by filing a pet.i.tion with the court." Judy's tone took on her characteristic professorial bent. "If the minor wishes to object, the director of the hospital has to give her a form to provide notice for the request for withdrawal from treatment."

"Who does she have to file it with?"

"The Court of Common Pleas."

Mary thought a minute, because like many legal issues, it only raised more issues. Lawyers loved to argue about everything, even the argument itself. "But which Court of Common Pleas? I a.s.sume where the hospital is located, right?"

Judy nodded. "Probably, so we have to figure out where the hospital is."

"When does she have to file it?"

"Forthwith."

"Terrific." Mary looked outside the cab, where traffic was b.u.mper to b.u.mper. "Somebody needs to tell that to rush hour. Forthwith isn't happening."

"It's Wednesday, so I think we have to do it tomorrow or Friday, at least." Judy's eyes darted back and forth as she read her the screen. "This is interesting. It says that minors from fourteen to seventeen years old have the right to object to treatment, but Allegra's thirteen." She looked up, c.o.c.king her head. "The statute doesn't seem to address what rights thirteen-year-olds have, if any."

"We'll find out when we file an objection to treatment."

"Hold your horses, partner." Judy returned to her reading. "Under Section 8, the court will appoint an attorney for the minor, a.s.suming she doesn't have one." She looked up, her eyes narrowing in thought. "I remember most of these commitment issues involve people who are homeless or wards of the state. Allegra is an unusual case, because she's neither of those things, and it cuts against her."

"How?" Mary's phone chimed to signal a text coming in, and she scrolled to check it. It was from Anthony, saying, can you do Friday night? They say they can all do Friday night.

"Your pesky fiance again? s.e.xt him back."

"And record my cellulite forever?" Mary texted back, I don't know for sure. Can I tell you tomorrow? She hit Send and slipped the phone back into her blazer pocket, so she could concentrate. Every time she tried to mult.i.task, she messed up all the tasks, and she had learned she wasn't good at multi.

"Anyway, it's easy to see how this would work in Allegra's case."

"How would that work?" Mary was trying to get back on track.

"I mean, I can see how it wouldn't be hard to have Allegra committed, given the resources of the family. The Gardners have the means to get her to a first-rate, really expensive therapist, who diagnoses her, and is very willing to please her wealthy and powerful parents."

"Like an expert witness."

"Exactly, but a reputable one. One who's unbiased, not a wh.o.r.e."

"Nice talk." Mary couldn't help but smile. Judy was always more free talking about s.e.x, but Mary had been raised better and she knew s.e.x was dirty.

"Allegra essentially gets railroaded, probably to one of the nicest mental hospitals around, but it's greased just the same."

"So what happens under the statute, is there a hearing? She should have some modic.u.m of const.i.tutional rights."

"Yes, a hearing."

"When?"

"Within seventy-two hours of filing the pet.i.tion."

"Lock and load, Gardners." Mary felt her juices flowing, and she didn't even know she had juices to flow. "At the hearing, what do we have to prove?"

"Let me see." Judy's attention returned to her screen. "For treatment to continue against the minor's wishes, the court has to find that she has a diagnosed mental disorder, that it's treatable in the facility, and that the facility is the least restrictive environment."

Mary thought fast. "So the argument we should attack is the last, the least restrictive environment. I bet we can show that she could be treated on an outpatient basis, seeing a psychiatrist every day if she has to. There's no reason for her to be in any kind of hospital, full-time."

"Right, but we can't do any of this without more facts." Judy nodded, mulling it over. "We have to find her a shrink who will treat her, and do a lot more homework before going to court."

"Whatever it takes, we'll do it."

Judy returned to reading and scrolling. "I see here she does have some rights, once admitted, at least an adult admitted under Act 302 would."

"Like what?"

"The right to three completed phone calls, and she can give to the facility the names of three people who should be kept informed of her progress." Judy frowned as she read. "And if she were an adult, under the Patient's Bill of Rights, she'd have the right to see a lawyer in private at any time and also the right to be a.s.sisted by any advocate of her choice in the a.s.sertion of her rights."

"Thank G.o.d. So we're going in."

"That's only if the Patient's Bill of Rights applies to a thirteen-year-old."

"It should, she's a patient, isn't she?"

"Hmm." Judy consulted her iPhone again, tapping away. "I wonder which hospital she is in. You know they must have her in a supernice place, but there can't be that many of those on the East Coast, can there?"

"It may not be on the East Coast. If I know them, they stashed her as far away as they can."

Judy frowned at the screen as she kept scrolling. "It looks like there's a bunch of really nice places, and now that I think of it, it's not like we can just go knocking on doors. The patients at any particular hospital will be confidential, so we have no way of knowing where she was taken unless we find out from the Gardners, or we subpoena them."

"Now you're talking." Mary met Judy's gaze directly, but saw an undercurrent of ambivalence. "What?"

"I'm concerned that we're venturing into an area of the law we don't know, and also, it's not what she hired us for."

"We have an emergency, don't you think? She got committed because she hired us. They think she has this ridiculous justice obsession syndrome."

"I hear you, but slow down." Judy lowered the iPhone and eased back into the seat. "It's a huge question whether Act 147 applies to thirteen-year-olds, much less the Patient's Bill of Rights designed for adults. Obviously, Allegra loses rights the younger she is. I'd have to study the case law."

"If you study the case law, we don't have time to act. If the statute's new, maybe the cases haven't been decided yet." Mary didn't get it. "Let's just make the argument and let them come back. Rock and roll, run and gun, and several other lawyery cliches, like Bennie."

"Who are you?" Judy grinned crookedly.

"A new me!" Mary glanced outside the window at the traffic, which hadn't moved an inch. The cab wasn't cutting it, and she wanted to get on the road. "Did you ever take a subway in Philly?"

"No."

"Then let's do it. Forthwith."

Chapter Twenty-one.

It wasn't until late afternoon that Mary and Judy reached Houyhnhnm Farm, where they sat at the iron gate, waiting for the buzzer to be answered. They had pressed it three times, with no reply, which only set Mary's teeth more on edge. "I didn't drive all the way out here to not even be seen."

"Agree."

"Come on, somebody has to be home. This is a huge property with a home office building. They're ditching us and hoping we'll give up."

"Good luck with that. We never give up. We're lawyers."

"Right. We make pests of ourselves for a living."

Judy smiled. "And now we know there's a maid. Remember, Tim Gage told us she still works for them? Janet Wolsey."

"Right again. You wanna snoop around? You love that."

"Totally." Judy smiled, and they both got out of the car and walked up to the gate. Lush green ivy covered the wrought iron, and they gripped the bars, on the outside looking in, like felons with J.D. degrees.

"h.e.l.lo, anybody home?" Mary called out, but n.o.body answered. All she could see were the gra.s.sy pastures in the distance and the tree-lined gravel road, which she knew led to the right. A hazy sun shone on the quiet, lovely property, and the only sound was the buzzing of an errant fly.

"Do you see what I see?" Judy gestured at the stone stanchions flanking the gate, next to tall evergreens and smaller yellow-green bushes that cl.u.s.tered together, overgrown in a cultivated manner. "They planted this stuff for privacy, not security. It's a man-made forest, there's no bars or fence."

"So?"

"We could leave the car and walk right through. How do you feel about hiking?" Judy grinned slyly, and Mary didn't hesitate, for the first time in her life.

"I'd give it a try."

"Why not? What's the worst they can do? Throw us out?"

"Shoot us."

"Then they'll have to answer to your mother."

Mary smiled. "They have a gun, but she has a wooden spoon."

"So they're dead."

"Exactly."

"Follow me, hiking virgin." Judy left the driveway for the evergreens, moved a few branches aside, and wedged her way into the trees. "I love to hike. We used to do it all the time, in the Sierra Madres and the Grand Tetons."

"Good for you." Mary pressed a branch away from her face, trying not to get scratched. Unlike her, Judy had grown up in Northern California, where she climbed mountains, on purpose. "Think there's snakes here?"

"No, silly," Judy called back. "Only bears."