People v. F. E.

Opinion

KINGSLEY, Acting P. J. Appellant, a juvenile, appeals from an order denying his motion, made under section 567 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, for a rehearing of an adverse decision by a traffic referee of the juvenile court. We affirm the order.

I

We consider, first, a procedural issue. Appellant’s motion for a rehearing was not made until 13 days after the referee’s order. Section 800 of the Welfare and Institutions Code provides in pertinent part as follows: “A judgment or decree of a juvenile court or final order of a referee which becomes effective without approval of a judge of the [224]juvenile court assuming jurisdiction and declaring any person to be a person described in Section 600, 601, or 602, or on denying a motion made pursuant to Section 567, may be appealed from in the same manner as any final judgment, and any subsequent order may be appealed from as from an order after judgment.”

Section 567 of that code provides: “Upon motion of the minor or his parent or guardian for good cause, or upon his own motion, a judge of the juvenile court may set aside or modify any order of a traffic hearing officer, or may order or himself conduct a rehearing. If the minor or parent or guardian has made a motion that the judge set aside or modify the order or has applied for a rehearing, and the judge has not set aside or modified the order or ordered or conducted a rehearing within 10 days after the date of the order, the motion or application shall be deemed denied as of the expiration of such period.”

Based on the final sentence of section 567, the Attorney General contends that the request for a rehearing must be made within 10 days from the date of the referee’s order and that the juvenile court had no jurisdiction to act on a request made after that time had expired. We reject that contention. In In re Conley (1966) 244 Cal.App.2d 755 [53 Cal.Rptr. 321], the court considered the effect of a request similarly delayed. It said, at page 759: “We are of the opinion, however, that the 10-day period provision of section 567 is not jurisdictional but procedural. Its purpose is to compel the juvenile court to act in any of the respects provided for in section 567 within the allotted time, and, in the event the motion or application is deemed denied by the judge’s failure to act within such time, to set in motion the right to appeal from such denial as provided in section 800.”