Per curiam
The purposes of civil commitment proceedings include protecting the public and ensuring the rights of persons whose liberty is at stake. Civil Commitment of T.K. v. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, 27 N.E.3d 271, 273 (Ind. 2015). With such interests involved, we write to underscore the importance of proper entry of commitment orders.
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Despite the appeals’ mootness, we address an issue of great public importance likely to recur: Did the Commissioner lack authority to enter orders of civil commitment? In Marion County, a probate commissioner may hear evidence and make reports to the court thereon, including “reports concerning the commissioner’s findings and conclusions regarding the proceedings.” Ind. Code § 33-33-49-16(a). But all matters handled by a commissioner under this subsection “are under the final jurisdiction and decision of the judge of the probate division.” Id. The same statute provides a “master commissioner appointed by the court under this section has the powers and duties prescribed for a magistrate under IC 33-23-5-5 through IC 33-23-5-9” and a “master commissioner shall report the findings in each of the matters before the master commissioner in writing to the judge or judges of the division to which the master commissioner is assigned[.]” Ind. Code § 33-33-49-16(e) (emphasis added). With exceptions not applicable here, “a magistrate shall report findings in an evidentiary hearing, a trial, or a jury’s verdict to the court” and “[t]he court shall enter the final order.” Ind. Code § 33-23- 5-9(a); see In re Involuntary Commitment of A.M., 959 N.E.2d 832, 834 n.1 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011) (noting commitment order was “defective because it lacks a judge’s signature” and was signed only by the magistrate). [Footnote omitted.]
St. Vincent and Community do not argue the Commissioner had authority to issue a commitment order, i.e., a judgment. Nor do they deny that a judgment requires a “signature of the judge,” Ind. Trial Rule 58(B)(5), or that Judge Eichholtz did not sign the commitment orders.
Instead, they argue Judge Eichholtz approved each order via an “Approval Order for Record of Judgments and Daily Orders” entered in Probate Court Administrative Orders, No. 49D08-1708-CB-30844 (“CB number”). Specifically, St. Vincent relies on an Approval Order dated April 23, 2018, signed by Judge Eichholtz, wherein he stated the court “being advised by the magistrate, commissioner and/or referee of this court approves the findings and recommendations of the magistrate, commissioner and/or referee and adopts the findings and recommendations as the order in all cases heard” on April 20, 2018. Br. of Appellee at 21-23; In re T.W., No. 49D08-1804-MH-14684 (chronological case summary (“CCS”) entry of Aug. 27, 2018). Community relies on a similarly phrased Approval Order, signed by Judge Eichholtz and dated March 2, 2018, which states the court was advised by the magistrate, commissioner, and/or referee and was adopting their findings and recommendations as the order in all cases heard March 1, 2018. Appellee’s App. Vol. II at 27. [Footnote omitted.]
The Approval Orders do not constitute valid commitment orders for these two mental health cases. The letters “CB” in the CB number, which appears on each of the Approval Orders, signifies a “Court Business record—i.e. court orders that refer to non-case matters such as the appointment of judge pro tem, drawing the jury, etc.” Ind. Administrative Rule 8(B)(3) (emphasis added). The Approval Orders do not cross-reference any specific mental health case by title or number. Nor do they direct the clerk to enter the Approval Orders on the CCS for the mental health cases or direct distribution to parties or their counsel. And the Approval Orders are ambiguous in this context: they purport to adopt findings and recommendations of the “magistrate, commissioner and/or referee” for matters heard on a particular day, yet the temporary commitment orders, on their face, purport to be those of a “Judge,” not a commissioner, magistrate, or referee. [FN 3: As these cases show, the Commissioner’s signature on orders identifying herself as “Judge” is confusing. It clouds the signer’s role and prevents court staff and the clerk from reliably ascertaining if the “order” should be promptly recorded and processed as an order or judgment, or, instead, treated as a report of findings and recommended order and presented to the judge for decision. And, as to the parties, it obscures whether the petitioner has obtained relief and leaves the respondent not knowing how, when, and where to seek review.] In short, the Approval Orders provide inadequate assurance that Judge Eichholtz was presented with (in writing), reviewed, and approved the temporary commitment orders in the cases of T.W. and A.M. See L.J. v. Health & Hosp. Corp., 113 N.E.3d 274, 277-78 & n.4 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018) (disapproving of same court’s “peculiar” use of court business record and explaining that the “use of a business record order to summarily affirm multiple unspecified decisions by a commissioner in no way suggests the trial judge considered the merits of those decisions.”); see also In re Hawkins, 902 N.E.2d 231, 240 (Ind. 2009) (“Review of final orders by the presiding judge is not a mere technicality.”). [Footnote omitted.]
Conclusion
We agree with the Court of Appeals that the Commissioner lacked authority to enter the commitment orders. Under these circumstances, though, where the orders concern periods that have expired, remanding those orders to the trial court for its review serves no apparent purpose. [Footnote omitted.] Therefore, we dismiss the appeals as moot, without addressing sufficiency of the evidence or waiver.
All Justices concur.