You must act within six years to expunge an involuntary commitment under section 302 of the mental health procedures act?

It’s not unusual for me to get calls from people who want to pursue expungement of involuntary mental health commitments from eight, ten, or twenty years ago. It used to be that this was an open question. That is, until the Pennsylvania Superior Court’s 2020 decision inIn re: P.M.

In P.M., the petitioner waited 13 years to file a petition to expunge his involuntary mental health commitment. The trial court ruled the petitioner was beyond the six-year statute of limitations, and that alternatively, petitioner was guilty of laches (generally, want of due diligence in failing to institute an action in a timely manner). Until P.M., except in an unpublished opinion of the Superior Court, neither the Pennsylvania Superior Court nor the Commonwealth’s Supreme Court had held that a statute of limitation applied to a petition to expunge an involuntary mental health commitment.

The Court in P.M. noted that the petitioner also had available to him a restoration-of-rights petition under 18 Pa.C.S. § 6105(f)(1), part of the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act. Under that provision, the court of common pleas would have the discretion to restore petitioner’s firearms rights if it determined that the petitioner may possess a firearm without risk to himself or any other person.

If you would like a consultation on this or any legal matter, do not hesitate to contact Scaringi Law at 717-657-7770.