## Facts

- The West Virginia Department of Health petitioned the Circuit Court of McDowell County to involuntarily confine William Arthur Greene, alleging he had active communicable tuberculosis.
- The petition proceeded under the West Virginia Tuberculosis Control Act, which authorizes court-ordered confinement when a person’s condition is a health menace to others and adequate isolation cannot be achieved in the person’s environment.
- Greene was served with papers setting a hearing date, but the papers did not inform him that he had a right to counsel.
- At the hearing, the court learned Greene was unrepresented and appointed counsel at that time.
- The court proceeded immediately to take evidence and order commitment to Pinecrest Hospital without a recess for consultation or preparation.
- Greene filed an original habeas corpus petition challenging the legality of his confinement on procedural due process grounds, including the adequacy and timing of counsel and the absence of key hearing protections.

## Issues

1. Whether involuntary confinement under the West Virginia Tuberculosis Control Act requires procedural safeguards comparable to those required for involuntary mental-illness commitments, including notice of the right to counsel, effective assistance of counsel, rights to be present and to confront/cross-examine adverse witnesses and present evidence, and a clear, cogent, and convincing standard of proof.
2. Whether appointing counsel at the hearing, without time to consult or prepare, denied Greene effective assistance of counsel and thus due process.

## Decision

- The court awarded habeas corpus relief and held Greene was entitled to a new commitment hearing consistent with due process.
- The court held that persons facing involuntary confinement under the Tuberculosis Control Act are entitled to the same procedural protections required in involuntary mental-illness commitment proceedings.
- The court concluded Greene’s commitment hearing failed constitutional requirements because he was not timely informed of the right to counsel and did not receive effective assistance of counsel under the circumstances.

## Legal Principles

- Involuntary civil confinement for communicable disease, though noncriminal, entails a severe deprivation of liberty and triggers strong procedural due process protections.
- Tuberculosis-commitment proceedings must provide, at minimum:
  - notice of the proceeding and notice of the right to be represented by counsel;
  - appointment of counsel sufficiently in advance to permit meaningful preparation and effective assistance;
  - the right to be present at the hearing;
  - the right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses; and
  - the right to present witnesses and evidence.
- The state must prove the grounds for confinement by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence.

## Conclusion

The court invalidated Greene’s tuberculosis-commitment order because the hearing procedures did not provide constitutionally required protections, particularly timely and effective counsel, and it required that any renewed attempt to confine him satisfy the same due process safeguards applicable to involuntary mental-health commitments, including a clear, cogent, and convincing burden of proof.


Greene v. Edwards, 263 S.E.2d 661 (W. Va. 1980)