In Re Kossow

FERREN, Associate Judge:

These consolidated appeals present one question: when the Corporation Counsel elects not to proceed with the judicial stage of an involuntary civil commitment proceeding, may the court permit the private petitioner, through his or her counsel, to press the case for commitment? Appellants argue that private petitioners lack legal capacity to pursue the case beyond their presentation to the Commission on Mental Health — that the decision to seek someone’s involuntary confinement to a hospital, upon recommendation of the Commission, is exclusively within the discretion of…