Opinion ID: 2109253
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: remand to juvenile court

Text: K.M.'s first and second assignments of error may be distilled as follows: The juvenile court erred on March 20, 1989, because the court lacked jurisdiction to review and alter its previous order of December 3, 1986, whereby the juvenile court had determined that K.M.'s children were Indian children and that the Indian Child Welfare Acts, both state and federal, applied to the termination proceedings. K.M. argues that the December 1986 order was a final, appealable order and that since the State did not appeal from the order, the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction to review the 1986 order. K.M. refers to In re Interest of L.D. et al., 224 Neb. 249, 398 N.W.2d 91 (1986), as support for her position. In In re Interest of L.D. et al., supra , we held that an adjudication under § 43-247 (Reissue 1984) of the Nebraska Juvenile Code, that is, a factual determination and adjudication concerning the various bases for a juvenile court's acquisition of jurisdiction, is an appealable order. See, also, In re Interest of L.O. and B.O., 229 Neb. 889, 429 N.W.2d 388 (1988). Within the framework of appellate procedure, a remand is an appellate court's order returning a proceeding to the court from which the appeal originated for some further action in accordance with the remanding order. See, State ex rel. Norfleet v. Swafford, 184 Tenn. 340, 198 S.W.2d 1007 (1947); Mid-Ohio Liquid Fertilizers v. Lowe, 14 Ohio App.3d 36, 469 N.E.2d 1019 (1984). At a hearing or trial after remand from an appellate court, the parties stand in the same position as if there had been no prior disposition of the question, issue, or matter for which a remanded proceeding has been ordered. See, Bohmont v. Moore, 141 Neb. 91, 2 N.W.2d 599 (1942); Bliss v. Live Stock Nat. Bank, 124 Neb. 880, 248 N.W. 645 (1933). As a result of an order for remand and mandate from an appellate court, a trial court is obligated to adhere to the mandate and render judgment within the mandate's purview. See State ex rel. Hilt Truck Line v. Jensen, 218 Neb. 591, 357 N.W.2d 455 (1984). Implicit in the order for remand and mandate was the direction that the juvenile court consider additional evidence relevant to applicability of the Indian Child Welfare Acts, both the federal act and the Nebraska act, which, in the present case, necessarily involved a determination whether any of K.M.'s children was an Indian child within ICWA and NICWA. Thus, the juvenile court, pursuant to this court's mandate, had jurisdiction for the hearing on March 13, 1989, and, consequently, had jurisdiction to reconsider and, if warranted by the evidence, alter its previous decision of December 3, 1986, even to the point of setting aside that previous decision and entering a new order or judgment in its place. The juvenile court's jurisdiction after remand from this court, therefore, included authority to determine the applicability of the Indian Child Welfare Acts and the prerequisite finding concerning an Indian child for application of the acts, both ICWA and NICWA. We conclude that K.M.'s first and second assignments of error have no merit.