Donor Network West v. Superior Court CA5

── Donor Network West v. Superior Court CA5 ── Court: California Court of Appeal Date: April 15, 2026 Category: General Filed 4/15/26 Donor Network West v. Superior Court CA5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115. IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DONOR NETWORK WEST, INC., F090900 Petitioner, (Super. Ct. No. 202504900) v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MERCED OPINION COUNTY, Respondent; THE COUNTY OF MERCED, Real Party in Interest. ORIGINAL PROCEEDINGS; petition for writ of mandate. Buty & Curliano, Madeline Buty and Collin W. Wayne, for Petitioner. No appearance for Respondent. Forest W. Hansen, County Counsel, and Jenna M. Anderson, Deputy County Counsel; Miller Barondess, Eleanor S. Ruth and Nadia A. Sarkis, for Real Party in Interest. -ooOoo- Donor Network West, Inc. (Donor Network) is an organ procurement organization (procurement organization) that facilitates organ donation in Northern California and coordinates the anatomical gift process for eligible organ donors. After becoming aware that a crime victim on life support was an organ donor and likely to die, Donor Network advised the Merced County Coroner’s Office (county coroner) of this fact, but the county coroner denied the donation of any organs. Law enforcement obtained a search warrant that ordered the victim’s body to be turned over to the county coroner or law enforcement when the hospital took the victim off life support. In a petition for writ of mandate filed directly in this court, Donor Network asked us to stay the execution of the search warrant, vacate the search warrant, and issue a writ mandating the county coroner and its agents to proceed with organ procurement procedures as provided in the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (Health & Saf. Code,1 § 7150, et seq.) (the Act). Although we declined to issue a stay and recognized the county coroner’s obligations under the Act in this case may soon be moot, we issued an order to show cause directing real party in interest, the County of Merced (county), to file a return addressing what mandatory duties a coroner owes under the Act before denying removal of an organ for donation. After reviewing the county’s return and Donor Network’s reply, we have determined that we should have exercised our discretion not to issue the order to show cause. Accordingly, we will discharge the writ without further proceedings as having been improvidently granted, the effect of which is that our decision is not law of the case on the issues presented in the petition and this order is final immediately. (Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. v. Superior Court (1997) 54 Cal.App.4th 828, 829-830, 833 (Countrywide Home Loans).) FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On December 13, 2025, Donor Network became aware that Anthony Martinez, who was a registered organ donor, was in the hospital with a gunshot wound to his head 1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Health and Safety Code. 2. and was likely to die. It was determined that Martinez, who was on mechanical ventilation, met the criteria to be an organ donor. After receiving the information concerning Martinez, Donor Network contacted the law enforcement agency investigating Martinez’s death, the Los Banos Police D