The 3rd Circuit appears to have closed out 2020 with a bang: it changed the style of its opinions. It’s first published opinion under the new format is Wilson v. Dir., Off. of Workers’ Comp. Programs. That case deals with the hot-button issue of what constitutes “navigable waters” under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation … Read more
The Appellate Division issued a thorough opinion — and thorough rebuke — regarding the process by which the New Jersey Department of Health issued six licenses to grow, process and dispense marijuana as part of the State’s Medicinal Marijuana Program in In re Application for Med. Marijuana Alt. Treatment Ctr. for Pangaea Health & Wellness, … Read more
The 3rd Circuit held in Gentile v. S.E.C. that the Administrative Procedure Act did not waive sovereign immunity to an administrative agency’s decision to investigate.
In D.C. v. Div. Med. Assistance and Health Servs., the Appellate Division reversed an administrative law judge and ruled, because State Medicaid agencies are required under federal regulations to assess beneficiaries’ eligibility for other Medicaid programs before terminating benefits, the petitioners should have been transferred to the Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries (SLMB) Program with no gap … Read more
In Crown Castle v. PA Pub. Util. Comm’n, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a court does not defer to an administrative agency’s interpretation of the plain meaning of an unambiguous statute because statutory interpretation is a question of law for the court.
In re Certificate of Need Application for the Mem’l Hosp. of Salem Co. was an appeal of a decision by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health (the Commissioner), the Appellate Division concluded that the Commissioner failed to apply the relevant statutory factors to determine that there was a need for long-term care beds in … Read more
Under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law, the state police provided a heavily-redacted copy of investigation regulations to the ACLU along with a letter indicating that the redactions were necessary under the RTKL’s public-safety exception. The ACLU filed an appeal with the Office of Open Records, seeking an unredacted copy. The OOR received an unredacted version for in … Read more
After inspecting AmeriCare’s fleet of emergency medical vehicles, the State’s Department of Health, Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) suspended the plaintiff’s license to operate. Before exhausting administrative remedies, AmeriCare filed an order to show cause for injunctive relief under the New Jersey Civil Rights Act, N.J.S.A. 10:6-1 to -2 (CRA). The trial court granted … Read more