35 results for 'cat:"Administrative Law" AND cat:"Agency"'.
J. AliKhan grants summary judgment to the FBI in the information seekers' Freedom of Information Act suit related to the 2012 attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya. The FBI has adequately established that withheld records are part of an ongoing investigation of the attacks, and existing public accounts of the attacks do not undermine the agency's concerns about interference with that investigation.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: AliKhan, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 1:14cv1589, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: administrative Law, Public Record, agency
J. Contreras offers a mixed bag to both the National Parks Conservation Association and the Department of the Interior, which the association is suing for allegedly failing to protect Florida’s Biscayne National Park. ON the one hand, the federal government has delayed the implementation of a marine reserve zone for too long, but on the other, it has not issued a final agency action that the court can review for being arbitrary and capricious. The association is owed FOIA attorney fees. The government is ordered to propose a zone designation as soon as it can.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Contreras, Filed On: March 29, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv3706, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: administrative Law, Environment, agency
J. Du grants the animal rights activists' motion for summary judgment. The activists allege the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior, and the Nevada Bureau of Land Management violated the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and the National Environmental Policy Act by a recent roundup of wild horses. Reducing livestock grazing to increase wild horse management levels was not reasonable because it would have undermined the roundup's stated purpose to “prevent undue... degradation...and to restore ecological balance.” The bureau must prepare a herd management area plan and reanalyze foreseeable effects and significance of its roundup alternatives on wildfire risks.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Du, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv34, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: administrative Law, Environment, agency
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J. Wilson vacates the Environmental Protection Agency's order prohibiting the plastic container manufacturer from producing toxic long-chain perfluoroalkyls through its fluorination process. The EPA exceeded its statutory authority, and it may not skirt Administrative Procedure Act framework by arbitrarily deeming the company's decades-old fluorination process a “significant new use.” Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Wilson , Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 23-60620, Categories: administrative Law, Environment, agency
J. Connolly declines to dismiss claims alleging violations of the Controlled Substances Act after Walmart was charged with filling illegitimate prescriptions for opioids not known to be illegitimate by the pharmacists but known to be so by compliance team members. However, Walmart should be granted dismissal of two other counts based on the contention that its failure to comply with reporting requirements was not unlawful or subject to civil penalties during the relevant period.
Court: USDC Delaware, Judge: Connolly, Filed On: March 11, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv1744, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: administrative Law, agency
J. Grogan finds the circuit court properly granted summary judgment to the commerce lobby and dry cleaning business in their lawsuit challenging certain regulations put in place by the natural resources agency regarding PFAS and other contaminants. The agency's policies for PFAS and other "emerging contaminants" fall under the statutory definition of "rules" according to the five-factor test established by Wisconsin Supreme Court precedent, and the rules are invalid and unenforceable because the agency did not put them through statutorily required rule-making procedures under state law which, among other things, give parties affected by the rules proper notice of how the law is to be implemented. Affirmed.
Court: Wisconsin Court of Appeals, Judge: Grogan, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: 2022AP000718, Categories: administrative Law, Environment, agency
J. Lazar finds the circuit court improperly ruled in favor of the school sports organization in a lawsuit from a high school wrestler appealing orders that effectively stripped him of his 2019 state title and eliminated other results from his wrestling season in part because he participated in a varsity regionals match when the organization had declared he had to serve a suspension for previous unsportsmanlike conduct. In the wrestler's case, the organization applied its suspension rules in an "arbitrary, oppressive or unreasonable manner," in part by determining that the wrestler could not serve out his suspension by sitting out a junior varsity invitational instead of varsity regionals because that would be an attempt to "circumvent" its rules. This decision by the organization was "one of its will, not its judgment," and the circuit court's order is reversed and a permanent injunction is entered reinstating the wrestler's state title and other results. Reversed.
Court: Wisconsin Court of Appeals, Judge: Lazar, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: 2021AP001525, Categories: administrative Law, agency
J. Beeler grants the USDA's motion to dismiss claims from a group of nonprofits regarding rules to chicken-slaughter line speeds allowed at certain slaughterhouses. The nonprofits challenged new waiver rules laid out in 2018 that could allow for chickens to be slaughtered at 175 chickens per minute, but since then, the USDA has had a change of leadership and those waiver rules were set aside. Given the changed landscape and the fact the waivers are not in place anymore, the groups lack standing to continue their suit.
Court: USDC Northern District of California, Judge: Beeler, Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: 3:20cv1395, NOS: Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision - Other Suits, Categories: administrative Law, agency
J. Wood finds that four Iranian nationals who wish to join their family members who have U.S. citizenship cannot appeal the government's denial of their visa applications. The doctrine of consular nonreviewability precludes judicial review of this action pursuant to Supreme Court precedent and Congress has unambiguously said that exemption determinations are to be left to the Executive's "sole unreviewable discretion." Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Wood, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: 23-1392, Categories: administrative Law, Civil Procedure, agency
J. McClendon finds that the ethics board properly found the state agency employee violated the ethics code and assessed penalties against her for receiving "a thing of economic value" from a prohibited source. The evidence shows the employee violated the prohibited gift statute because her husband worked for a company that contracted with her agency. As a result, the employee received one-half of her husband's salary based on the community property regime created by their marriage. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: McClendon, Filed On: January 26, 2024, Case #: 2023CA0321, Categories: administrative Law, Government, agency
J. Rose finds municipalities improperly sought to demand that the governor fill long-standing vacancies on the housing council. While the state legislature expected the governor would make appointments, the executive is not obligated to do so within a certain time period. Further, the relief being sought is not ministerial and cannot be addressed via mandamus.
Court: New Jersey Appellate Division, Judge: Rose , Filed On: January 23, 2024, Case #: A-0050-22, Categories: administrative Law, Housing, agency
J. Hassan finds that the trial court improperly overturned the suspension of an individual's driver's license stemming from his arrest for DWI. The driver did not show his "substantial rights were prejudiced" when the administrative law judge erroneously held a hearing via Zoom videoconference instead of having an in-person hearing without the parties' consent. Reversed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Hassan, Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 14-22-00757-CV, Categories: administrative Law, Vehicle, agency
J. Jones vacates a jury verdict and $6.5 million penalty against a holdings company and broker following the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's trial against them concerning the broker's discretionary trading for an account over which he had power of attorney in the same markets where he acted as a broker for other clients. The company lacked fair notice of the commission's new interpretation of a rule barring a broker's "taking the other side of orders." The rule applies only to brokers who have a financial interest and not who merely “make the decision to trade opposite the order and execute [that] trade.” Vacated in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: EOX Holdings Jones, Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 22-20622 , Categories: administrative Law, Securities, agency
J. Clement finds the Federal Trade Commission improperly determined the DNA sequencing platform manufacturer's acquisition of its wholly-owned subsidiary cancer research entity violated the Clayton Act and ordered the merger be undone. The commission applied an erroneous legal standard at the rebuttal stage of its analysis, holding the manufacturer to a rebuttal standard that was incompatible with the plain language of the Act, which only prohibits transactions that will substantially lessen competition. Vacated.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Clement, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 23-60167, Categories: administrative Law, agency, Technology
J. Engelhardt finds the district court properly determined that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms has no authority to regulate part kits that might be incorporated into a “firearm” just because Congress enacted the Gun Control Act. The court, though, improperly vacated the bureau’s entire final rule rather than the challenged portions. Affirmed in part. Vacated in part and remanded.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Engelhardt, Filed On: November 9, 2023, Case #: 23-10718, Categories: administrative Law, agency, Firearms
J. Ahuja finds that the lower court properly found for the state auditor, which prepared fiscal notes estimating the costs or savings to local governments for six different proposed pro-abortion initiative petitions, on a challenge from conservative voters. The fiscal notes' properly included various estimates on the economic costs of liberalized access to abortion. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Ahuja, Filed On: October 31, 2023, Case #: WD86594, Categories: administrative Law, Constitution, agency
J. Quigless finds that the Missouri Mining Commission properly denied the sandstone mining company's application for a permit to conduct surface mining operations because it did not obtain written consent of all parties with an interest in the land prior to applying for the permit. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Quigless, Filed On: October 17, 2023, Case #: ED111424, Categories: administrative Law, agency
J. Lawrence-Berrey finds that the lower court properly in part ruled in favor of a series of local governments and districts who sued the Department of Ecology over changes to the regulation of nitrogen discharges. The local entities claim that the department violated the rulemaking process when it adopted the new rules based on two documents produced by the department, and the lower court found in their favor. At the heart of the dispute is the question of whether three key "rules" that were changed are even rules at all under the Administrative Procedure Act. While two of the challenged rules cannot be considered as such, the third one does meet the definition under the APA. This means that certain new permit-related requirements are unlawful, and if the department would like to act on them further, they must go through the proper rulemaking procedures. Affirmed in part.
Court: Washington Court Of Appeals, Judge: Lawrence-Berrey, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 39494-8-III, Categories: administrative Law, Environment, agency
J. Edwards finds the homeowners’ association has failed to refute the trial court’s denial of its petition for review of an administrative law judge’s decision against it in their dispute with homeowners over permitting for a stormwater management system. The administrative law judge’s decision recommending to the stormwater management district that the disputed permit should not be granted was based on substantial evidence in part regarding the system’s compliance with codes, adheres to essential requirements of law and allows the district to make a final determination on the permit. The matter is remanded to the district to enter a final decision, which can then be appealed if the losing side desires.
Court: Florida Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Edwards, Filed On: August 11, 2023, Case #: 22-2426, Categories: administrative Law, Water, agency
J. Flaum finds that the lower court properly dismissed two individual's claims against the Director of Illinois' Department of Employment Security stemming from their unprocessed applications for unemployment benefits that left them benefit-less through the Covid-19 pandemic. Mandamus provides an adequate state-law remedy in this case, so the individuals fail to make a valid claim for federal procedural due process violations. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Flaum, Filed On: August 7, 2023, Case #: 22-2859, Categories: administrative Law, Due Process, agency
J. Jackson-Akiwumi finds that the lower court properly dismissed a woman's challenge to the DEA's seizure of $33,000 in cash she was carrying at Chicago's O'Hare airport. The woman failed to timely challenge the DEA's determination that the cash was forfeited due to its link to illegal drug activity. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Jackson-Akiwumi, Filed On: August 1, 2023, Case #: 22-2087, Categories: administrative Law, agency, Forfeiture