56 results for 'cat:"Administrative Law" AND cat:"Government"'.
J. Blacklock finds that the court of appeals improperly affirmed a jury verdict in favor of two City of Denton employees who sued the city under the Texas Whistleblowers Act after they were allegedly fired for reporting a member of the city council for meeting with a reporter at their home, violating the Public Information Act and the Open Meetings Act. The city council members are not paid, thus making the council member not an employee who would otherwise be covered under the Act. Furthermore, her actions were hers alone and not on behalf of the city council. Reversed.
Court: Texas Supreme Court, Judge: Blacklock, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 22-1023, Categories: administrative Law, government, Whistleblowers
J. Childs vacates the district court's finding for the Small Business Administration on a concert tour company's challenge to the agency's rejection of its application for a $4.9 million grant in connection with Covid-19 under the Shuttered Venue Grants program. The agency ignored relevant proof supporting the company's eligibility for the grant, including more than 100 pages of creative elements it used to design concerts for the band, Twenty One Pilots, and its financial role in the tour. Vacated.
Court: DC Circuit, Judge: Childs, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 22-5253 , Categories: administrative Law, government
J. Byrne finds that the trial court properly in part ruled in a case in which a court reporter and her firm sued the Judicial Brand Certification Commission for allowing another reporting firm to provide services without proper certification. The trial court correctly denied the commission’s plea to the jurisdiction for the reporter’s petition for mandamus relief. However, the trial court incorrectly denied the commission’s plea to the jurisdiction against the judicial review, because such a review is not an available option within this administrative context. Affirmed in part.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Byrne, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 03-22-00245-CV, Categories: administrative Law, government, Immunity
J. Moss partially grants the FDA's motion for summary judgment and the tobacco vaporizer maker's cross-motion for summary judgment in a Freedom of Information Act suit brought by the vape maker seeking information on its denied premarket tobacco applications. The FDA's withholding of records under an exemption for "inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters" was proper because those documents were part of the deliberative process, regardless of the vape maker's various arguments that they were produced after the agency's decisions were made, because they were nevertheless produced before those decisions were finalized and published. Memos summarizing scientific data also are not privilege-free scientific reports in this case, since they were compiled for deliberative purposes. The agency has also established that the release of withheld memos would cause foreseeable harm and would chill the ongoing supervisory review process.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Moss, Filed On: April 23, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv2853, NOS: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - Other Suits, Categories: administrative Law, government, Public Record
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J. Tuchi grants the government's motion to dismiss due process rights claims brought by an attorney who cultivates psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana, and coca leaves. The government sufficiently showed in court that the attorney has failed to establish a protected liberty or property interest.
Court: USDC Arizona, Judge: Tuchi, Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1224, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: administrative Law, government, Due Process
J. Young finds that the court of appeals improperly ruled against the city of Dallas in a case concerning whether the city has the authority to implement term limits on the city's retirement fund board of directors. The city's term limits provision is a separate ordinance affecting another ordinance. Because the city did not amend the original ordinance, the board has no power to challenge the term limits. Reversed.
Court: Texas Supreme Court, Judge: Young, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 22-0102, Categories: administrative Law, government, Municipal Law
J. Kleeh grants the regulatory agency's motion for summary judgment in the company's complaint alleging the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) denied its application for an incidental taking permit to harvest timber by keeping the application in "perpetual administrative limbo." Based on the administrative record as a whole, the company is largely to blame for the permit being in limbo since it stopped cooperating with FWS on developing a habitat conservation plan, which is the second part of the four phases required to receive permit approval.
Court: USDC Northern District of West Virginia, Judge: Kleeh, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv7, NOS: Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision - Other Suits, Categories: administrative Law, Environment, government
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. Penzato finds that the lower court properly ruled in favor of State Farm in a dispute with the Louisiana Insurance Commissioner over a hurricane duration deductible (HDD) that was applied to homeowners' claims resulting from Hurricane Barry. The commissioner's cease and desist order to State Farm that restricted its application of the HDD to claims was correctly declared invalid since there was no evidence it made any misrepresentations regarding the policy language. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Penzato, Filed On: January 10, 2024, Case #: 2023CA0535, Categories: administrative Law, government, Insurance
J. Helmick grants the federal government's motion for summary judgment, ruling the administrative review board properly considered all of the evidence presented by both the employer and the government regarding payment of subminimum wages to disabled employees; therefore, its decision was not arbitrary or capricious. Because the board's decision was supported by credible evidence and the employer failed to prove the wages were based only on the productivity of the employees, the employer will pay the full amount of liquidated damages requested by the government to the employees.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Helmick, Filed On: January 4, 2024, Case #: 3:20cv2325, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: administrative Law, government, Labor
J. Kamins finds the administrative rules that establish the Climate Protection Program, imposing “cap and reduce” regulations on the distribution of fossil fuels and requiring certain large stationary sources to limit their emissions from industrial processes, are invalid. “The rules creating the cap-and-reduce system apply to a Title V source and were adopted without compliance” of the law.
Court: Oregon Court of Appeals, Judge: Kamins, Filed On: December 20, 2023, Case #: A178216, Categories: administrative Law, government
J. Abramson finds the circuit court properly awarded summary judgment to the landfill in a dispute between two county waste management services over fees involving interdistrict waste, which forced the landfill to assess a service fee and remit it back to the county. One county's unilateral reduction of another's waste assessment fee disregards the fee statute. The county lacked statutory authority to assess a per-ton fee on haulers, making them responsible for collecting and remitting the fee. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abramson , Filed On: November 29, 2023, Case #: CV-22-142, Categories: administrative Law, government
J. Sutton finds the lower court improperly vacated the IRS tax-avoidance notice on a nationwide basis. The business owners who brought suit for refunds of their penalties sought only monetary relief, which was satisfied when the IRS provided refunds, and, therefore, the case was mooted and the court lacked jurisdiction upon remand from this court.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Sutton, Filed On: November 20, 2023, Case #: 23-1138, Categories: administrative Law, government, Tax
J. Wendlandt affirms the dismissal of local housing authorities’ motion for a declaratory judgment based on the local housing authorities’ belief that their state government exceeds its authority by refusing to approve employment contracts between local housing authorities and their executive directors if they don’t adhere to Department of Housing and Community Development guidelines. Guidelines are not by definition necessarily optional. Guidelines can be mandatory and the use of the term guidelines in a statute rather than mandates does not imply that the statute carries less authority than if it did use the term mandates.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: November 6, 2023, Case #: SJC-13412, Categories: administrative Law, government, Housing
J. Wooton reverses the lower court's order reversing the Office of Administrative Hearings' decision revoking the motorist's drivers license for five years for driving under the influence. The trial judge erred by focusing on two chemical breath tests that failed to show the presence of any alcohol or drugs in the motorist's system over the preponderance of the evidence offered by responding law enforcement officers that the motorist displayed signs of impairment and failed two field sobriety tests. Reversed.
Court: West Virginia Supreme Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wooton, Filed On: November 6, 2023, Case #: 22-0223, Categories: administrative Law, government, Transportation
J. Hutchison reverses the lower court's final order reversing the West Virginia Public Employees Grievance Board's decision denying the two sign language interpreters' grievance, and finding they are full-time special education teachers qualified to receive a 2019 pay increase. The interpreters' grievance is mooted by the 2021 law approving teacher pay increases at the determination of the state schools superintendent, and the judge misinterpreted the Board's 2014 decision that the interpreters are classified as "professional personnel" and not "teachers." Reversed.
Court: West Virginia Supreme Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hutchison, Filed On: November 6, 2023, Case #: 21-0831, Categories: administrative Law, Education, government
J. Boasberg grants the Office of Federal Acknowledgment's motion to dismiss a tribe's action challenging the agency's refusal to grant it federal recognition. The tribe lacks standing to bring an unreasonable delay claim, and, although it refers to the Administrative Procedure Act, it fails to identify a final agency action it seeks to challenge.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Boasberg, Filed On: November 1, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv54, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: administrative Law, government