Where the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality denied a Clean Water Act certification to a company building a natural gas pipeline, but did not explain why it disagreed with the hearing officer’s findings or why it denied the application, ...
Read More »Administrative – Agency didn’t explain Clean Water certification denial
Administrative – No jurisdiction over challenge to DOD performance 
Where a nonprofit veteran’s group claimed the Department of Defense has not fulfilled its statutory duty to timely publish decisions by its review boards, the suit did not challenge a final agency action but was a “programmatic attack” on DoD’s ...
Read More »Administrative – Appeals – Ministerial Remand – Prisons & Jails – Labor & Employment 
When the Administrative Law Court remands a contested case to an agency, the better practice is to allow the remand to conclude before appealing. However, where, as here, the ALC rules upon the dispositive issues, grants the claimant the very ...
Read More »Administrative – Reduction in land value did not support takings claim 
Although property valued at $3.25 million was revalued at $1.95 million after Talbot County enacted a zoning ordinance, because a hypothetical 83% diminution in value is insufficient to establish a regulatory taking, the approximate 40% decrease in value was insufficient ...
Read More »Administrative – SSA’s fraud decisions ‘arbitrary and capricious’ 
It was “arbitrary and capricious” and a violation of due process for the Social Security Administration, or SSA, to categorically terminate the benefits of a class of claimants without giving them an opportunity to rebut the allegation that their benefits ...
Read More »Administrative – Attorney’s Fees – ‘Civil Action’ – Sanctions – Development Permit 
Where the State Action Statute, S.C. Code Ann. § 15-77-300, authorizes an award of attorney’s fees “In any civil action brought by … any political subdivision of the State,” the statute does not encompass contested administrative cases. We reverse the ...
Read More »Administrative – ALJ improperly rejected physician’s opinion 
Where an administrative law judge is required to analyze six factors before rejecting a treating physician’s opinion, and the ALJ here did not analyze or apply the factors before discounting a medical opinion concerning a woman’s medical impairments and ability ...
Read More »Administrative – DHS can’t be ordered to process petitions for visas 
Where the text, structure and history of a program that provides visas to crime victims unlawfully in the country who cooperate with law enforcement did not require the Department of Homeland Security to adjudicate requests, the agency could not be ...
Read More »Administrative – Executive order that upsets refugee statutory scheme is enjoined 
Where an executive order gave states and localities the option of consenting before refugees would be resettled, but the Refugee Act did not provide for “approval” or “consent,” the order was enjoined because affected agencies were likely to prevail on ...
Read More »Administrative – Evidence supports IRS rejection of deduction for donated house 
Where homeowners took a deduction for donating an entire house to a charitable organization, but the charity disassembled the house, salvaged useful components and left the remainder for demolition by the homeowners’ contractor, the IRS’s disallowance of the deduction was ...
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