Appeal of Courville

649 A.2d 1233, 139 N.H. 119
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedNovember 7, 1994
DocketNo. 93-365
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 649 A.2d 1233 (Appeal of Courville) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Appeal of Courville, 649 A.2d 1233, 139 N.H. 119 (N.H. 1994).

Opinion

BROCK, C.J.

The petitioner, Richard G. Courville, appeals from the decision of the State Health Services Planning and Review Board (board) denying his request for two six-month extensions of the expiration date of his certificate of need (CON) and of the completion date for a nursing home to be built in Madbury under his CON. Courville’s appeal asks whether the board: (1) erred in deciding that the CON, which had been transferred to Courville, retained its original expiration date; (2) failed to consider the statutory factors for showing good cause to extend the completion date of the project; and (3) violated Courville’s rights to a fair hearing by considering an undisclosed staff memorandum in its determination of his petition. We affirm.

After determining that a need existed for additional nursing home beds in the Madbury area, the board issued a CON jointly to Exeter Health Services, Inc. and Frisbie Health Services, Inc. (Exeter/Frisbie) on January 29, 1988, to build a 100-bed nursing home in Madbury. Exeter/Frisbie experienced difficulties with the project and requested a change of scope in the CON to change the applicant to the Courville Company, a partnership controlled by the petitioner, who also does business as Courville Management Services, Inc. Following a hearing, the board ordered on October 9, 1990, that “all the stipulations and requirements of [the CON] issued on January 29, 1988 to the Frisbie Memorial Hospital/Exeter Health Resources, Inc. are hereby transferred to The Courville Company.” For purposes of this decision, we will refer to the entity holding the CON and the petitioner interchangeably as “Courville.”

By statute, the CON holder was required to commence the nursing home project within eighteen months and complete the project within five years of the issuance date of the CON. RSA 151-C:12,1(b)(2) (1990). A dispute between Courville and the board about the expiration date of the CON culminated in the board’s July 14, 1992, order imposing an early expiration date unless Courville began construction by July 29, 1992. Courville petitioned [122]*122the superior court for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief from the board’s order, and also moved the board to reconsider its order. In response, the board stayed its July order and, at its meeting on August 24, 1992, granted reconsideration and ordered that the CON would not expire until January 29, 1993. Courville did not appeal the board’s August 24 decision. The action in superior court was eventually stayed pending the outcome of this appeal.

On January 11, 1993, Courville filed a request with the board to extend the expiration date of the CON to give him more time to complete the project. The board held a hearing on Courville’s request on January 25, 1993, and issued an order dated March 8, 1993, denying the extension. Courville’s attorney became aware of a staff memorandum on the subject of Courville’s request for an extension, which- had not been provided to Courville at the hearing. Courville requested a rehearing, arguing in part that his due process rights were violated by the board’s reliance on the memorandum. The board released a copy of the memorandum to Courville’s attorney and granted Courville’s request for a rehearing, which was held on April 26, 1993. The board issued an order dated May 24, 1993, which again denied the extension. This appeal followed.

As a preliminary matter, we address Courville’s motion to strike two parts of the State’s brief. He first contends that this court, dispositively rejected the State’s argument that part of the appeal is untimely when we denied the State’s motion for summary affirmance that raised that issue. Courville misunderstands the effect of denying a motion for summary affirmance under Supreme Court Rule 25. Unless the order denying the motion specifically states otherwise, denial of summary affirmance is not dispositive of any issue.

Courville next moves to strike the State’s argument regarding whether he waived a particular issue, arguing that the issue was properly preserved for review on appeal in proceedings before the board. The State’s waiver argument, however, is based on the contention that Courville’s attorney explicitly waived the issué at the April 1993 rehearing. That Courville may have properly raised and preserved the issue prior to the April rehearing is irrelevant to the State’s argument. Accordingly, we deny the motion to strike. We do not find, however, that Courville’s meritless motion fits the extraordinary case of a frivolous or bad faith appeal, and we deny the State’s request for attorney’s fees under Supreme Court Rule 23.

[123]*123 We turn now to the standard of review for the issues raised in the appeal. RSA chapter 151-C directs that appeals to this court are governed by RSA chapter 541, but also includes a standard of review: “The court shall affirm the decision of the board unless it finds it to be arbitrary or capricious or not made in compliance with applicable law.” RSA 151-C:10 (1990). The standards of review provided by RSA 541:13 (1974) and RSA 151-C:10, III (1990) are essentially the same, see Appeal of Lemire-Courville Associates, 127 N.H. 21, 23-24, 499 A.2d 1328, 1330 (1985), and both standards apply to appeals from decisions of the board, Appeal of N.H. Catholic Charities, 130 N.H. 822, 825, 546 A.2d 1085, 1087 (1988). Therefore, we deem all factual findings by the board to be prima facie lawful and reasonable. RSA 541:13. Courville, as the appealing party, bears the burden of showing by a clear preponderance of the evidence that the board’s decision was “arbitrary or capricious or not made in compliance with applicable law.” RSA 151-C: 10, III; Appeal of Clipper Home, 133 N.H. 593, 597, 579 A.2d 808, 810 (1990); see RSA 541:13.

I. Expiration Date of the CON

The State argues that Courville did not timely appeal the board’s August 24, 1992, decision concerning the expiration date of the CON and, further, that Courville’s attorney waived any renewal of the issue at the April 1993 rehearing. Accordingly, the State asserts, the issue of the CON’s expiration date should not be considered by this court on appeal. The State also contends that the superior court lacks jurisdiction to consider the issue of the expiration date of the CON.

The issue of the CON’s expiration date first arose during correspondence between Courville and the board in April and May 1992. Courville suggested that the five-year completion period for the project should begin on October 9, 1990, the date the CON was transferred to him, rather than on January 29, 1988, the date it was originally issued to Exeter/Frisbie. In May 1992, the board responded that January 29, 1988, was the starting date for both commencement and completion of the project.

In an order dated July 14, 1992, the board set new deadlines for the project. Although the board found that RSA 151-C: 12, 1(b)(2) required that the project be completed by January 29, 1993, it ordered Courville to obtain financing and begin construction by July 29, 1992, or the CON would be terminated then. The board’s July order also required Courville to complete the project by July 29, 1993.

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Bluebook (online)
649 A.2d 1233, 139 N.H. 119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/appeal-of-courville-nh-1994.