Cospito v. Califano

89 F.R.D. 374, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12525
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedFebruary 5, 1981
DocketCiv. A. No. 77-869
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 89 F.R.D. 374 (Cospito v. Califano) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cospito v. Califano, 89 F.R.D. 374, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12525 (D.N.J. 1981).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

CLARKSON S. FISHER, Chief Judge.

This is an action by mental patients at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital (TPH) challenging the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare’s (HEW) termination of plaintiffs’ Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits received pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1382(e)(1)(A) and (B), and the termination of Medicare/Medicaid payments received by TPH on behalf of plaintiffs pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1395 et seq. and 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq. Pending are motions by defendants HEW and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH) to limit jurisdiction to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) and to dismiss the complaint.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

In 1975, JCAH denied accreditation to TPH. As a result of this de-accreditation, the federal Medicare/Medicaid program at TPH was suspended and plaintiffs’ SSI benefits were discontinued. This action by the Secretary was predicated upon the statutory prerequisite that certain institutions, to qualify as “psychiatric hospitals” eligible to receive Medicare/Medicaid funds, be accredited by JCAH. 42 U.S.C. §§ 1395x(f) and 1396d(h)(1). This eligibility, in turn, is the statutory prerequisite for otherwise eligible patients at such institutions to qualify for SSI benefits. 42 U.S.C. § 1382(e)(1)(A) and (B); 20 C.F.R. 416.231.

Upon exhaustion of available administrative remedies, on March 4, 1977, the. Secretary determined that plaintiffs were not eligible for SSI benefits under Title XVI of the Social Security Act. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), plaintiffs filed the complaint in the action now before me for review of this final decision by the Secretary. (Count I) In their complaint plaintiffs further allege independent constitutional grounds to assert federal-court jurisdiction—in particular, plaintiffs allege that (1) due process requires that they have notice and opportunity to be heard prior to a de-accreditation decision, as such action necessarily results in loss of SSI benefits to patients (Counts II and III); (2) the delegation of power in this context to JCAH is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power. Essentially, plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality, on due process and equal protection grounds, of the statutory scheme whereby eligibility for SSI benefits is predicated upon JCAH accreditation. The alleged jurisdictional bases for these contentions are 42 U.S.C. § 1383(c)(3), 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), 28 U.S.C. § 1361 and 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

[376]*376 II. Motion to Limit Jurisdiction

Defendants urge as the ground for their motion that federal-question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 is precluded by 42 U.S.C. § 405(h), since the final decision of the Secretary of HEW is reviewable as provided in 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). In pertinent part, this section provides

Any individual, after any final decision of the Secretary made after a hearing to which he was a party, irrespective of the amount in controversy, may obtain a review of such decision by a civil action commenced within sixty days after the mailing to him of notice of such decision or within such further time as the Secretary may allow.... The court shall have power to enter, upon the pleadings and transcript of the record, a judgment affirming, modifying, or reversing the decision of the Secretary, with or without remanding the cause for a rehearing. The findings of the Secretary as to any fact, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be conclusive.... The judgment of the court shall be final except that it shall be subject to review in the same manner as a judgment in other civil actions.

42 U.S.C. § 405(g). Defendants principally rely on Weinberger v. Salfi, 422 U.S. 749, 95 S.Ct. 2457, 45 L.Ed.2d 522 (1975) to support the position that § 405(h) deprives this court of federal-question jurisdiction.

Salfi involved a constitutional challenge to provisions of the Social Security Act which require that the relationship between a wage earner and his wife or stepchildren must have existed for nine months prior to his death as a condition for receiving benefits. The court reached the merits only with respect to those named individual plaintiffs who had satisfied the requirement of § 405(g) that administrative remedies be exhausted prior to commencement of suit in federal court. Id. at 764, 95 S.Ct. at 2466.

In noting the absence of § 1331 jurisdiction, the court specifically focused on the third sentence of § 405(h) which provides

No action against the United States, the Secretary, or any officer or employee thereof, shall be brought under [§ 1331 et seq.] of Title 28 to recover on any claim arising under [Title II of the Social Security Act].

42 U.S.C. § 405(h). The court held that this sentence barred jurisdiction under § 1331 where a party is seeking Social Security benefits, notwithstanding the constitutional challenge to the statute. The court stated

It would, of course, be fruitless to contend that appellees’ claim is one which does not arise under the Constitution, since their constitutional arguments are critical to their complaint. But it is just as fruitless to argue that this action does not also arise under the Social- Security Act. For not only is it Social Security benefits which appellees seek to recover, but it is the Social Security Act which provides both the standing and the substantive basis for the presentation of their constitutional contentions. Appellees sought, and the District Court granted, a judgment directing the Secretary to pay Social Security benefits. To contend that such an action does not arise under the Act whose benefits are sought is to ignore both the language and the substance of the complaint and judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
89 F.R.D. 374, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12525, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cospito-v-califano-njd-1981.