Healthy Futures of Tex. v. Dep't of Health & Human Servs.

315 F. Supp. 3d 339
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedJune 1, 2018
DocketNo. 1:18–cv–992 (KBJ)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 315 F. Supp. 3d 339 (Healthy Futures of Tex. v. Dep't of Health & Human Servs.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Healthy Futures of Tex. v. Dep't of Health & Human Servs., 315 F. Supp. 3d 339 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

Opinion

KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, United States District Judge

Before this Court at present are ripe cross-motions for summary judgment in the instant class action, which involve legal claims that are indistinguishable from the dispute that this Court recently considered and resolved in Policy and Research, LLC v. HHS , No. 18-cv-346, 313 F.Supp.3d 62, 2018 WL 2184449, (D.D.C. May 11, 2018). (See Pl.'s Mot. for Summ. J. on the Individual and Class Claims, ECF No. 7, at 12-16; Defs.' Cross-Mot. to Dismiss or for Summ. J., ECF No. 18, at 18-28.)1 In fact, the only new issue that has arisen in the context of the summary judgment motions at issue here is HHS's contention that the equitable doctrine of laches bars Healthy Futures of Texas ("Healthy Futures") and the other class members (collectively "Plaintiffs") from filing their lawsuit now -some ten months after the challenged agency action, and more than two months after Policy and Research, LLC and other similarly situated plaintiffs filed lawsuits asserting identical claims in federal districts across the country.2

For the reasons explained below, this Court rejects HHS's laches argument, and it also finds no reason to depart from its conclusion that (1) the termination provisions of HHS's regulations apply to the agency's unexplained decision to "shorten" the project periods for the grants it had awarded to the class members under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program ("TPPP"), such that this decision is not committed to agency discretion by law, see Policy & Research, LLC , 313 F.Supp.3d at 74-83, 2018 WL 2184449, at *7-12, and (2) HHS acted arbitrarily and capriciously in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A), because it terminated Plaintiffs' project periods without providing any explanation for this action and without complying with its own regulations, Policy & Research, LLC , 313 F.Supp.3d at 83-84, 2018 WL 2184449, at *13. Accordingly, Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment is GRANTED , Defendants' cross-motion to dismiss and for summary judgment is DENIED , and HHS's decision to shorten these project periods will be VACATED . A separate Order that requires HHS to accept and process the class members' noncompeting continuation applications to the same extent and in the same manner as before the agency decided to "shorten" the project *342periods for grants made under the TPPP will follow.

I. THE LACHES DISPUTE

HHS contends that Healthy Futures and the class members it represents unreasonably delayed the filing of the instant lawsuit (which challenges agency action that occurred last summer), and it further maintains that HHS would be prejudiced if Plaintiffs' belated request for an injunction is granted, because HHS is currently engaged in the expensive, labor-intensive process of awarding the contested TPPP grant funds to other organizations through a recompetition process. (See Defs.' Mem. in Opp'n to Pl.'s Mot. for Summ. J. & in Supp. of Their Cross-Mot. to Dismiss or for Summ. J. ("Defs.' Mem."), ECF No. 18-1, at 14-18.) In this regard, HHS emphasizes the following "factual circumstances," which, in the agency's view, render the April 27, 2018 filing of the instant action "unreasonable[.]" (Id. at 15.) First of all, HHS points out that the agency's "announcement" that each of the class members' project periods was being shortened, effective June 30, 2018, and "was made ten months ago." (Id. at 16.) Moreover, "[e]ven after [other] grantees began filing lawsuits to challenge HHS's decision, Healthy Futures (and the putative class it represents) waited another two-and-a-half months before seeking to assert its rights." (Id. (emphasis added); see also id. (decrying this delay as "not reasonably expeditious behavior" (internal quotation marks and citation omitted) ).) HHS also highlights the fact that the class claims involve "government grants and contracts"-a context in which "expedient assertion of claims is vital." (Id. at 15 (citing LTMC/Dragonfly, Inc. v. Metro. Wash. Airports Auth. , 699 F.Supp.2d 281, 293 (D.D.C. 2010) ).)

HHS further insists that it would "unfairly prejudice" the agency to allow this case to proceed now. (Id. at 16.) This is because, while the class members purportedly dithered over instigating legal action to protect their interests, the agency "spent a year analyzing the [TPPP] and developing a new approach to the program at a cost to the agency of millions of dollars and many house of staff time." (Id. at 16-17.) Pursuant to these efforts, HHS recently announced that the grant funding that Plaintiffs seek to preserve with this lawsuit will be competitively redistributed, so HHS argues here that the "requested relief interferes with the recompetition" both "by reducing the funds available to the agency to award to new grantees and diminishing HHS's investment in reviewing and redesigning the TPP Program[,]" and also by thwarting the legitimate expectations of the members of the public who will "commit resources to participate in that recompetition." (Id. at 17.) Thus, notwithstanding the fact that other TPPP grantees had launched several (ultimately successful) lawsuits challenging HHS's decision to cut the previous round of TPPP grant awards short prior to the time that the agency announced the recompetition, HHS maintains that it had "good reason to believe" that these grantees' alleged rights to the funding "had been abandoned" during the ten months that elapsed between the agency's decision to shorten Plaintiffs' project period and the class action lawsuit that Healthy Futures filed in this Court. (Id. at 18 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted) ); see also id. at 16 ("When a litigant creates an impression of acquiescence that has led others to make substantial financial commitments, laches should apply to defeat the claim." (internal quotation marks and citation omitted) ).)

On behalf of the class it represents, Healthy Futures vigorously disputes HHS's assertion of laches. (See Pl.'s Reply Mem. in Further Supp. of Mot. for Summ. J. & Mem. in Opp'n to Defs.' Cross-Mot. to Dismiss or for Summ. J. ("Pl.'s Reply"), *343ECF No.

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315 F. Supp. 3d 339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/healthy-futures-of-tex-v-dept-of-health-human-servs-cadc-2018.