Indiana State Board of Public Welfare v. Tioga Pines Living Center, Inc.

637 N.E.2d 1306, 1994 Ind. App. LEXIS 828, 1994 WL 288205
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 30, 1994
Docket30A01-9106-CV-176
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 637 N.E.2d 1306 (Indiana State Board of Public Welfare v. Tioga Pines Living Center, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Indiana State Board of Public Welfare v. Tioga Pines Living Center, Inc., 637 N.E.2d 1306, 1994 Ind. App. LEXIS 828, 1994 WL 288205 (Ind. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

ROBERTSON, Judge.

The defendants below, the Indiana State Board of Public Welfare; the Indiana Department of Public Welfare; and, Suzanne Magnant, in her capacity as the Administrator of the Indiana Department of Public Welfare (hereinafter collectively referred to as the State) bring this interlocutory appeal pursuant to Ind.Appellate Rule 4(B)(3) to challenge the entry of a preliminary injunction, and the denial of the State’s motion to dissolve the injunction, in this class action brought by both for-profit and not-for-profit intermediate and skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded and community residential facilities for the developmentally disabled in the State of Indiana. The injunction prohibits the State from implementing certain proposed changes to its Medicaid reimbursement rate methodology, which the State initially promulgated as 470 I.A.C. 5-4.2 (now 405 I.A.C. 1-4). We affirm.

The class brought this action in January of 1990 under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Indiana Uniform Declaratory Judgment Act, Ind. Code 34-4-10, alleging that the State’s reimbursement scheme in effect since 1983, 470 I.A.C. 5-4.1 (4.1), did not conform with federal or state statutory requirements, either procedurally or substantively. The Hancock County Circuit Court preliminarily enjoined the State from employing 4.1 on May 29, 1990, and on June 18, 1990, entered an order which required the State to make monthly deposits into an escrow account. The fourth district of this court vacated the May 29, 1990, preliminary injunction and the June 18, 1990, escrow order on July 22, 1991 in Indiana State Board of Public Welfare v. Tioga Pines Living Center, Inc. (1991), Ind. App., 575 N.E.2d 303, trans. denied. (Tioga I).

On February 26,1991, after the trial of the class’ initial allegations had begun but had not yet been completed, the State adopted the proposed rules (4.2) which are the subject of this appeal. The class moved to supplement its complaint to incorporate a challenge to this new reimbursement scheme and obtained the preliminary injunction which we now review. The injunction reinstated the requirement that the State make monthly deposits into escrow as required under the first preliminary injunction. On May 27, 1994, at the oral argument on the merits of the injunction contested in this appeal, counsel for the class stipulated that that portion of the trial court’s order which required the State to pay certain amounts into escrow was no longer valid. Upon agreement of the parties, we vacated the escrow component of the Hancock Circuit Court’s order of May 14, 1991 as modified on July 8, 1991 by separate order dated June 7, 1994, effective July 1, 1994.

The trial court entered a general judgment with “advisory findings” on the merits of the litigation relating to 4.1 in September, 1991, in favor of the class. The judgment became final on March 25, 1992. This court consolidated the judgment on the amended complaint challenging 4.1 with the Community Care Centers, Inc. v. Indiana State Board of Public Welfare case, and deferred ruling upon either the class’ challenge to 4.2 or the merits of the State’s appeal in the Indiana State Department of Public Welfare v. Lifelines of Indianapolis Limited Partnership (1994), Ind.App., 637 N.E.2d 1349, which too involved a substantive challenge to the State’s rate-setting methodology, until the *1307 Indiana Supreme Court had had an opportunity to review the judgments on 4.1. The Indiana Supreme Court took jurisdiction of the State’s consolidated appeal of the judgments against it on 4.1 pursuant to Ind.Appellate Rule 4(A)(10), (now App.R. 4(A)(9)), and reversed the judgment in favor of the Tioga Pines class on October 29, 1993. See Indiana State Board of Public Welfare v. Tioga Pines Living Center (1998), Ind., 622 N.E.2d 935, cert. denied, —U.S.-, 114 S.Ct. 1302, 127 L.Ed.2d 654. (Tioga II). Having obtained the guidance of this state’s highest court with respect to the common question of law in the Tioga Pines and Lifelines cases, we now report our decisions in separate opinions.

Standard of Review
[The] grant or denial of a preliminary injunction lies within the sound discretion of the trial court. College Life Insurance Co. of America v. Austin (1984), Ind.App., 466 N.E.2d 738, 741 [hereinafter referred to as College Life]; Wells v. Auberry (1982), Ind.App., 429 N.E.2d 679, 682. We will not interfere with the exercise of that discretion unless it is shown that the trial court’s action was arbitrary or constituted a clear abuse of discretion. College Life, at 741; Wells, at 682. In reviewing the trial court’s action, we will not weigh conflicting evidence, but will consider only that evidence supporting the trial court’s findings, conclusions and order. College Life, at 744; Wells, at 682....
When determining whether the trial court abused its discretion, we review the trial court’s findings of fact. ‘Whether such findings of fact are adequate depends upon whether they are sufficient to disclose a valid basis under the issues for the legal result reached in the judgment and whether they are supported by evidence of probative value. Such findings may not be set aside unless they are clearly erroneous.” College Life, at 742.

Ridenour v. Furness (1987), Ind.App., 504 N.E.2d 336, 339, adopted in part, Ind., 514 N.E.2d 273.

The discretion to grant or deny preliminary relief is ordinarily measured by several factors, among them, whether the .plaintiffs remedies at law are inadequate, thus causing irreparable harm pending resolution of the substantive action if the injunction does not issue; whether the plaintiff has demonstrated at least a reasonable likelihood of success at trial by establishing a prima facie case; whether the threatened injury to the plaintiff outweighs the threatened harm the grant of the injunction would occasion upon the defendant; and whether, by the grant of a preliminary injunction, the public interest would be disserved. Id.; Steenhoven v. College Life Ins. Co. of America (1984), Ind.App. 458 N.E.2d 661, 664. As this court observed in Wells v. Auberry (1982), Ind.App.,

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637 N.E.2d 1306, 1994 Ind. App. LEXIS 828, 1994 WL 288205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/indiana-state-board-of-public-welfare-v-tioga-pines-living-center-inc-indctapp-1994.