Midwest Psychological Center, Inc. v. Indiana Department of Administration

959 N.E.2d 896, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1975, 2011 WL 6849669
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 30, 2011
Docket49A02-1103-MI-213
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 959 N.E.2d 896 (Midwest Psychological Center, Inc. v. Indiana Department of Administration) 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
Midwest Psychological Center, Inc. v. Indiana Department of Administration, 959 N.E.2d 896, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1975, 2011 WL 6849669 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

CRONE, Judge.

Case Summary

Midwest Psychological Center, Inc. (“Midwest”), is a for-profit business that provides mental health services. Indiana Minority Health Coalition, Inc. (“Minority Health”), is a non-profit organization that provides mental health services. Both have received certification from the Indiana Department of Administration (“IDOA”) as a minority business enterprise (“MBE”). Corizon, Inc., has a contract with the IDOA to provide mental health services. Corizon has a subcontract with Minority Health to provide some of the mental health services under the contract with the IDOA. Midwest filed a grievance with the IDOA, alleging that Minority Health was not eligible to be certified a MBE and asking the IDOA to decertify Minority Health, but it did not.

Midwest filed a complaint against Cori-zon, Minority Health, the IDOA, Mark Everson, and Tony Kirkland (collectively referred to as “Appellees”), 1 seeking a declaratory judgment stating that Minority Health is not a MBE, that Kirkland has a conflict of interest by serving both on Minority Health’s board of directors and as a commissioner overseeing the IDOA’s de-certification process, enjoining Minority Health from providing mental health services under its subcontract with Corizon, and enjoining the IDOA from contracting with Corizon for the provision of mental health services to the extent that Corizon subcontracts with Minority Health. Ap-pellees moved for judgment on the pleadings, asserting that Midwest lacked standing to challenge Minority Health’s MBE certification, the subcontract between Minority Health and Corizon, or the contract between the IDOA and Corizon. The trial court found that Midwest lacked standing and granted the motions for judgment on the pleadings.

Midwest appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in granting the motions because Midwest has standing as an aggrieved person under Indiana Code Section 5-22-19-2. We conclude that Midwest is not aggrieved and therefore does not have standing to challenge either the subcontract between Minority Health *900 and Corizon or the contract between the IDOA and Corizon. We farther conclude that Midwest’s complaint does not plead averments necessary to establish standing for judicial review of the IDOA’s proceedings regarding Minority Health’s decertification and allegations of Kirkland’s conflict of interest. We therefore affirm the tidal court’s decision to grant Appellees’ motions for judgment on the pleadings.

Facts and Procedural History

A brief description of Indiana’s Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (“M/ WBE”) program is helpful to understanding the allegations in Midwest’s complaint. The M/WBE program is part of the State’s policy to provide equal opportunity to minority and women’s business enterprises in its award of state contracts and the procurement of goods and services. 25 Ind. Admin. Code 5-5-1. The Governor’s Commission on Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (“M/WBE Commission”) sets annual goals for the State’s use of minority and women’s business enterprises. Ind.Code § 4-13-16.5-2(0(8). The M/WBE Commission works with the IDOA, which monitors, enforces, and promotes the M/WBE program. Within the IDOA, a deputy commissioner for M/WBE development certifies minority and women’s business enterprises for state projects and sets rules to ensure that the M/WBE Commission’s goals are met. Ind.Code §§ 4 — 13—16.5—3(b)(1) and -4(b). The IDOA’s rules provide that the M/WBE Commission’s goals for the use of MBEs and women’s business enterprises (“WBEs”) “may be met through the use of prime contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, joint ventures, or other arrangements that afford meaningful opportunities for MBE and WBE participation.” 25 Ind. Admin. Code 5-7-3(b).

In addition to its role in the M/WBE program, the IDOA also oversees the award of state contracts to primary contractors and the procurement of goods and services under state contracts. The IDOA allows primary contractors to indicate in them bid proposals that they are either certified MBEs or are hiring certified MBEs as subcontractors. 25 Ind. Admin. Code 5-5 and 5-6.

On March 12, 2010, Midwest filed a complaint in Marion Superior Court for damages, declaratory judgment, and injunction against the IDOA, Mark Everson, Tony Kirkland, Corizon, and Minority Health. Appellant’s App. at 17-20. Midwest’s complaint contained the following allegations. Midwest is a for-profit corporation in the business of providing mental health services and is a certified MBE. Minority Health is a non-profit corporation engaged in providing mental health services and is also a certified MBE. Cori-zon is a corporation that provides healthcare services in prisons and jails. Corizon has a contract with the IDOA to provide healthcare services. By June 2007, Cori-zon subcontracted with Minority Health for the provision of mental health services to inmates in state correctional facilities. 2 Corizon’s contract with the IDOA was acquired due to Corizon’s subcontract with Minority Health. 3 Mark Everson is the current commissioner of the IDOA. At all *901 relevant times, Tony Kirkland both chaired the M/WBE Commission and sat on Minority Health’s board of directors. Kirkland’s duties were to oversee the MBE program and the complaint process which allowed for MBEs to request decer-tification of other MBEs. On March 17, 2009, after filing several other administrative complaints, Midwest filed another complaint with the IDOA, 4 alleging that the IDOA was not following state law and requesting the revocation of Minority Health’s MBE certification. The IDOA did not decertify Minority Health. According to Midwest, Minority Health continued to provide mental health services under its subcontract with Corizon “in direct violation of IC 4 — 13—16.5—1[ ], which provides that a non-profit corporation cannot provide services that would ‘impede competition among [for-profit] minority business enterprises.’ ” Id. at 19. As a result, Midwest suffered damages in lost contracts.

Midwest requested the following relief: (1) a judgment declaring that Minority Health is not eligible for MBE certification to the extent that it does the same type of work as Midwest, that Corizon’s subcontract with Minority Health is invalid, and that Kirkland’s roles presented a conflict of interest; (2) an injunction decertifying Minority Health as an MBE, enjoining the IDOA from contracting with Corizon for provision of mental health services to the extent that Corizon subcontracts with Minority Health for said services, and enjoining Minority Health from providing health services under its subcontract with Cori-zon; (3) damages; and (4) attorney’s fees and costs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
959 N.E.2d 896, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1975, 2011 WL 6849669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/midwest-psychological-center-inc-v-indiana-department-of-administration-indctapp-2011.