Pa. Prof'l Liab. Joint Underwriting Ass'n v. Wolf

328 F. Supp. 3d 400
District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania·Decided July 18, 2018·No. CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:18-CV-1308·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

Christopher C. Conner, Chief Judge

On May 17, 2018, this court entered judgment in *403Pennsylvania Professional Liability Joint Underwriting Ass'n v. Wolf ("JUA I"), No. 1:17-CV-2041, 2018 WL 2263549, 324 F.Supp.3d 519 (M.D. Pa. 2018), declaring portions of Act 44 of 2017, P.L. 725, No. 44 ("Act 44") to be violative of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. We held therein that, by virtue of the breadth of its enabling legislation, the Pennsylvania Professional Liability Joint Underwriting Association ("Joint Underwriting Association" or "Association") is a private entity, its assets are private property, and the Commonwealth thus cannot expropriate the surplus funds held in the Association's coffers. We permanently enjoined the Commonwealth from enforcing the legislation.

Act 41 of 2018, No. 41, 2018 Pa. Laws __ (June 22, 2018) ("Act 41"), is the General Assembly's answer to JUA I. Utilizing our earlier analysis as a blueprint, Act 41 endeavors to avoid the constitutional infirmities of Act 44. Specifically, it purports to, inter alia , fold the nonprofit Joint Underwriting Association into the Commonwealth's Insurance Department ("Department"), shift control of the Association from its current member-led board to a board comprised of political appointees, oust the Association's president in favor of a new executive director hired by the Commonwealth's Insurance Commissioner ("Commissioner"), and mandate transfer of all of the Association's documents, files, and assets to the Department within 30 days of the Act's effective date. The Association asks the court to enjoin enforcement of the operative provisions of Act 41.

I. Background

The Joint Underwriting Association commenced this lawsuit with the filing of a verified complaint on June 28, 2018, subsequently filing an amended complaint on July 3, 2018. Therein, the Association challenges the constitutionality of Act 41 under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Association asserts that Act 41 violates the Substantive Due Process Clause (Count I), the Takings Clause (Count II), and the Contract Clause (Count III), and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to Section 1983 and the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201 (Count IV). The Association identifies as defendants Tom Wolf, Governor of the Commonwealth; the General Assembly of the Commonwealth; the elected leadership of both chambers of the General Assembly; and Jessica K. Altman, Insurance Commissioner of Pennsylvania. All defendants are sued in their respective official capacities.1

The Association moved for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction contemporaneously with the commencement of this case. The court denied the request for temporary restraining order and expedited proceedings on the request for a preliminary injunction. The court heard argument on the Association's motion on July 6, 2018. The parties agreed during oral argument that, for purposes of resolving the Association's motion, the factual record developed in JUA I is stipulated into the record sub judice. Accordingly, the findings of fact that follow are adopted from the court's summary judgment opinion in JUA I, with emphasis and reiteration of the facts most pertinent to the Association's instant claims.

II. Findings of Fact

The Joint Underwriting Association is a nonprofit association organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. See JUA I, 2018 WL 2263549, at *1.

*404The General Assembly created the Association in 1975 in response to a "hard market" for medical malpractice insurance in the Commonwealth. Id. The Association was initially established and organized by the Pennsylvania Health Care Services Malpractice Act of 1975, P.L. 390, No. 111 ("Act 111"). The General Assembly repealed Act 111 on March 20, 2002, replacing it with the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Act ("MCARE Act"), 40 PA. STAT. & CONS. STAT. ANN. § 1303.101 et seq.

A. The MCARE Act and the Joint Underwriting Association

The MCARE Act is a sweeping piece of legislation, with an overarching goal of ensuring a "comprehensive and high-quality health care system" for the citizens of the Commonwealth. Id. § 1303.102(1). Among other things, the MCARE Act established the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Fund ("the MCARE Fund"). See id. §§ 1303.711-.716. The General Assembly designed the MCARE Fund as a "special fund" within the state treasury to be administered by the Department. Id. §§ 1303.712(a), -.713(a). The Fund provides a secondary layer of medical professional liability coverage for physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers in the Commonwealth. See id. § 1303.711(g). It is funded primarily by annual assessments on health care providers as a condition of practicing in the Commonwealth. See id. § 1303.712(d)(1).

The MCARE Act continues the operation of the Joint Underwriting Association. Id. § 1303.731(a). Unlike the MCARE Fund, the General Assembly did not establish the Association as a "special fund" or a traditional agency within the Commonwealth's governmental structures. See id.; cf. id. §§ 1303.712(a), -.713(a). Instead, the General Assembly "established" the Association as "a nonprofit joint underwriting association to be known as the Pennsylvania Professional Liability Joint Underwriting Association." Id. § 1303.731(a). Like its predecessor,

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Pa. Prof'l Liab. Joint Underwriting Ass'n v. Wolf, 328 F. Supp. 3d 400 (M.D. Pa. 2018).

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