Parks v. Ala. State Bd. of Pharmacy (Ex parte Ala. State Bd. of Pharmacy)

253 So. 3d 972
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedOctober 27, 2017
Docket2160988
StatusPublished

This text of 253 So. 3d 972 (Parks v. Ala. State Bd. of Pharmacy (Ex parte Ala. State Bd. of Pharmacy)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parks v. Ala. State Bd. of Pharmacy (Ex parte Ala. State Bd. of Pharmacy), 253 So. 3d 972 (Ala. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

THOMPSON, Presiding Judge.

This is the second time that the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy ("the board") has filed a petition for a writ of mandamus in connection with stay orders issued by the Montgomery Circuit Court ("the circuit court") in this matter involving judicial review of the board's decision to suspend Demetrius Yvonne Parks's license to practice pharmacy and to place certain pharmacies that Parks owns on probation. In the previous mandamus proceeding, the board had asked this court to vacate an "order supplementing stay on a temporary basis" ("the first supplemental order"). Ex parte Alabama State Board of Pharmacy, 240 So.3d 594 (Ala. Civ. App. 2017). In that case, we set forth the following relevant procedural history:

"On October 1, 2016, after a hearing on 46 counts alleging various improper practices, the board entered an order *975suspending Parks's license for 5 years and levying an administrative fine against her in the amount of $27,000. The board also placed the pharmacy permits of two of Parks's pharmacies-Parks Pharmacy # 2 and Parks Pharmacy # 4-on probation for five years. Those two pharmacies, as well as one other pharmacy Parks owned (hereinafter referred to collectively as 'the pharmacies'), were also ordered to pay administrative fines.
"On November 22, 2016, Parks and the pharmacies filed a complaint in the circuit court seeking judicial review of the board's decision. That same day, they also filed a motion to stay the board's decision pending the outcome of the judicial review. A hearing on the stay motion was scheduled for November 30, 2016. On November 28, 2016, two days before the scheduled hearing, Parks and the pharmacies filed an emergency motion to stay....
"....
"... On December 1, 2016, the circuit court entered an order staying the suspension of Parks's license subject to her compliance with specific enumerated terms, including that Parks 'shall not be involved in the dispensing of legend or controlled drugs.' Parks Pharmacy # 4 was also directed to hire a supervising pharmacist, who had to be approved by the board, and to make certain records available to the board upon its request.
"On December 14, 2016, two weeks after the stay order was entered, Parks and the pharmacies filed an 'emergency supplemental motion to stay' in which they sought the removal of language from a Web site of the National Practitioner Data Bank ('the NPDB') relating 'to the original suspension, now stayed.' ...
"The hearing on the December 14, 2016, motion was originally scheduled for December 27, 2016. On December 27, 2016, the circuit court entered an order resetting the hearing for January 5, 2017. On January 3, 2017, the circuit court entered another order granting the board's motion to continue the scheduled January 5, 2017, hearing. The order stated that the hearing 'will be reset.' ...
"Although the circuit court had continued the January 5, 2017, hearing, it also entered an order that day supplementing the stay 'on a temporary basis.' In the supplemental order, the circuit court stated that,
" 'because this matter had to [be] continued for various reasons, and deeming the relief requested to be in order, [the stay order] is hereby modified as follows ...
" '1. [Parks], whose suspension was lifted by this court's order of December 1, 2016, is hereby allowed to work as a pharmacist until further order of this court.
" '2. [The board] is hereby ORDERED to immediately clear and remove all language in its entirety sent to the [NPDB] concerning [the pharmacies] and [Parks] herself.' "1

Ex parte Alabama State Bd. of Pharmacy, 240 So.3d at 595-97 (footnote omitted).

In its first mandamus petition ("the first petition"), the board argued that § 41-22-20(c), Ala. Code 1975, part of the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act, § 41-22-1 et seq., Ala. Code 1975, required the circuit court to allow the board to present evidence in connection with Parks's request for a change in conditions related to the stay entered in the December 1, 2016, *976order. This court agreed, and, citing § 41-22-20(c), concluded that the circuit court had erred in entering the first supplemental order, which essentially removed the conditions of the stay that had been included in the December 1, 2016, stay order, without first giving the board the opportunity to challenge the relief Parks sought in her supplemental motion for a stay. Among other things, this court concluded that the circuit court had erred in not allowing "the board to present evidence or arguments regarding the propriety of its decision to direct the board to delete language from the federal NPDB Web site." Ex parte Alabama State Bd. of Pharmacy, 240 So.3d at 599. We issued a writ of mandamus directing the circuit court to vacate the first supplemental order and "to hold a hearing so that the parties can present their evidence and arguments regarding the relief Parks has requested in her emergency supplemental motion for a stay." 240 So.3d at 599.

On August 8, 2017, the circuit court held the hearing as directed. On August 22, 2017, the circuit court entered an order again staying the suspension of Parks's license ("the second supplemental order") pending a final hearing of her petition for judicial review. However, in the second supplemental order, the conditions that had been imposed on Parks in the December 1, 2016, stay order were modified. In entering the second supplemental order, the circuit court determined, among other things, that Parks "shall be allowed to work during the duration of the stay as a supervising pharmacist" and that the board "shall submit a Void Report per the NPDB Guidebook, to remove all negative information on the NPDB website about Parks Pharmacies being on probation and about Ms. Parks ever being suspended." According to the NPDB Guidebook, a "void report" is "the withdrawal of a report in its entirety. NPDB Guidebook at E-8 (April 2015). Void reports are discussed in more depth later in this opinion. The second supplemental order also required the board to remove the same information from its own Web site. On September 12, 2017, the board filed its second petition for a writ of mandamus ("the second petition") in connection with this matter. In the second petition, the board asks this court to direct the circuit court to "rescind" the second supplemental order entered on August 22, 2017, and to order the parties to abide by the original stay order, to which their counsel had agreed, entered on December 1, 2016.

We first address Parks's contention in her motion to dismiss that the second petition is "exceedingly repetitious" of the first and is, therefore, due to be dismissed.

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Bluebook (online)
253 So. 3d 972, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parks-v-ala-state-bd-of-pharmacy-ex-parte-ala-state-bd-of-pharmacy-alacivapp-2017.