Rickards v. Solomon

457 F. Supp. 95, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16501
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedJuly 19, 1978
DocketCiv. A. No. M-77-1025
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 457 F. Supp. 95 (Rickards v. Solomon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rickards v. Solomon, 457 F. Supp. 95, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16501 (D. Md. 1978).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JAMES R. MILLER, Jr., District Judge.

Pending before the court are the default of defendant Caroline Nursing Home (Paper 13-15), the renewed motion of defendant Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to dismiss on grounds of mootness (Paper 35), the motions of plaintiffs Mr. and Mrs. Rickards to certify them as representatives of a plaintiff class (Paper 9) and to send notice of this action to absent potential class members (Paper 32), and the cross motions for summary judgment on the merits by plaintiffs (Paper 8) and defendant Secretary (Paper 21).

FACTS

The plaintiffs, an institutionalized recipient of state medicaid benefits (Mr. Rickards) and his spouse (Mrs. Rickards), on behalf of themselves and about 118 couples, brought this § 1983 action for declaratory and injunctive relief1 on June 27, 1977 against the State Secretary of Health in order to challenge the state’s practice of attributing the income of the spouse to the institutionalized medicaid applicant or recipient for purposes of determining the applicant’s eligibility and level of benefits under the medicaid program.

Although the complaint raises Due Process and other constitutional issues, the only ground pressed by plaintiffs is that the state’s “deeming” practice is inconsistent with the federal medicaid statute, Title XIX of the Social Security Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq., and the federal medicaid regulations, 45 C.F.R. § 248.3 (1976), as amended, 42 Fed.Reg. 2684-2688 (Jan. 13, 1977) (effective date April 13, 1977).2

The complaint alleges that the “deeming” practice was mandated by state medicaid regulations in effect from October 1, 1976 to August 15,1977. These regulations were codified at COMAR §§ 10.09.09-10.09.10, PX C. Effective August 15, 1977, the previous regulations were replaced with the current state medicaid regulations. See 4 Md.Reg. 1203-1205 (Aug. 3, 1977) (promulgating emergency regulations), Paper 10, Ex. A; 4 Md.Reg. 1495-1496 (Sept. 14, 1977) (proposed permanent regulation), DX B; 4 Md.Reg. 1805-1806 (Nov. 18, 1977) (Permanent regulation adopted) DX C. These regulations are now codified at CO-MAR §§ 10.09.09-10.09.11. These new state regulations discontinue the “deeming” practice effective August 15,1977, although some administrative delay was foreseen. See DX D (procedure to correct all outstanding benefits schedules), DX E (progress report).

The state urges, and the plaintiffs do not dispute, that the current state regulations as effective August 15, 1977, are consistent with the current federal regulations as effective April 13, 1977.

[98]*98In a previous Memorandum and Order (Paper 16) denying defendant Secretary’s first motion to dismiss, this court considered whether a case and controversy existed under the then existing circumstances. Plaintiff Mrs. Rickards, the spouse of the medicaid recipient, had been billed by the nursing home for a balance due for the period October 1, 1976 to May 18, 1977 of $1,500. PX F. The charges were accrued under the challenged regulation which required that some of Mrs. Rickards’ income be deemed available for payment of Mr. Rickards’ medical expenses. Mr. and Mrs. Rickards’ position was and is that these charges are the legal obligation of the State Secretary of Health rather than themselves. Although the nursing home had not at that time been made a defendant herein, its submission of a statement to the plaintiffs implied a belief that the plaintiffs were obligated for the amount billed. Although the defendant State Secretary of Health had rescinded the challenged regulation effective August 15, 1977, he did not make the recission retroactively effective to April 13, 1977, the effective date of the current federal regulation, or to October 1, 1976, the effective date of the challenged regulation. One implication of these actions was that the plaintiffs, Mr. and Mrs. Rickards, were responsible for the charges accrued as a result of the challenged regulation; another implication was that the nursing home should absorb the charges. Three injuries to the named plaintiffs and possibly to the class were identified: (1) the present claim by nursing homes of outstanding and unpaid amounts accrued under the “deeming” practice, (2) the present possibility of eviction of the plaintiffs for nonpayment, and (3) the present claim of the plaintiffs for monies previously paid to nursing homes under the “deeming” practice.

Under those circumstances there was an actual controversy among the plaintiffs, the nursing home, and the Secretary as to the responsibility for payment of the moneys billed to Mr. and Mrs. Rickards as a result of the challenged and now rescinded regulation. See Diffenderfer v. Central Baptist Church, 404 U.S. 412, 92 S.Ct. 574, 30 L.Ed.2d 567 (1972) (per curiam); Cox v. Stanton, 529 F.2d 47 (4th Cir. 1975).

The Court concluded at that time that an essential party was not before the Court, namely, the nursing homes that would be affected by whatever the decision was. Efforts were made by the plaintiffs to bring in a nursing home trade association as a class representative, but the effort was fruitless insofar as the class was concerned. There is now before the Court only Caroline Nursing Home — the home directly involved in the claim of the named plaintiffs. Caroline Nursing Home, however, has defaulted, apparently electing to lose its claim against plaintiffs for money due under the former “deeming” formula, if valid, and also to lose the money previously paid to it by plaintiffs under the former “deeming” practice. Since Caroline Nursing Home, with which the plaintiffs were involved, has defaulted, it certainly could not be certified as a defendant class representative, if for no other reason, because it would not meet the requirements of Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Procedure that it be an adequate representative of the class interests.

At this time two circumstances influence the court. First, the named plaintiffs Mr. and Mrs. Rickards are now entitled to full relief from the Caroline Nursing Home. Second, if they occur, the present and future consequences to the putative class plaintiffs of the defendant Secretary’s allegedly illegal past and discontinued “deeming” practice will occur, not by the direct act of the Secretary, but instead by the act of the nursing homes, which are not, so far as this record discloses, required by the Secretary to take any particular action in reference to these circumstances. The nursing homes have the right to elect not to attempt to collect monies which might be due them from the nursed medicaid beneficiary patients, if the “deeming” practice is valid. They also have the independent right to determine whether to attempt to evict a patient or, for that matter, whether to repay to a patient money which has already been paid to them. In short, there is the action of an independent third party [99]*99in the chain of actors required to produce the feared consequences of the past action of the Secretary’s “deeming” practice.

DISCUSSION

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Related

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512 F. Supp. 1321 (W.D. Virginia, 1981)

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Bluebook (online)
457 F. Supp. 95, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16501, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rickards-v-solomon-mdd-1978.