Van Orden v. State, Department of Health & Welfare

637 P.2d 1159, 102 Idaho 663, 1981 Ida. LEXIS 395
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 30, 1981
Docket13269
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 637 P.2d 1159 (Van Orden v. State, Department of Health & Welfare) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Van Orden v. State, Department of Health & Welfare, 637 P.2d 1159, 102 Idaho 663, 1981 Ida. LEXIS 395 (Idaho 1981).

Opinions

SHEPARD, Justice.

This is an appeal from a reversal of an order of the Department of Health and Welfare suspending a provisional license and denying a full license for a shelter home. The district court reversed the Department’s order on the basis that the Van Ordens had been denied procedural due process. We reverse the order of the district court. .

Since the decision of the district court was based solely on alleged procedural irregularities, it is necessary that the procedures leading to the ultimate order of the Department of Health and Welfare be reviewed at length.

In April of 1977 the plaintiff-respondents Van Ordens purchased certain real property and facilities located thereon which were formerly operated as the Teton Living Center, a shelter home for persons unable to care for themselves. In January 1977 pursuant to a consent judgment, the previous operators of the facility had had their application for renewal of license rejected and the previous operators were precluded, both directly and indirectly, from the operation of any shelter home facility within the state for various periods of time up to five years. In March 1977, the respondents Van Ordens applied for a license to operate the facility and a provisional license was granted effective until September 9, 1977. A full license is issued for one year to a facility which is in substantial compliance with the laws and regulations governing shelter homes. A provisional license is issued for a period not to exceed six months to a facility not in substantial compliance with the laws and rules pending its satisfactory correction of deficiencies. See Shelter Home Standards, § 2-4003.03.

On September 14, 1977, the Department notified the respondents Van Ordens of its serious concerns regarding their qualifications for a full license. Those concerns included the failure to respond to the Department’s request for information regarding quantity and quality of staff, the accidental drowning of a resident during the provisional license period, the failure to fence a stream running through the grounds and the concern that the consent decree prohibiting the previous operators from having any interest in the facility was being violated. It is disputed whether at that time there was a denial of the full license and the scheduling of a post denial hearing or whether the Department simply notified the Van Ordens of its concern and scheduled an evidentiary hearing prior to a final decision of the Department. It is conceded that the notification of September 14 indicated that although the provisional license was scheduled to expire on September 9, it would nevertheless be extended through the completion of the hearing and the provisional license was so extended.

On October 12, 1977 and prior to the scheduled hearings the Van Ordens were notified that the provisional license was summarily suspended effective October 17 and that a post suspension hearing was scheduled for October 21. It was stated [665]*665that the summary action was taken because of an emergency situation endangering the safety of the residents, including drastic understaffing, semi-abandonment of the residents, failure to repair a fire alarm system and failure to prevent the discharge of firearms in the area of resident housing.

Following an abortive judicial proceeding, the provisional license was in effect revived since the parties stipulated that the center would continue to operate pending a hearing on a suspension of the provisional license and action on the full license. That hearing was conducted during November, 1977 and consisted of extensive testimony, numerous exhibits, arguments and written briefs by the attorneys and an on-site visit by an appointed hearing officer.

On January 6, 1978, the hearing officer issued a written opinion in which the procedural due process requirements were discussed, and he concluded that the Department’s action regarding the full license was consistent with the procedural due process requirements of the Constitution, the Idaho statutes and the shelter home regulations; that the Van Ordens were notified in detail of the alleged violation; and that the summary suspension of the provisional license was based on the belief that the conditions constituted an emergency endangering the safety of the residents at the facility. He further concluded that the prehearing suspension also complied with the procedural due process requirements.

The Van Ordens sought judicial review of the Department’s order and the parties stipulated that the review would be upon the record in conformity with I.C. § 67-5215. The Department’s order was stayed pending review by the district court.

Following its review, the district court reversed the Department’s order on the basis of the court’s interpretation of the full license denial and the temporary license suspension. The court found that an emergency situation did not exist of such proportions as to relieve the agency from “adjudicating requirements.”

I. PROCEDURAL DUE PROCESS

The Due Process Clause of the XIV amendment mandates procedural safeguards against a state’s deprivation of an individual’s liberty and property interests. The State does not argue the absence of a protected property interest and hence we assume, arguendo, that such a protected property interest existed, and the question then is what process is due. The Van Or-dens contend they had a constitutional right to notice and a hearing before the Department could deny their full license application or suspend their provisional license.

“ ‘[D]ue process,’ unlike some legal rules, is not a technical conception with a fixed content unrelated to time, place and circumstances.” Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 334, 96 S.Ct. 893, 902, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976), quoting Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, 367 U.S. 886, 895, 81 S.Ct. 1743, 1748, 6 L.Ed.2d 1230 (1961). As stated in Mathews:

“[Identification of the specific dictates of due process generally requires consideration of three distinct factors: First, the private interest that will be affected by the official action; second, the risk of erroneous deprivation of such interest through the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards; and finally, the Government’s interest, including the function involved and the fiscal and administrative burdens that the additional or substitute procedural requirement would entail. Mathews v. Eldridge, supra, 424 U.S. at 335, 96 S.Ct. at 903.

The district court held that the Department had denied a full license and offered a post denial hearing. The interest involved here is the pursuit of a business enterprise dependent upon state licensure and the stability of that business would obviously be harmed if the facility were closed pending a review. In the case at bar, however, there could be no such effect since the provisional license was extended through the date set for the application hearing. Thus, there was no actual deprivation on September 14 and thus, no value [666]*666in additional or substitute safeguards.

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Van Orden v. State, Department of Health & Welfare
637 P.2d 1159 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1981)

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Bluebook (online)
637 P.2d 1159, 102 Idaho 663, 1981 Ida. LEXIS 395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/van-orden-v-state-department-of-health-welfare-idaho-1981.