Source: http://openjurist.org/550/f2d/856/greenspan-v-klein-j
Timestamp: 2017-02-20 22:53:48
Document Index: 354506936

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 4', '§ 2281', '§ 2281', '§ 22815', '§ 2284', '§ 2281', '§ 2281', '§ 2281', '§ 7', '§ 2281', '§ 2284', '§ 2284', '§ 2281']

550 F2d 856 Greenspan v. Klein J | OpenJurist
550 F. 2d 856 - Greenspan v. Klein J HomeFederal Reporter, Second Series 550 F.2d.
550 F2d 856 Greenspan v. Klein J 550 F.2d 856
Bernard GREENSPAN, Appellant,v.Ann KLEIN, Individually and as Commissioner, Department ofInstitutions and Agencies, State of New Jersey, and GeraldJ. Reilly, Individually and as Director, Division of MedicalAssistance and Health Services, jointly, severally and inthe alternative, Appellees.
Argued Jan. 10, 1977.Decided Feb. 10, 1977.
Karl Asch, Elizabeth, N.J., Elson P. Kendall, Clark, N.J., for appellant.
William F. Hyland, Atty. Gen., Erminie L. Conley, Robert E. Popkin, Deputy Attys. Gen., Trenton, N.J., for appellees.
Bernard Greenspan, an osteopathic physician whose patients are largely Medicaid recipients received a letter dated February 27, 1976, from the New Jersey Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services Director. The letter informed Greenspan that effective immediately he was suspended from further participation as a provider of services under the New Jersey Health Services Program meaning that Greenspan would not be entitled to reimbursement under Medicaid (30 N.J.S. §§ 4 D-1 to 4D-24). The only reason given was that a review "indicates that you submitted claims and received payment for services not rendered by you." He was also told he had a right to request within twenty days a hearing on the matter; if none were requested within that time the suspension would automatically become "permanent and final."1
On April 1, 1976, the request for a preliminary injunction was denied. The district judge first considered the merits of the preliminary injunction request,2 and found no irreparable harm to the plaintiff in his practice of medicine,3 and no probable success on the merits. The public interest in a fiscally responsible program was also considered. After considering the merits of the preliminary injunction request, the district judge said
Finally, the declaration of unconstitutionality and the interference with the statutory and regulatory system of the State of New Jersey in the operation of its Medicaid Program which this application for a preliminary injunction would call for, requires the matter to be presented to a three-judge court. 28 U.S.C. § 2281. The statute is specifically designed to prevent a single federal judge from paralyzing a state statute or a regulatory scheme and provide procedural protection against infliction of improvident statewide doom by a federal court on a state legislative policy. See Gay v. Board of Registration Commissioners, 466 F.2d 879 (6th Cir. 1972).
. . . To meet the allegations of this complaint, a three-judge court must be convened. Oklahoma Gas Company v. Russell, 261 U.S. 290, (43 S.Ct. 353, 67 L.Ed. 659) (1923); Tyson v. Norton, 360 F.Supp. 545 (1975). This the plaintiff has not demanded.
This, one of the last three-judge court cases under the old 28 U.S.C. § 2281, repealed as to actions commenced after August 12, 1976,4 presents a variety of issues. The first is rather simple: whether a party is required to request a three-judge court. The district judge apparently thought that there is such a requirement; in this he was mistaken. The decision to convene a three-judge court is one to be made by the district judge, not by the parties. If the district judge to whom the application for injunctive relief is presented determines that under 28 U.S.C. § 22815 a three-judge court is required, that judge is to notify the chief judge of the district to convene a three-judge court in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 2284.6 There is no requirement in the statute that one of the litigants request a three-judge court and we see no reason to imply such a requirement.7
Thus, once the district judge determined that this case could properly be heard only by a three-judge court, he was without jurisdiction to consider the merits of the constitutional attack on New Jersey's regulatory scheme. Because the denial of the preliminary injunction involved such a consideration of the merits, the district judge lacked jurisdiction to rule on the preliminary injunction.8 We are therefore without jurisdiction to review the merits of that denial.
Because it has been argued that what the district judge did was to abstain,9 at least as an alternative ground for denying the preliminary injunction request, we also address the issue whether a single judge, in a28 U.S.C. § 2281 case,10 can abstain. Abstention, however, is a refusal currently to exercise jurisdiction an abstention from determining the merits of a case. Here the single judge had no jurisdiction under § 2281. Having none, he had no discretion to exercise in determining whether he should abstain.
The Supreme Court in Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. v. Epstein, 370 U.S. 713, 82 S.Ct. 1294, 8 L.Ed.2d 794 (1962), was presented with a case that should have been heard by a three-judge court but in which the single judge abstained. The appellate court held itself without jurisdiction, since the case was properly a three-judge court case, with direct appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court implicitly agreed that a single judge was without jurisdiction to abstain when it said
Id. at 715, 82 S.Ct. at 1296 (emphasis added) (footnote omitted).
Thus, a single judge in § 2281 cases cannot abstain; only a three-judge court has jurisdiction to make that decision. Apel v. Murphy, 526 F.2d 71 (1st Cir. 1975); International News Distributors, Inc. v. Shriver, 488 F.2d 1350 (6th Cir. 1973). Contra, Blount v. Mandel, 400 F.Supp. 1190 (D.Md.1975).
For the foregoing reasons, and after a thorough review of the record, the district court's order denying the preliminary injunction request will be vacated, and the case remanded with instructions to notify the chief judge of the district that a three-judge court is required to hear this case.
Re: Case File No. 4858
The Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services hereby gives notice that, effective immediately, you are suspended from further participation as a provider of services under the New Jersey Health Services Program. This suspension is in accordance with the authority vested in the Director to revoke or suspend the status of a provider of services in order to protect the public welfare and the interest of the Medical Assistance Program (N.J.A.C. 10:49-1.18 and N.J.A.C. 10:49-6.3). Claims for services rendered prior to February 27, 1976, and submitted for payment on or before March 10, 1976, will be honored for payment. All other claims will be returned.
This action is based upon a review conducted by this Division which indicates that you submitted claims and received payment for services not rendered by you.
Should you request a hearing in this matter, your request must be submitted in writing to the Director, Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, 324 East State Street, Trenton, New Jersey 08625, and received by this office no later than twenty (20) days from date of receipt of this notice. Failure to request a hearing during this twenty-day period will automatically result in this suspension becoming permanent and final.
s/ Gerald J. Reilly
Gerald J. Reilly, Director
We note that Greenspan has been granted an extension of the time within which to request a hearing. The most recent extension gives Greenspan until two weeks after our decision.
Before doing that the court referred to the many state remedies available to Greenspan, giving rise to the inference that abstention was an alternative basis for the refusal to grant the preliminary injunction
The court noted that Greenspan had not had his license suspended, and was still free to continue his practice of medicine "on whatever basis for remuneration he desires."
Act of Aug. 12, 1976, Pub.L. No. 94-381, § 7
28 U.S.C. § 2281, prior to its being repealed as to actions commenced after Aug. 12, 1976 provided
28 U.S.C. § 2284, as it applies to this case, reads in pertinent part as follows:
See, e.g., Noe v. True, 507 F.2d 9, 11 (6th Cir. 1974); Grove Press, Inc. v. Flask, 417 F.2d 1062, 1063 (6th Cir. 1969)
The statute itself provides "A single judge shall not . . . hear and determine any application for an interlocutory injunction . . .." 28 U.S.C. § 2284(5), as it applies here
This view finds support in the district judge's remark that "plaintiff has disdained his many State remedies" and in his emphasis on Greenspan's "temporary" suspension. For a current discussion of abstention doctrine, see Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U.S. 800 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976)
It does appear from the record that a § 2281 case has been presented. The regulatory scheme is included in "statutory scheme," and the Due Process claim is not totally devoid of merit. See, e.g., Goosby v. Osser, 409 U.S. 512, 518-19, 93 S.Ct. 854, 35 L.Ed.2d 36 (1972). As we said in Murrow v. Clifford, 502 F.2d 1066 (3d Cir. 1974), "a decision denying an injunction against a state regulation of statewide application on (Constitutional) grounds, except where the claim is so insubstantial as to be outside the subject matter jurisdiction of a federal court, is beyond the power of a single district court." Id. at 1069. That this is not a frivolous claim is clear. See, e.g., Hathaway v. Matthews, noted at 546 F.2d 227 (7th Cir. 1976) (Medicaid pretermination hearing required by Due Process Clause if not an emergency)