Opinion ID: 1653213
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: denial of a stay

Text: During oral arguments before this court, the parties agreed that Manor Care has taken no action with its proposed project notwithstanding any decision that Manor Care is entitled to a certificate of need. We have said: `A moot case is one which seeks to determine an abstract question, which does not rest upon existing facts or rights....` In general a case becomes moot `when the issues presented are no longer `live' or the parties lack a legally cognizable interest in the outcome.` The province of a court is to decide real controversies and to determine rights actually controverted, and `The judicial power does not extend to the determination of abstract questions.' [Citations omitted.] Mullendore v. School Dist. No. 1, 223 Neb. 28, 36, 388 N.W.2d 93, 99 (1986). The question whether the district court abused its discretion by denying a stay on the issuance of a certificate of need is no longer a live issue because Manor Care has deferred construction, a situation the same as would have existed if a stay had been issued. Moreover, affirmance of the district court's judgment eliminates the necessity of examining the denial of the stay. Thus, whether the district court abused its discretion by denying a stay on the issuance of a certificate of need is rendered moot by our affirmance of the district court's judgment.