Opinion ID: 2542344
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Ripe for Judicial Determination

Text: [T]he ripeness doctrine allows a court `to apply a pragmatic test to determine whether the agency action is sufficiently binding and sufficiently clear in scope and implications to be susceptible to judicial evaluation....' Missouri Soybean, 102 S.W.3d at 25 (quoting KENNETH CULP DAVIS & RICHARD J. PIERCE, JR., ADMINISTRATIVE LAW TREATISE § 15.1, at 306 (3d ed.1994)). Determining whether a particular case is ripe for judicial resolution requires a two-fold inquiry: a court must evaluate (1) whether the issues tendered are appropriate for judicial resolution, and (2) the hardship to the parties if judicial relief is denied. Id. at 27. Regarding the fitness of the issue for judicial resolution, the letter expresses the Board's opinion that APNs do not have the appropriate training, skill or experience to perform fluoroscopic injections. The record clearly demonstrates that the Board has finished development of its policy, as evidenced by its attempt to enforce its position through a disciplinary proceeding filed against Dr. Kunkel. No further factual development is required for judicial resolution. As to the second factor, several states have addressed hardship as it relates to threatened agency action. See Alternate Fuels, Inc. v. Dir. of Illinois E.P.A., 215 Ill.2d 219, 294 Ill.Dec. 32, 830 N.E.2d 444, 451-52 (2004); Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Roth, 99 N.Y.2d 316, 756 N.Y.S.2d 108, 786 N.E.2d 7, 10 n. 3 (2003). Those cases recognize the need for judicial resolution when plaintiffs are faced with the dilemma physicians now face: comply or take a potentially more costly alternative of risking serious penalties by continuing and waiting for the ax of Agency prosecution to fall.... Alternate Fuels, 294 Ill.Dec. 32, 830 N.E.2d at 452; see also State ex rel. Glendinning Companies of Connecticut, Inc. v. Letz, 591 S.W.2d 92, 98 (Mo.App. 1979). APNs, in turn, cannot perform the procedure if physicians are unable to delegate it to them. Appellants' hardship is imminent and certain and, accordingly, the issue is ripe for review. See Glendinning, 591 S.W.2d at 98 (It is just such uncertainty as this that the declaratory judgment provision ... is designed to settle.); Alternate Fuels, 294 Ill.Dec. 32, 830 N.E.2d at 451-52; Lorillard, 756 N.Y.S.2d 108, 786 N.E.2d at 10 n. 3.