Opinion ID: 3064530
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hardship to the Parties of Withholding Court

Text: Consideration [16] Plaintiffs contend that they will suffer hardship if we do not decide their suit in its current posture. Hardship in this context “does not mean just anything that makes life harder; it means hardship of a legal kind, or something that imposes a significant practical harm upon the plaintiff.” Natural Res. Def. Council v. Abraham, 388 F.3d 701, 706 (9th Cir. 2004). “The rule in Abbott Laboratories has been carefully circumscribed to regulations that pose an immediate dilemma.” COLWELL v. HHS 3507 Ass’n of Am. Med. Colls. v. United States, 217 F.3d 770, 783 (9th Cir. 2000). Plaintiffs must show that postponing review imposes a hardship on them “that is immediate, direct, and significant.” Municipality of Anchorage, 980 F.2d at 1326. [17] Plaintiffs contend that if they cannot pursue a preenforcement challenge to the 2003 Policy Guidance they will be exposed to liability under both federal law and state malpractice law. However, Plaintiffs acknowledge that HHS “has not threatened any direct action against” them. Nor do Plaintiffs allege that HHS has requested that they comply with the Policy Guidance. Moreover, under Title VI’s regulatory framework, Plaintiffs are several steps removed from any termination of their federal funding. See 45 C.F.R. §§ 80.7(d)(1), 80.8(d). Before Plaintiffs’ Title VI funding can be terminated there must be an effort to achieve informal or voluntary compliance, an administrative hearing, and notice to congressional committees. Judicial review is available in an Article III court of any funding termination. If HHS initiates compliance proceedings against Plaintiffs based on the 2003 Policy Guidance, Plaintiffs will have an opportunity to challenge the Policy Guidance on the same legal bases on which it relies in the suit now before us. Cf. Croplife Am. v. Envtl. Prot. Agency, 329 F.3d 876, 882 (D.C. Cir. 2003) (“In this case, by contrast, EPA has enacted a firm rule with legal consequences that are binding on both petitioners and the agency, and petitioners will be afforded no additional opportunity to make the arguments to the agency that they now present in this petition.”). [18] Finally, there is no indication that Plaintiffs may be subject to any fines by HHS or to financial liability to private parties. The regulations do not contemplate any kind of financial sanction other than termination of federal funding. See 45 C.F.R. § 80.8; Gebser v. Lago Vista Ind. Sch. Dist., 524 U.S. 274, 288-89 (1998) (describing administrative enforcement provisions of Title IX, which are nearly identical to those of Title VI, and stating that “the regulations do not appear to 3508 COLWELL v. HHS contemplate a condition ordering payment of monetary damages”). Plaintiffs are not potentially liable to their LEP patients under Title VI, for the Supreme Court has held that there is no private right of action for disparate impact discrimination under Title VI. See Alexander v. Sandoval, 532 U.S. 275, 285 (2001); see also Barnes v. Gorman, 536 U.S. 181 (2000) (no punitive damages under Title VI). Plaintiffs’ suggestion that they could be subjected to malpractice liability, is entirely speculative and would depend on state law that they have neither presented nor explained in this suit. [19] We agree with Plaintiffs that they may be affected by the 2003 Policy Guidance, for they have alleged that they are spending money on language assistance and have altered their conduct as a result of the 2003 Policy Guidance. However, this hardship is insufficient to overcome the uncertainty of the legal issue presented in the case in its current posture. “Simply stated, plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate any hardship that outweighs our and the agencies’ interest in delaying review.” Municipality of Anchorage, 980 F.2d at 1326. [20] Since Plaintiffs’ first claim is not ripe, we think it inadvisable to proceed to their second and third claims. The questions presented in those claims are potentially difficult, and we do not wish to decide them unnecessarily or on an undeveloped record. If and when Plaintiffs’ first claim becomes ripe, a court will be able to decide whether the 2003 Policy Guidance is invalid because it was not issued after notice and comment. If the Policy Guidance is invalid, Plaintiffs’ second and third claims will become moot. Further, many of the considerations that counsel against deciding the first claim at this juncture under the prudential ripeness criteria apply as well to the second and third claims. Most prominently, if we were to decide Plaintiffs’ second and third claims now, we would do so without knowing the manner in which HHS will apply the 2003 Policy Guidance. The manner of enforcement might make an important difference to the merits of Plaintiffs’ second claim, and would certainly make COLWELL v. HHS 3509 such a difference to the merits of their third claim. Also, and critically, the hardship considerations we have just surveyed apply equally to the second and third claims, so there is no imperative to proceed now. We therefore apply the prudential ripeness doctrine to the case as a whole and decline to proceed on the current record.