Court Opinion

ID: 9352005
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-04 16:03:28.776506+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:57:41.279402
License: Public Domain

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
                             FOURTH DISTRICT

       M.B., c/o THOMAS COGGINS and MICHELLE COGGINS,
                          Appellant,

                                     v.

              AGENCY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES,
                            Appellee.

                              No. 4D22-814

                            [January 4, 2023]

  Administrative appeal from the State of Florida, Department of Children
and Families, Office of Appeal Hearings; L.T. Case No. 20F-07349.

  Nancy E. Wright of Law Firm of Nancy E. Wright, Gainesville, for
appellant.

   Francis Carbone, General Counsel, and Carrie B. McNamara, Senior
Attorney, Agency for Persons with Disabilities, Tallahassee, for appellee.

   Ann Marie Cintron-Siegel, Katherine Hanson, and Liam McGivern,
Tallahassee, for Amicus Curiae Disability Rights Florida on behalf of
appellant.

PER CURIAM.

   This case concerns appellant’s eligibility for participation in the
Individual Budgeting Home & Community-Based Service Medicaid Waiver
program.

   The hearing officer denied appellant eligibility because of the
“possibility” that the features of her autism arose from her schizoaffective
disorder. The application of this “possibility” standard is outside of the
range of discretion delegated to the agency and is inconsistent with the
agency rule. At the hearing, appellant was required to show that she met
the program’s eligibility criteria by a preponderance of the evidence. See
Fla. Admin. Code R. 65-2.060.
    We remand to the agency for evaluation of the evidence under a
preponderance of the evidence standard, with findings of fact and citations
to the record that will allow for meaningful appellate review.

   Reversed and remanded.

GROSS, LEVINE and CONNER, JJ., concur.

                           *         *        *

   Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

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