North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
Even though petitioners’ installation of an HVAC system passed inspection, petitioners had set the new unit on top of a pre-existing pad and curbing, which were visibly cracked and not properly sealed; subsequently, a water test showed that the ...
Read More »Administrative – HVAC Contractor – Incompetence – Passing Inspection – Expert Witnesses Unnecessary – License Peddling
Administrative – Board erred in awarding permit for Union Hill compressor station 
Where the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board failed to provide a rational explanation as to why it awarded a construction permit for a compressor station in the historic community of Union Hill, reasons offered during litigation were insufficient as a matter ...
Read More »Administrative Denied benefits, woman challenges expert’s testimony
Although a woman argued her residual functional capacity, which limits her to “simple, routine, repetitive tasks,” conflicted with the vocational expert’s testimony about the category of tasks she is able to perform, there is no inconsistency between her capacity and the ...
Read More »Administrative Pipeline thwarted by bee, clubshell, bat and isopod
For the third time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will attempt to determine whether construction of the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline will threaten four endangered species after the conclusions in FWS’s prior opinion were found arbitrary and capricious. ...
Read More »Administrative – CON – Deference to Agency Decision – ALJ Review – MRI Machine
Even though there was evidence that petitioner’s MRI machine was superior to the machine that respondent Duke University Health System would use, it was within the respondent-agency’s discretion not to consider this criterion. We reverse the administrative law judge’s ...
Read More »Administrative – Criminal Practice – DWI – Chemical Analysis Refusal – License Revocation – DMV Jurisdiction
Where the arresting officer/chemical analyst in this DWI case filed an affidavit stating on one page that he had asked petitioner to submit to a blood test while stating on another page that petitioner had refused a breath test, ...
Read More »Administrative – Whistleblower’s claims not covered by Sarbanes-Oxley
Northrop Grumman successfully argued that an employee’s complaint was not within the scope of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or SOX, and she therefore could not claim whistleblower protection under the Act. An ALJ’s order in favor of the employee was vacated. ...
Read More »Administrative – Rescission of DACA was arbitrary and capricious
The Department of Homeland Security’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy established in 2012 was arbitrary and capricious because the memo explaining that decision did not identify any basis for the department’s view that the program ...
Read More »Administrative – RIL List – Agency Delay – Constitutional – Liberty Interest – First Impression
In a matter of first impression, the court decides that a nearly four-year delay by the respondent-agency in placing petitioner’s name on the Responsible Individuals List impermissibly prejudiced petitioner’s protected liberty interest. We affirm the trial court’s order, which determined ...
Read More »Administrative – Notice of Appeal – First Impression – Labor & Employment – Public Employees – Grievance Procedure Notice
Petitioner’s notice of appeal has neither been file-stamped nor time-stamped to indicate when petitioner filed it with the Office of Administrative Hearings. Due to petitioner’s lack of knowledge regarding OAH’s policy of not adding a file-stamp to emailed notices of ...
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