North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
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 – Board erred in awarding permit for Union Hill compressor station
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 ...
Read More »Administrative – CON Review – Opportunity to Comment – Different Projects – Constitutional – Equal Protection
Petitioner had the opportunity to submit comments to the respondent-agency and to make comments at a public hearing about a competitor’s proposed certificate of need for an ambulatory surgery center; nevertheless, petitioner invites us to hold that the agency’s failure ...
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