The state well being division’s try and relitigate a case stemming from a 2019 licensing dispute with Missouri’s lone abortion supplier was denied
A Cole County decide denied the state well being division’s try and relitigate a case stemming from a 2019 licensing dispute with Missouri’s lone abortion supplier and ordered Missouri to pay Deliberate Parenthood’s authorized charges.
In a ruling Friday afternoon, Cole County Circuit Court docket Choose Jon Beetem affirmed an administrative courtroom’s ruling that the state should pay Reproductive Well being Providers of Deliberate Parenthood of the St. Louis Area for the greater than $161,000 in authorized payments it amassed defending itself after the state well being division declined to resume its license in 2019.
Moreover, Beetem additionally ordered DHSS to pay Reproductive Well being Providers about $8,000 it incurred on account of the litigation arising from the charges dispute.
In Might 2020, an administrative listening to fee discovered the state wrongly denied a license to Deliberate Parenthood’s St. Louis clinic, the state’s final remaining abortion facility. However regardless of the state’s unsuccessful try and withhold the ability’s license, the Division of Well being and Senior Providers “seeks to relitigate each subject on which it misplaced,” Beetem wrote in Friday’s ruling.
In an announcement Monday, Yamelsie Rodríguez, president and CEO of Reproductive Well being Providers of Deliberate Parenthood of the St. Louis Area, stated Friday’s ruling, “is one more proof level of how pricey it’s for Missourians when politicians insist on illegal and politically motivated assaults on abortion.”
“These authorized charges symbolize wasted time and sources that would’ve been used to enhance entry to well being care, maternal mortality, and a crumbling public well being system,” Rodríguez stated.
Representatives for DHSS and the lawyer common’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark Monday morning.
At a listening to final month, attorneys representing DHSS argued that the division’s investigation into Deliberate Parenthood that led to the license denial was justified underneath a provision of state legislation, and that consequently it was exempt from paying the supplier’s authorized charges. What’s extra, DHSS requested Beetem to permit the state to reopen the case and pursue discovery to be able to study extra about Deliberate Parenthood’s company construction.
Richard Muniz, an lawyer who argued on behalf of Reproductive Well being Providers, stated eventually month’s listening to that “there’s no proper to hunt a discovery on what is mostly a meritless concept.”
In his ruling, Beetem affirmed the fee’s discovering that Reproductive Well being Providers was a celebration to the case that incurred charges and affirmed the fee’s choice to refuse to permit the state to hunt extra discovery.
“Below the guise of ‘substantial justification,’ the Division makes an attempt to transform this charges motion right into a ‘second main litigation,’” Beetem wrote in Friday’s ruling.
The fee’s findings grew to become closing after DHSS didn’t attraction the choice and as an alternative went ahead with renewing the ability’s license. By doing so, the division acknowledged the ability was in compliance with state legislation.
“The division thus acquiesced within the fee’s choice,” Beetem wrote.
Missouri Solicitor Normal John Sauer and Deputy Solicitor Normal Maria Lanahan had argued eventually month’s listening to that the state was unable to attraction the fee’s choice as a result of it was issued two days earlier than the license was set to run out, rendering the difficulty moot.
Moreover, Beetem vacated a previous choice by the executive courtroom concerning Deliberate Parenthood’s request that different bills from the underlying case, like from journey and depositions, be paid for by the state. These bills whole slightly over $88,000, a Deliberate Parenthood spokeswoman stated.
The fee should decide whether or not such prices have been affordable and in that case award them to Deliberate Parenthood, Beetem wrote.