82 Hawai'i 249, Richard v. Metcalf

• Decision Date: 23 July 1996
• Docket Number: No. 18257,18257
• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court
• Parties: 82 Hawai'i 249 Caroline RICHARD nka Caroline Jackson, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Wayne C. METCALF, III 1 ; Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Insurance Division, State of Hawai'i, Defendants-Appellees, and John Does 1-10; Doe Partnerships 1-10; Doe Corporations 1-10; and Doe Entities 1-10, Defendants.

Page 169

921 P.2d 169

82 Hawai'i 249

Caroline RICHARD nka Caroline Jackson, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Wayne C. METCALF, III ¹; Department of

Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Insurance Division,

State of Hawai'i, Defendants-Appellees,

and

John Does 1-10; Doe Partnerships 1-10; Doe Corporations

1-10; and Doe Entities 1-10, Defendants.

No. 18257.

Supreme Court of Hawai'i.

July 23, 1996.

Joseph L. Wildman (Guy A. Sibilla of Sibilla & Wildman, with him on the briefs), Honolulu, for plaintiff-appellant.

David A. Webber and John W. Anderson, Deputy Attorneys General, on the briefs, Honolulu, for defendants-appellees.

Before MOON, C.J., and KLEIN, LEVINSON, NAKAYAMA and RAMIL, JJ.

KLEIN, Justice.

Plaintiff-Appellant Caroline Jackson appeals from the first circuit court's order denying her motion for summary judgment and granting the summary judgment motion filed by the Defendants-Appellees Wayne C. Metcalf, III, and the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Insurance Division, State of Hawai'i (DCCA). The threshold issue presented in this appeal is whether Jackson has standing to challenge Hawai'i Administrative Rule (HAR) § 16-23-93 ² under Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 91-7 (1993). ³

I. BACKGROUND

The Appellees acknowledge that no material facts are disputed in this case. Jackson was injured on November 8, 1991, while riding as a passenger in an automobile driven by Maria Wong. Jackson subsequently filed a no-fault claim with Wong's insurer, State Farm Insurance Companies (State Farm). State Farm began paying her no-fault expenses associated with the aforesaid motor vehicle accident.

On May 13, 1993, State Farm advised Jackson's treating physician, Peter Diamond, M.D., that he was required to submit a treatment plan for his patient pursuant to the no-fault law, as amended. HRS §§ 431:10C-308.5 and -308.6 (1993). ⁴ Counsel for Jackson stepped in when State Farm apparently withheld approval of a magnetic resonance image (MRI) exam requested by Dr. Diamond. The MRI results eventually obtained by Dr. Diamond suggested a tear in Jackson's left knee; therefore, Dr. Diamond formally requested permission to proceed with arthroscopic surgery. On December 29, 1993, State Farm submitted a challenge for submission to peer review under HRS § 431:10C-308.6.

Believing that she was not subject to the peer review procedures because her injury occurred prior to the effective date of the 1992 amendments, see 1992 Haw. Sess. L. Acts 123 and 124, at 202-19, ⁵ Jackson filed a declaratory judgment action under HRS § 91-7. The circuit court found and concluded that Jackson lacked proper standing "insofar as she has not suffered any harm or injury with respect to the statutes and/or rule(s) at issue." Accordingly, the court denied Jackson's motion for summary judgment and granted the Appellees' motion to dismiss or for summary judgment. ⁶

II. STANDARDS OF REVIEW

On appeal, an order of summary judgment is reviewed under the same standard applied by the circuit courts. Summary judgment is proper where the moving party demonstrates that there are no genuine issues of material fact and it is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. In other words, summary judgment is appropriate if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.

Harris v. DeSoto, 80 Hawai'i 425, 431, 911 P.2d 60, 66 (1996) (quoting Heatherly v. Hilton Hawaiian Village Joint Venture, 78 Hawai'i 351, 353, 893 P.2d 779, 781 (1995)).

The standard of review for statutory construction is well-established. The interpretation of a statute is a question of law which this court reviews de novo. In addition, our foremost obligation is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the legislature[,] which is to be obtained primarily from the language contained in the statute itself. And where the language of the statute is plain and unambiguous, our only duty is to give effect to its plain and obvious meaning.

State v. Baron, 80 Hawai'i 107, 113, 905 P.2d 613, 619, reconsideration granted in part and denied in part, 80 Hawai'i 187, 907 P.2d 773 (1995) (citation omitted). However, "we are not limited to the words of the statute to discern the underlying policy which the legislature seeks to promulgate but may look to relevant legislative history." State v. Wells, 78 Hawai'i 373, 376, 894 P.2d 70, 73, reconsideration denied, 78 Hawai'i 474, 896 P.2d 930 (1995) (internal brackets, ellipsis points, and citation omitted).

"If an administrative rule's language is unambiguous, and its literal application is neither inconsistent with the policies of the statute and the rule implements nor produces an absurd or unjust result, courts [will also] enforce the rule's plain meaning." Lee v. Elbaum, 77 Hawai'i 446, 457, 887 P.2d 656, 667 (App.1993) (citing International Bhd. of Elec. Workers, Local 1357 v. Hawaiian Tel. Co., 68 Haw. 316, 323, 713 P.2d 943, 950 (1986)), cert. granted, 74 Haw. 651, 853 P.2d 542 (1993), cert. dismissed, 77 Hawai'i 489, 889 P.2d 66 (1995). Finally, "judicial deference to agency expertise ... [is] a guiding precept where the interpretation and application of broad or ambiguous statutory language by an administrative tribunal are the subject of review." Vail v. Employees' Retirement Sys., 75 Haw. 42, 59, 856 P.2d 1227, 1237, reconsideration denied in part, 75 Haw. 580, 861 P.2d 735 (1993) (citation omitted).

III. DISCUSSION

Jackson claims that she is an "interested person" under HRS § 91-7 because she "has [suffered] and will continue to suffer injury" as a result of the decision to deny her arthroscopic surgery. The Appellees characterize Jackson's claims as a mere "academic disagreement" and further argue that her substantive rights as a no-fault insurance claimant have not been affected by HAR § 16-23-93. In the alternative, the Appellees contend that HAR § 16-23-93 is not retrospective and that the legislature did not preclude application of the workers' compensation guidelines and peer review process to treatment rendered after January 1, 1993 for injuries suffered prior to that date. We agree with Jackson and therefore reverse the circuit court's order granting summary judgment in favor of the Appellees and remand for entry of summary judgment in favor of Jackson.

A. Standing Requirements Under HRS § 91-7

In Life of the Land v. Land Use Comm'n, 63 Haw. 166, 623 P.2d 431 (1981), this court considered the standing criteria applicable in declaratory judgment actions brought under HRS § 91-7:

HRS § 91-7 authorizes "interested persons" to seek declarations on the validity of agency rules. Life of the Land and its members challenge the legality of the procedures followed by the Land Use Commission in the boundary review. The orders of the commission governing procedural aspects of the review are arguably agency rules. As plaintiffs are endowed with interests that may have been adversely affected, they undoubtedly are "interested persons." Moreover, plaintiffs were deemed "aggrieved persons" in a prior case with similar allegations ..., [see Life of the Land v. Land Use Comm'n, 61 Haw. 3, 594 P.2d 1079 (1979),] and further discussion here relative to their status as "interested persons" would definitely be redundant.

63 Haw. at 177-78, 623 P.2d at 441 (footnotes omitted). In other words, someone who would have, or already has, qualified as an "aggrieved person" under HRS § 91-14 (1993) certainly qualifies as an "interested person" under HRS § 91-7. As it had done in the 1979 case involving the same parties and brought under HRS § 91-14, Life of the Land

made a prima facie showing that three of its members reside in the immediate vicinity of the [lands at issue], ... that members use the area for diving, swimming, hiking, camping, sightseeing, horseback riding, exploring, and hunting and for aesthetic, conservational, occupational, professional and academic pursuits, and that future urbanization will destroy beaches and open space now enjoyed by members and decrease agricultural land presently used for the production of needed food supplies. [Life of the Land] contends that construction will have an adverse effect on its members and on the environment, and that pursuits presently enjoyed will be irrevocably lost.

Id. at 176 n. 9, 623 P.2d at 440 n. 9 (quoting Life of the Land, 61 Haw. at 8, 594 P.2d at 1082).

Accordingly, this court rejected the Land Use Commission's argument that Life of the Land was merely asserting generalized interests in its HRS § 91-7 declaratory judgment action. Id. at 176-77 & n. 10, 623 P.2d at 441 & n. 10. ⁷ When a claimant "seek[s] to do no more than vindicate [its] own value preferences through the judicial process[,]" Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 740, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1369, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972), and therefore fails to show any actual or threatened injury, that person does not have standing to bring HRS § 91-7 actions in the circuit court. Compare Hawaii's Thousand Friends v. Anderson, 70 Haw. 276, 283, 768 P.2d 1293, 1299 (1989), with Waianae Model Neighborhood Area Ass'n, Inc. v. City & County, 55 Haw. 40, 44, 514 P.2d 861, 864 (1973). ⁸ However, this court did not further elaborate upon the standing requisites established under HRS § 91-7.

In Bush v. Watson, 81 Hawai'i 474, 918 P.2d 1130 (1996), reconsideration denied 82 Hawai'i 156, 920 P.2d 370 (1996), we applied the "injury in fact" test to determine the standing of a party who had filed a declaratory judgment action under HRS § 91-7. Under this test, the claimant must demonstrate that: "(1) he or she has suffered an actual or threatened injury as a result of the defendant's wrongful conduct, (2) the injury is fairly traceable to the defendant's actions, and (3) a favorable decision would likely provide relief for a plaintiff's injury." Id. at 479, 918 P.2d...