Harris v. Cassia County
| Decision Date | 23 April 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 15012,15012 |
| Citation | 681 P.2d 988,106 Idaho 513 |
| Parties | James R. HARRIS and Dian Jannis Hodge, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CASSIA COUNTY and J. Weldon Beck, Norman E. Dayley and Clive Holland in their official capacities as Members of the Board of County Commissioners of Cassia County, Defendants-Respondents. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Robert M. Johnson, Idaho Legal Aid Services, Inc., Burley, for plaintiffs-appellants.
Stephen A. Bywater, Deputy Pros. Atty., Cassia County, of Barrus & Bywater, Burley, for defendants-respondents.
The appellants, James R. Harris and Dian Jannis Hodge, filed an action in district court requesting: (1) a declaratory judgment declaring that respondents have an obligation to continue to provide aid to the appellants, as indigents of Cassia County, regardless of whether or not the Cassia County indigent fund has been depleted; (2) injunctive relief enjoining the respondents from terminating county aid to the appellants because the indigent fund for Cassia County has been depleted; and (3) mandamus relief requiring the respondents to continue to provide aid for the appellants. This case is an appeal from the district court's dismissal of all the above counts contained in appellants' complaint.
Appellant James R. Harris is a disabled quadriplegic currently residing at Burley Care Center. Appellant Dian Hodge, disabled due to mental illness and under the care and treatment of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, is currently residing at Mountain View Convalescent Center in Kimberly, Idaho. Both appellants receive supplemental security income to provide for their care, and Medicaid to cover their medical expenses. Additionally, both appellants require county assistance to pay for their prescription medications that exceed the $30.00 monthly allotment provided by Medicaid.
Both appellants are provided with medications through their local pharmacy. Each pharmacy totals the amount of medications provided to each appellant during the month, subtracts the monthly allotment provided by Medicaid, and files an application for indigent aid with Cassia County on behalf of each appellant, to pay for the balance of the medication bill. The applications are then reviewed by the county commissioners at their next regularly scheduled meeting. The commissioners then rule on the appellants' applications as they are submitted pursuant to I.C. § 31-3505.
Burley Rexall Drug Co. filed an application on behalf of appellant Harris on April 6, 1982, which was reviewed by the Commissioners on April 11, 1982, and approved and paid on that date. Kimberly Drug Co. filed an application on behalf of appellant Hodge, on March 31, 1982, which was reviewed by the commissioners on April 11, 1982, and approved and paid on that date. On April 12, 1982, the commissioners reviewed the status of current county budgets and determined that there was a cash shortage in the indigent fund. The commissioners notified the above pharmacies of the situation in a letter which stated the following:
On May 28, 1982, appellants filed a class-action suit on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, a motion for an order of class certification, and motions for declaratory, injunctive and mandamus relief, as noted previously.
In June, 1982, additional funds became available for the county's use in the indigent fund. Appellants and other applicants were so advised. Subsequently, appellant Harris submitted an application to the county commissioners for indigent aid and a bill for his prescription medications for the months of April, May and June. Each application and bill was reviewed, approved and paid in full by the commissioners. Appellant Hodge's applications and bills for the months of April, May and June had been kept current monthly, despite the letter of termination. In sum, at the commencement of this litigation, neither appellant had a pending application before Cassia County for indigent aid.
After oral argument on the appellants' motions for declaratory, injunctive, and mandamus relief, and on respondents' motion to dismiss, the trial court entered its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law which stated:
Judgment of dismissal was entered, whereupon appellants filed a Motion to Alter or Amend the Judgment. The district court entered its order denying this motion, and this appeal ensued.
The first issue before this Court is whether the district court erred in dismissing appellants' action for declaratory judgment which would have established respondents' obligation to continue to provide county indigency benefits, regardless of whether or not the indigent fund is depleted.
The Idaho courts are clearly authorized to make judicial declarations under I.C. § 10-1201 which provides that:
See also I.R.C.P. 57.
As a general rule, a declaratory judgment can only be rendered in a case where an actual or justiciable controversy exists. Brown v. Oregon State Bar, 293 Or. 446, 648 P.2d 1289 (1982); Kahin v. Lewis, 42 Wash.2d 897, 259 P.2d 420 (1953); Washakie County School District Number One v. Herschler, 606 P.2d 310 (Wyo.1980).
While the elements of an actual or justiciable controversy are not subject to a mechanical standard, the United States Supreme Court aptly summarized the pivotal elements of a justiciable controversy in Aetna Life Insurance Co. v. Haworth, 300 U.S. 227, 57 S.Ct. 461, 81 L.Ed. 617 (1937).
300 U.S. at 240-41, 57 S.Ct. at 464 (citations omitted). See also Sanchez v. City of Santa Fe, 82 N.M. 322, 481 P.2d 401 (1971); Cummings Construction Co. v. School District No. 9, 242 Or. 106, 408 P.2d 80 (1965); Brown v. Oregon State Bar, supra. We believe this federal standard provides a concise guideline for our analysis, and therefore, we will apply these criteria in conjunction with pertinent Idaho case law cited infra.
The appellants herein, are current recipients of county indigency benefits. They are not posing an academic or hypothetical question. The controversy over appellants' claim of right to receive county indigency benefits even if the fund is depleted, is definite and concrete, touching the legal relations of the parties herein, who have adverse legal interests. Moreover, this controversy is real and substantial.
Respondents contend appellants' premature institution of this legal action and the concomitant lack of a justiciable controversy clearly authorized the trial judge to exercise his discretion in dismissing appellants' request for declaratory relief. Respondents contend that a complaint which alleges that a defendant is contemplating a future action, or which alleges that notice has been given of an intended future action, does not entitle one to declaratory relief on the grounds of prematurity. Respondents argue that until appellants show that they had an accrued right to specific actions on the part of the county and that the county failed to take such action, there is no justiciable controversy. We do not agree.
Appellants' legal action was not premature. First, the letter of April 12, 1982, was not a notice of intended action. The respondents terminated appellants' county assistance "effective immediately" by mailing letters to appellants' pharmacists advising that respondents would not pay for any more drugs until the end of the current fiscal year, and that appellants would have to make other arrangements. Furthermore, the termination of benefits on April 12, 1982, was the second consecutive fiscal year that the commissioners had terminated Harris's benefits for the reason that the indigent fund was depleted.
Moreover, appellants do not have to demonstrate an accrued right to a specific action to be taken by the county as a prerequisite to obtaining declaratory relief. This Court previously stated that the right sought to be protected by a declaratory judgment "may invoke either remedial or preventive relief; it may relate to a right that has either been breached or is only yet in dispute or a status undisturbed but threatened or endangered; but, in either or any...
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