Medical Waste Associates, Inc. v. Maryland Waste Coalition, Inc.

• Decision Date: 01 September 1990
• Docket Number: No. 163,163
• Citation: 327 Md. 596,612 A.2d 241
• Parties: MEDICAL WASTE ASSOCIATES, INC. v. MARYLAND WASTE COALITION, INC. ,
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 596

327 Md. 596

612 A.2d 241

MEDICAL WASTE ASSOCIATES, INC. v. MARYLAND WASTE COALITION, INC.

No. 163, Sept. Term, 1990.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Sept. 16, 1992.

Carmen M. Shepard, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., Jeffrey E. Howard, Asst. Atty. Gen., on brief), Kevin A. Dunne, argued (Jervis S. Finney, George W. Kelly, Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver, on brief), Baltimore, for petitioner/cross-respondent.

G. Macy Nelson (James S. Aist, Anderson, Coe & King, on brief), Baltimore, for respondent/cross-petitioner.

Argued Before MURPHY, C.J., ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, McAULIFFE, CHASANOW, KARWACKI and CHARLES E. ORTH, Jr., Judge of the Court of Appeals (Retired), Specially Assigned, JJ.

ELDRIDGE, Judge.

The dispute in this case arises from the decisions of the Maryland Department of the Environment to issue two permits which allowed Medical Waste Associates, Inc., to construct a medical waste incinerator in Baltimore City. Maryland Waste Coalition is an incorporated volunteer environmental organization whose corporate purpose is protecting Maryland's environment. The central question in this case relates to whether and how the Coalition can challenge the issuance of these permits in light of the standing requirements of Maryland law.

I.

Medical Waste Associates sought approval from various regulatory bodies to construct a medical waste incinerator in the Hawkins Point area of Baltimore City. Eleven public hearings were held on a variety of permits. The Coalition testified or submitted written material at most of these hearings, including those held by the Department of the Environment on an air quality control permit to construct and a refuse disposal permit. On September 8, 1989, the Department of the Environment issued the refuse disposal permit and the air quality control permit authorizing Medical Waste Associates to construct the medical waste incinerator.

The Coalition filed two separate actions designed to challenge the issuance of these permits. On September 18, 1989, the Coalition filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City a complaint seeking judicial review of the agency's decisions under Code (1982, 1987 Repl.Vol., 1991 Cum.Supp.), § 9-263 of the Environment Article, and requesting that the refuse disposal permit and the air quality control permit be vacated and set aside. ¹ Pursuant to § 9-263, the complaint alleged that the issuance of the permits was unreasonable and not necessary for the protection of the public health or comfort.

On October 5, 1989, the Department of the Environment and Medical Waste Associates filed motions to dismiss the § 9-263 complaint. In these motions, they argued that the complaint should be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because § 9-263 does not provide for judicial review of a permit but only for review of an order, rule or regulation. ² They also argued that the complaint should be dismissed because the Coalition had no organizational property interest separate and distinct from its individual members and therefore did not have standing to maintain the action.

On October 6, 1989, the Coalition filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City a petition under Maryland Rule B2 for judicial review of the Department of the Environment's decisions to issue the refuse disposal and air quality control permits. Contending that the issuance of the permits was subject to review under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Code (1984), § 10-201 et seq. of the State Government Article, the petition alleged that the decisions to issue the permits by the Department of the Environment constituted "an abuse of discretion, [was] clearly erroneous, and lacked substantial evidence...."

Medical Waste Associates filed a motion to intervene in the action for judicial review under the APA as well as a motion for consolidation of the two judicial review actions. It also moved to dismiss the action for judicial review under the APA. The Department of the Environment likewise filed a motion to dismiss the petition for judicial review under the APA. In these motions to dismiss, Medical Waste Associates and the Department argued that the administrative proceedings leading to the issuance of the permits were legislative in nature and were not "contested cases" under the APA. Therefore, for each of these reasons, according to the petitioners, the Coalition could not obtain judicial review under the APA. They also argued that the Coalition lacked standing to request judicial review because the Coalition was not an "aggrieved party" under the APA as it had no property interest separate and distinct from that of its members.

The circuit court dismissed both cases. The trial court held that the Coalition could not challenge, under § 9-263 of the Environment Article, the Department's decision to issue a refuse disposal permit because the issuance of a permit was not an "order." The court further decided that the Department's decisions to issue the permits were not subject to judicial review under the APA because the administrative proceedings were not contested cases under the APA. The trial judge also stated that these administrative proceedings were legislative in nature and thus not reviewable. Alternatively, the trial court held that the Coalition lacked standing to request judicial review under either the APA or § 9-263 of the Environment Article.

The Coalition appealed in both cases. In its brief in the Court of Special Appeals, the Coalition argued that it had standing to challenge the issuance of the refuse disposal permit under § 9-263 because it was an institution or person which was dissatisfied with an action of the Secretary of the Department of the Environment and which appealed in a timely manner an order of the Secretary to issue the permit. According to the Coalition, it also had standing under the APA because it was a party at the administrative proceedings and because it was aggrieved by the Department's decisions to issue these permits. The Coalition also argued that the administrative proceedings fell within the APA's definition of "contested case," and thus the proceedings were subject to judicial review under the APA.

In addition, the Coalition urged the Court of Special Appeals to adopt the position of the federal courts regarding standing. ³ The Coalition pointed to the declaration of intent and policy set forth in the Maryland Environmental Standing Act (MESA), Code (1974, 1989 Repl.Vol.), § 1-502 of the Natural Resources Article, as an indication of the General Assembly's intent to allow groups such as the Coalition to have standing in environmental matters. ⁴ It did not, however, specifically argue that MESA gave it standing to seek judicial review. Finally, the Coalition argued that it met the common law requirements for standing because it brought the suit on behalf of its individual members, rather than to vindicate a group property interest, and that those individual members had an injury which differed from that of the general public.

The Court of Special Appeals remanded the case to the circuit court for further proceedings. Maryland Waste v. Department, 84 Md.App. 544, 581 A.2d 60 (1990). The intermediate appellate court held that the circuit court correctly determined that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the § 9-263 complaint because a permit is not an "order" and therefore the issuance of the refuse disposal permit was not subject to judicial review under that section. Relying on selected general dictionary definitions, the Court of Special Appeals reasoned that an "order is a command of some authority which cannot be ignored," whereas a "permit is merely a grant of authority to do a specific act. The permittee need not do the specified act but is allowed to do so." 84 Md.App. at 553-554, 581 A.2d at 64.

With regard to standing, the Court of Special Appeals refused to adopt the federal law principles urged by Coalition. The intermediate appellate court held that the circuit court correctly decided that the Coalition did not meet the Maryland common law requisites for standing.

The Court of Special Appeals purported not to finally decide whether the Coalition could maintain its action for judicial review under MESA. The Court of Special Appeals, however, strongly indicated its view that the Coalition would "be able to pursue its appeal" from the administrative decisions under MESA. 84 Md.App. at 560, 581 A.2d at 68. In fact, as to certain preliminary requirements for filing a MESA action, including the requirement of notice to the State, the intermediate court actually ruled that the Coalition had complied with MESA. Moreover, by remanding these judicial review actions to the circuit court for further proceedings, the Court of Special Appeals seemed to decide implicitly that MESA applied to an action for judicial review challenging the issuance of a permit. 84 Md.App. at 558-561, 581 A.2d at 66-68.

Medical Waste Associates and the Department of the Environment sought certiorari review by this Court. They primarily argued that the Court of Special Appeals exceeded its authority, or alternatively abused its discretion, when it invoked MESA even though the Act had not been addressed by the parties in the circuit court. They also argued that the administrative proceedings were not contested cases under the APA; they contended that the proceedings were legislative in nature and thus not subject to judicial review. In addition, they argued that the Court of Special Appeals erred by taking the position that MESA could be applicable to an action for judicial review of an administrative decision and by remanding the case for a circuit court determination of whether the Coalition's actions could be maintained under MESA. The Coalition filed a conditional cross petition for a writ of certiorari, requesting that this Court decide whether an environmental association has standing to challenge the...