AARP Foundation Legal Advocacy Other Docket
AARP Foundation - Legal Advocacy: Other Docket What We Do
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 20-303 Read AARP Amicus (PDF) Filed: 9/3/2021 Case Issue: Did Congress violate the equal-protection rights of Puerto Rico's residents by categorically excluding them from the Supplemental Security Income Program? Case Name: Opiotennione v. Bozzuto Management Co. (housing discrimination) Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. Maryland Docket: 20-1956 Filed: 4/27/2021 Read AARP (PDF) Case Issue: Does Plaintiff have standing to challenge Defendants’ practice of excluding older adults from receiving housing advertisements on Facebook? Case Name: Carr v. Saul (Low-income benefits)
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 19-1442, 20-105 Decided: 4/21/2021 Read AARP (PDF) and (PDF) Case Result: Social Security disability claimants can raise constitutional challenges to the appointment of the administrative judge who heard their case in federal district court even when that issue was not raised in an administrative hearing. The result will help future claimants raise other constitutional issues in federal district court as well. Case Name: Bagnall v. Cochran (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 2d Circuit Docket: 20-1642 Filed: 3/5/2021 Read AARP (PDF) and Case Issue: Does the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services violate the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment by denying hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries, initially classified as inpatients and later designated as outpatients under observation, an expedited due process hearing to challenge the hospital’s classification of their stay? Case Name: Cochran v. Gresham; Arkansas v. Gresham (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 20-37; 20-38 Filed: 2/25/2021 Read AARP (PDF) Decision Case Issue: Was the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s approval of Medicaid demonstration projects in Arkansas and New Hampshire, that condition health insurance coverage on satisfying work requirements, arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act? Case Name: Moreheart v. Southern Cal. Edison Court: Supreme Court of California Docket: S264970 Decided: 12/9/2020 Read AARP (PDF) Case Result: The California Supreme Court denied review. Case Issue: Does California Code of Civil Procedure section 36(a), mandating trial preference for elderly and infirm plaintiffs, apply in JCCP coordinated proceedings? There are thousands of victims of California’s massive fires that have sued utility companies. Are gravely ill elderly litigants entitled to statutory trial preference when they are part of a coordinated proceeding that involves thousands of other litigants? Case Name: Merrill v. People First of Alabama (Voting Rights)
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 20A67 Read AARP (PDF) Decided: 10/21/2020 Case Result: Granted stay of September 30 Order of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, after an evidentiary hearing, enjoining enforcement of the AL Secretary of State’s de facto ban on local election officials offering the option of “curbside voting” for the general election November 3, 2020. Case Name: People First of Alabama v. Merrill (Voting Rights) Court: Docket: Read AARP (PDF) Filed: 10/6/2020 Case Issue: Do the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution justify a district court order (i) enjoining the Alabama Secretary of State from barring local election officials from choosing to provide “curbside voting” for voters medically vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, including older voters and persons with disabilities such as diabetes and (ii) enjoining local election officials from enforcing State law requiring absentee voters to include a copy of their photo ID with their absentee ballot? Case Name: Andino v. Middleton (Voting Rights)
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 20A55 Read AARP (PDF) Decided: 10/5/2020 Case Result: Granted stay of order of U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina enjoining enforcement of SC’s rule requiring absentee ballot voters to obtain the signature of a witness (eligible voter or notary) to cast their ballot. Effectively resolves case in favor or applicants-defendants as no further relief is likely before November 3 election. Case Name: Org. for Black Struggle v. Ashcroft (Voting Rights)
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. WD Missouri Docket: 20-4184-BCW Read AARP (PDF) Filed: 10/1/2020 Case Issue: Does the Materiality Provision of the 1964 Civil Rights Act bar rejection of absentee ballots for trivial defects and do the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of Due Process and no undue burden being imposed on voting forbid such rejection, in the circumstances of the COVID-19 crisis, absent an opportunity to cure such defects without exposure to serious illness due to the coronavirus, because of a requirement that absentee ballot envelope defects must be corrected in-person? Case Name: NAACP Minnesota-Dakotas Area State Conference v. Simon
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. Minn. Docket: 62-CV-20-3625 Decided: 9/18/2020 Read (PDF), (PDF), (PDF), (PDF), Case Result: Trial Court issued orders approving settlement of witness requirement and absentee ballot mailing issues also, settlement of witness signature issue was a total victory as the Secretary of State (SOS) agreed to waive enforcement of the requirement for the November 3 election. The settlement of the absentee ballot mailing issue was a partial victory as the SOS agreed to mail absentee ballot applications, rather than absentee ballots themselves, to all registered voters in the State. Case Name: Jarman v. HCR Manorcare (Healthcare/Income)
Court: Cal. Supreme Court Docket: NS241431 Decided: 8/17/2020 Read (PDF) and (PDF)
Case Result: The California Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case to the district court. It held that California Health and Safety Code Section 1430(b) allows for a maximum award of $500 in statutory damages per lawsuit, rather than $500 for each violation of the statute. Case Name: Merck v. HHS (Healthcare/Consumer)
Court: U.S. Ct. App. D.C. Cir. Docket: 18-882 Read (PDF) and (PDF)
Decided: 6/16/2020 Case Issue: Does HHS have the statutory authority to promulgate a rule requiring pharmaceutical companies to disclose the list prices of certain drugs to consumers in the companies' television advertisements? Case Result: Although the specific regulation at issue was overturned as overbroad, the Court “emphasized that nothing in this opinion holds that the Secretary is categorically foreclosed from regulating pharmaceutical advertisements.” Case Name: Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller Court: U.S. Ct. App. 5th Cir. Docket: 19-10169 Decided: 3/24/2020 Read AARP's (PDF)
Case Result: Rehearing en banc denied. Case Name: GGNSC Chestnut Hill v. Schrader (Arbitration)
Court: Mass. Supreme Judicial Ct. Docket: SJC-12714 Decided: 2/27/2020 Read AARP's (PDF) and (PDF)
Case Result: The Court held that wrongful death actions in Massachusetts are derivative of a decedent's claims, and therefore a decedent's agreement to arbitrate can be enforced against her beneficiaries. Case Name: Texas v. U.S. (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 19-840, 19-841 Filed: 1/15/2020 Read AARP's (PDF)
Case Issue: Should the Supreme Court agree to review an appeal of a Fifth Circuit decision finding the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional and remanding the case back to the district court? Case Name: Stewart v. Azar (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Ct. App. D.C. Cir. Docket: 19-5095, 19-5097 Decided: 1/8/2020 Read AARP's (PDF)
Case Result: The Fifth Circuit granted the Commonwealth of Kentucky's motion to voluntarily dismiss the appeals of the district court's decision vacating the U.S. Department's approval of its Section 1115 Medicaid waiver Case Name: Stewart v. Azar (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. D.C. Docket: 1:18-cv-152 Decided: 4/4/2019 Read AARP's (PDF), (PDF), , and (filed 1/24/2019)
Case Result: The Court vacated the federal government's reapproval of Kentucky's section 1115 waiver and remanded the application back to the agency. The Court then stayed its decision pending appeal. Case Name: Boothby v. California Department of Health Care Serv. (Healthcare)
Court: Superior Ct. State of Cal., County of Los Angeles Docket: BC627948 Reuest for Dismissal Filed: 3/22/2019 Read (PDF), (PDF), (PDF) and (PDF) Case Comment: Settlement agreement entered into by the parties for retroactive pay and attorneys' fees totaling $447,308.00. California Dept of Health Care Services agreed to pay Registered Dental Hygienists in Alternative Practice 22 months of backpay. Case Name: GGNSC Chestnut Hill v. Schrader (Arbitration)
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 1st Cir. Docket: 18-1779 Filed: 2/26/2019 Read AARP's
Case Issue: In Massachusetts, can an arbitration agreement between a nursing facility and a deceased resident be enforced against the resident's next of kin who files a wrongful death suit against the facility? Case Name: Boothby v. California Department of Health Care Serv. (Healthcare/Income)
Court: California Ct. Appeals Docket: B290534 Decided: 10/25/2018 Read (PDF) and (PDF) Result: Settlement agreement entered into by the parties for retroactive pay and attorneys' fees totaling $447,308.00. Approximately 135 dental hygienists will receive 2.7 million in back pay as a result of the trial court's order. Case Name: MW & Am. Diabetes Ass'n v. U.S. Dep't of the Army Court: U.S. Ct. App. 9th Cir. Docket: 18-15242 Filed: 6/29/2018 Case Issue: Does a large entity engaged in legal advocacy incur an "injury-in-fact"-- required by Article III of the U.S. Constitution to establish "organizational standing"--by virtue of a single contact between the organization's legal advocacy staff and parents complaining about a matter affecting the group's organizational mission?
Case Name: Texas v. United States (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ND Tex. Docket: 4:18-cv-00167 Filed: 6/14/2018 Read AARP's (PDF) and Case Issue: Is the ACA unconstitutional and, thereby, unenforceable now that Congress has reduced the tax penalty for noncompliance with the individual mandate to zero? Case Name: Taylor v. Extendicare Health Facilities
Court: Supreme Ct. of Pa. Docket: 19 WAP 2015 Filed: 2/10/2016 Read AARP's (PDF) Case Issue: Does the lower court's consolidation of survival claims and wrongful death claims under the state's wrongful death statute and rule of civil procedure violate the Federal Arbitration Act when the consolidation results in the trial of a claim within the scope of a valid arbitration agreement? Some of the content presented here is in Adobe PDF format. You will need the free to access these files.
Docket Other
Case Name: United States v. Vaello-Madero (Public Benefits)Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 20-303 Read AARP Amicus (PDF) Filed: 9/3/2021 Case Issue: Did Congress violate the equal-protection rights of Puerto Rico's residents by categorically excluding them from the Supplemental Security Income Program? Case Name: Opiotennione v. Bozzuto Management Co. (housing discrimination) Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. Maryland Docket: 20-1956 Filed: 4/27/2021 Read AARP (PDF) Case Issue: Does Plaintiff have standing to challenge Defendants’ practice of excluding older adults from receiving housing advertisements on Facebook? Case Name: Carr v. Saul (Low-income benefits)
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 19-1442, 20-105 Decided: 4/21/2021 Read AARP (PDF) and (PDF) Case Result: Social Security disability claimants can raise constitutional challenges to the appointment of the administrative judge who heard their case in federal district court even when that issue was not raised in an administrative hearing. The result will help future claimants raise other constitutional issues in federal district court as well. Case Name: Bagnall v. Cochran (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 2d Circuit Docket: 20-1642 Filed: 3/5/2021 Read AARP (PDF) and Case Issue: Does the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services violate the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment by denying hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries, initially classified as inpatients and later designated as outpatients under observation, an expedited due process hearing to challenge the hospital’s classification of their stay? Case Name: Cochran v. Gresham; Arkansas v. Gresham (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 20-37; 20-38 Filed: 2/25/2021 Read AARP (PDF) Decision Case Issue: Was the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s approval of Medicaid demonstration projects in Arkansas and New Hampshire, that condition health insurance coverage on satisfying work requirements, arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act? Case Name: Moreheart v. Southern Cal. Edison Court: Supreme Court of California Docket: S264970 Decided: 12/9/2020 Read AARP (PDF) Case Result: The California Supreme Court denied review. Case Issue: Does California Code of Civil Procedure section 36(a), mandating trial preference for elderly and infirm plaintiffs, apply in JCCP coordinated proceedings? There are thousands of victims of California’s massive fires that have sued utility companies. Are gravely ill elderly litigants entitled to statutory trial preference when they are part of a coordinated proceeding that involves thousands of other litigants? Case Name: Merrill v. People First of Alabama (Voting Rights)
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 20A67 Read AARP (PDF) Decided: 10/21/2020 Case Result: Granted stay of September 30 Order of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, after an evidentiary hearing, enjoining enforcement of the AL Secretary of State’s de facto ban on local election officials offering the option of “curbside voting” for the general election November 3, 2020. Case Name: People First of Alabama v. Merrill (Voting Rights) Court: Docket: Read AARP (PDF) Filed: 10/6/2020 Case Issue: Do the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution justify a district court order (i) enjoining the Alabama Secretary of State from barring local election officials from choosing to provide “curbside voting” for voters medically vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, including older voters and persons with disabilities such as diabetes and (ii) enjoining local election officials from enforcing State law requiring absentee voters to include a copy of their photo ID with their absentee ballot? Case Name: Andino v. Middleton (Voting Rights)
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 20A55 Read AARP (PDF) Decided: 10/5/2020 Case Result: Granted stay of order of U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina enjoining enforcement of SC’s rule requiring absentee ballot voters to obtain the signature of a witness (eligible voter or notary) to cast their ballot. Effectively resolves case in favor or applicants-defendants as no further relief is likely before November 3 election. Case Name: Org. for Black Struggle v. Ashcroft (Voting Rights)
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. WD Missouri Docket: 20-4184-BCW Read AARP (PDF) Filed: 10/1/2020 Case Issue: Does the Materiality Provision of the 1964 Civil Rights Act bar rejection of absentee ballots for trivial defects and do the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of Due Process and no undue burden being imposed on voting forbid such rejection, in the circumstances of the COVID-19 crisis, absent an opportunity to cure such defects without exposure to serious illness due to the coronavirus, because of a requirement that absentee ballot envelope defects must be corrected in-person? Case Name: NAACP Minnesota-Dakotas Area State Conference v. Simon
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. Minn. Docket: 62-CV-20-3625 Decided: 9/18/2020 Read (PDF), (PDF), (PDF), (PDF), Case Result: Trial Court issued orders approving settlement of witness requirement and absentee ballot mailing issues also, settlement of witness signature issue was a total victory as the Secretary of State (SOS) agreed to waive enforcement of the requirement for the November 3 election. The settlement of the absentee ballot mailing issue was a partial victory as the SOS agreed to mail absentee ballot applications, rather than absentee ballots themselves, to all registered voters in the State. Case Name: Jarman v. HCR Manorcare (Healthcare/Income)
Court: Cal. Supreme Court Docket: NS241431 Decided: 8/17/2020 Read (PDF) and (PDF)
Case Result: The California Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case to the district court. It held that California Health and Safety Code Section 1430(b) allows for a maximum award of $500 in statutory damages per lawsuit, rather than $500 for each violation of the statute. Case Name: Merck v. HHS (Healthcare/Consumer)
Court: U.S. Ct. App. D.C. Cir. Docket: 18-882 Read (PDF) and (PDF)
Decided: 6/16/2020 Case Issue: Does HHS have the statutory authority to promulgate a rule requiring pharmaceutical companies to disclose the list prices of certain drugs to consumers in the companies' television advertisements? Case Result: Although the specific regulation at issue was overturned as overbroad, the Court “emphasized that nothing in this opinion holds that the Secretary is categorically foreclosed from regulating pharmaceutical advertisements.” Case Name: Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller Court: U.S. Ct. App. 5th Cir. Docket: 19-10169 Decided: 3/24/2020 Read AARP's (PDF)
Case Result: Rehearing en banc denied. Case Name: GGNSC Chestnut Hill v. Schrader (Arbitration)
Court: Mass. Supreme Judicial Ct. Docket: SJC-12714 Decided: 2/27/2020 Read AARP's (PDF) and (PDF)
Case Result: The Court held that wrongful death actions in Massachusetts are derivative of a decedent's claims, and therefore a decedent's agreement to arbitrate can be enforced against her beneficiaries. Case Name: Texas v. U.S. (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Supreme Court Docket: 19-840, 19-841 Filed: 1/15/2020 Read AARP's (PDF)
Case Issue: Should the Supreme Court agree to review an appeal of a Fifth Circuit decision finding the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional and remanding the case back to the district court? Case Name: Stewart v. Azar (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Ct. App. D.C. Cir. Docket: 19-5095, 19-5097 Decided: 1/8/2020 Read AARP's (PDF)
Case Result: The Fifth Circuit granted the Commonwealth of Kentucky's motion to voluntarily dismiss the appeals of the district court's decision vacating the U.S. Department's approval of its Section 1115 Medicaid waiver Case Name: Stewart v. Azar (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. D.C. Docket: 1:18-cv-152 Decided: 4/4/2019 Read AARP's (PDF), (PDF), , and (filed 1/24/2019)
Case Result: The Court vacated the federal government's reapproval of Kentucky's section 1115 waiver and remanded the application back to the agency. The Court then stayed its decision pending appeal. Case Name: Boothby v. California Department of Health Care Serv. (Healthcare)
Court: Superior Ct. State of Cal., County of Los Angeles Docket: BC627948 Reuest for Dismissal Filed: 3/22/2019 Read (PDF), (PDF), (PDF) and (PDF) Case Comment: Settlement agreement entered into by the parties for retroactive pay and attorneys' fees totaling $447,308.00. California Dept of Health Care Services agreed to pay Registered Dental Hygienists in Alternative Practice 22 months of backpay. Case Name: GGNSC Chestnut Hill v. Schrader (Arbitration)
Court: U.S. Ct. App. 1st Cir. Docket: 18-1779 Filed: 2/26/2019 Read AARP's
Case Issue: In Massachusetts, can an arbitration agreement between a nursing facility and a deceased resident be enforced against the resident's next of kin who files a wrongful death suit against the facility? Case Name: Boothby v. California Department of Health Care Serv. (Healthcare/Income)
Court: California Ct. Appeals Docket: B290534 Decided: 10/25/2018 Read (PDF) and (PDF) Result: Settlement agreement entered into by the parties for retroactive pay and attorneys' fees totaling $447,308.00. Approximately 135 dental hygienists will receive 2.7 million in back pay as a result of the trial court's order. Case Name: MW & Am. Diabetes Ass'n v. U.S. Dep't of the Army Court: U.S. Ct. App. 9th Cir. Docket: 18-15242 Filed: 6/29/2018 Case Issue: Does a large entity engaged in legal advocacy incur an "injury-in-fact"-- required by Article III of the U.S. Constitution to establish "organizational standing"--by virtue of a single contact between the organization's legal advocacy staff and parents complaining about a matter affecting the group's organizational mission?
Case Name: Texas v. United States (Healthcare)
Court: U.S. Dist. Ct. ND Tex. Docket: 4:18-cv-00167 Filed: 6/14/2018 Read AARP's (PDF) and Case Issue: Is the ACA unconstitutional and, thereby, unenforceable now that Congress has reduced the tax penalty for noncompliance with the individual mandate to zero? Case Name: Taylor v. Extendicare Health Facilities
Court: Supreme Ct. of Pa. Docket: 19 WAP 2015 Filed: 2/10/2016 Read AARP's (PDF) Case Issue: Does the lower court's consolidation of survival claims and wrongful death claims under the state's wrongful death statute and rule of civil procedure violate the Federal Arbitration Act when the consolidation results in the trial of a claim within the scope of a valid arbitration agreement? Some of the content presented here is in Adobe PDF format. You will need the free to access these files.