Durham Meridian Ltd. Partnership v. North Carolina Department of Human Resources, 327 N.C. 586 (1990)

Dec. 5, 1990 · Supreme Court of North Carolina · No. 80PA90
327 N.C. 586
DURHAM MERIDIAN LIMITED PARTNERSHIP and MERIDIAN HEALTHCARE, INC., Petitioners v. NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, DIVISION OF FACILITY SERVICES, CERTIFICATE OF NEED SECTION, Respondent, and DURHAM LIMITED PARTNERSHIP and NORTHWOOD NURSING CENTER, INC., Intervenor-Respondents

DURHAM MERIDIAN LIMITED PARTNERSHIP and MERIDIAN HEALTHCARE, INC., Petitioners v. NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, DIVISION OF FACILITY SERVICES, CERTIFICATE OF NEED SECTION, Respondent, and DURHAM LIMITED PARTNERSHIP and NORTHWOOD NURSING CENTER, INC., Intervenor-Respondents

No. 80PA90

(Filed 5 December 1990)

ON discretionary review pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-31 (prior to determination by the Court of Appeals) of the 1 May 1989 final decision of the Department of Human Resources, by I.O. Wilkerson, Jr., Director, Division of Facility Services. Heard in the Supreme Court on 4 September 1990.

Petree, Stockton & Robinson, by Noah H. Huffstetler, III, and Barbara Bosma Garlock, for petitioner-appellants.

Lacy H. Thornburg, Attorney General, by Richard A. Hinnant, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, and James A. Wellons, Assistant Attorney General, for respondent-appellee, Department of Human Resources.

Smith Helms Mullís & Moore, by Maureen Demares t Murray and William K. Edwards, for intervenor-respondent appellees.

MARTIN, Justice.

For the reasons set forth in HCA Crossroads Residential Centers, Inc. and Laurel Wood of Henderson, Inc. v. North Carolina Department of Human Resources, Division of Facility Services, Certificate of Need Section, 327 N.C. 573, 398 S.E.2d 466 (1990), the final decision of the Department of Human Resources entered 1 May 1989 in this cause is vacated.

In accordance with the reasoning and holding in HCA Crossroads Residential Centers, Inc., et al. v. North Carolina Department of Human Resources, above referred to, the department must now issue the certificates of need applied for by petitioners and intervenor-r espondents.

The final decision of the Department of Human Resources is vacated, and this cause is remanded to that department for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

*587Vacated and remanded.

Justice WHICHARD

dissenting.

For the reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in HCA Crossroads Residential Centers, Inc. v. N.C. Dept, of Human Resources, filed simultaneously herewith, I respectfully dissent.

Justice FRYE joins in this dissenting opinion.