{"id":297,"date":"2020-11-03T19:48:02","date_gmt":"2020-11-03T19:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/cpil-blog\/?p=297"},"modified":"2020-11-03T19:48:02","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T19:48:02","slug":"ninth-circuit-court-of-appeals-finds-standing-in-skyline-wesleyan-churchs-claims-against-department-of-managed-health-care-remands-case-to-district-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/cpil-blog\/2020\/11\/03\/ninth-circuit-court-of-appeals-finds-standing-in-skyline-wesleyan-churchs-claims-against-department-of-managed-health-care-remands-case-to-district-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Finds Standing in Skyline Wesleyan Church\u2019s Claims Against Department of Managed Health Care, Remands Case to District Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alex Ruf<\/h3>\n

On May 13, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion<\/a> in Skyline Wesleyan Church v. California Department of Managed Health Care<\/em>, 959 F.3d 341, 344 (2020), reversing the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California\u2019s ruling that it lacked jurisdiction over Skyline Wesleyan Church\u2019s (\u201cSkyline\u201d) federal free exercise of religion claim against the Department of Managed Healthcare (\u201cDMHC\u201d). The Ninth Circuit also vacated the district court\u2019s ruling that it lacked jurisdiction over Skyline\u2019s other claims and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings.<\/p>\n

On March 9, 2018, in Skyline Wesleyan Church v. California Department of Managed Healthcare<\/em>, No. 3:16-cv-0501-CAB (DHB), (S.D. Cal. Mar. 9, 2018), the district court dismissed<\/a> Skyline\u2019s complaint against DMHC as (1) not ripe for adjudication because DMHC had not received a request for exemption from Skyline and (2) not redressable because any remedy the court could provide would only be against DMHC. Noting that DMHC is not a health plan and is \u201csimply a regulatory body that does not have the authority to mandate that a provider give [Skyline] the plan it seeks,\u201d the district court found that Skyline lacked standing to pursue its claims. On April 9, 2018, Skyline appealed the District Court\u2019s dismissal of its complaint. [see<\/em> 23:2 CRLR 38\u201340<\/em><\/a>; <\/em>24:1 CRLR 47\u201348<\/em><\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

The source of the litigation was DMHC\u2019s August 22, 2014, letter<\/a> to seven group health insurers who had limited or excluded coverage for abortions in their health plans. In its letter, DMHC stated that its prior practice of allowing insurers to offer health plans with some abortion-related restrictions was inconsistent with the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, and the California Constitution. DMHC concluded that \u201call health plans must treat maternity services and legal abortion neutrally.\u201d DMHC later told health plans that it would allow for certain exemptions from the requirements it had explained in its 2014 letter. The DMHC\u2019s letter had caused Skyline\u2019s insurer to amend Skyline\u2019s plan so that it covered abortion, which did not comport with Skyline\u2019s religious beliefs. Skyline, a Christian church that does not support abortion except in specific circumstances, did not request an exemption from DMHC for its health plan and filed suit against DMHC in February 2016, alleging that its right to free exercise of religion required the Department to approve a health insurance plan that accommodated Skyline\u2019s religious beliefs regarding abortion.<\/p>\n

The Ninth Circuit\u2019s opinion explained that Skyline had successfully established all three elements of standing regarding its federal free exercise claim and thus the claim was justiciable, but the Court declined to reach the merits of the claim. The Ninth Circuit stated that its findings regarding the justiciability of Skyline\u2019s federal free exercise claim could apply to Skyline\u2019s other claims, but that it would not address this issue, as only the merits of the federal free exercise claim had been briefed on appeal. It remanded the case to the district court to determine, after deciding whether Skyline\u2019s other claims were justiciable, when it would be appropriate to address the merits of Skyline\u2019s claims. At this writing, the district court has not yet addressed the issues on remand.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alex Ruf On May 13, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in Skyline Wesleyan Church v. California Department of Managed Health Care, 959 F.3d 341, 344 (2020), reversing the U.S. District Court Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1013,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132906,136754],"tags":[136758,132908,136756,136757,136755],"coauthors":[132864],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-department-of-managed-health-care","category-litigation-department-of-managed-health-care","tag-abortion","tag-dmhc","tag-knox-keene-health-care-service-plan-act","tag-maternity","tag-skyline-wesleyan-church"],"yoast_head":"\nNinth Circuit Court of Appeals Finds Standing in Skyline Wesleyan Church\u2019s Claims Against Department of Managed Health Care, Remands Case to District Court - Consumer Protection Policy Center - Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/cpil-blog\/2020\/11\/03\/ninth-circuit-court-of-appeals-finds-standing-in-skyline-wesleyan-churchs-claims-against-department-of-managed-health-care-remands-case-to-district-court\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Finds Standing in Skyline Wesleyan Church\u2019s Claims Against Department of Managed Health Care, Remands Case to District Court - Consumer Protection Policy Center - Blog\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alex Ruf On May 13, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in Skyline Wesleyan Church v. 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