Murby, et al. v. Children’s Hospital Corporation (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-166-16)

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SUFFOLK, ss. SUPERIOR COURT. 1684CV01213-BLS2 ____________________ GUSTAVE H. MURBY, and Others1 v. CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL CORPORATION, doing business as Boston Children’s Hospital, and Others2 ____________________ MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ALLOWING FURTHER MOTION BY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL CORPORATION TO DISMISS THIS ACTION Plaintiffs brought suit in an effort to stop Boston Children’s Hospital from erecting a new clinical building on the site of the Prouty Garden, which they and many others value as a quiet sanctuary for Hospital patients and their families. In their amended complaint Plaintiffs allege that the Hospital illegally began site preparation and other construction work required for its proposed Boston Children’s Clinical Building (the “BCCB”) without first obtaining approval from the Department of Public Health (“DPH”) under the determination of need (“DoN”) law, G.L. c. 111, §§ 25B-25G. Plaintiffs also allege that the Hospital’s DoN application for the BCCB project improperly excluded the costs of certain renovation projects that the Hospital has already started or completed at its main campus in the Longwood medical area of Boston, and of a planned expansion of the Hospital’s Waltham campus. The Court previously ordered that all claims against defendants Suffolk Construction Company, Inc., Turner Construction Company, and the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health be dismissed without prejudice because they are not proper or necessary parties. The Hospital now moves to dismiss the rest of the case on the grounds that it became moot when DPH approved the Hospital’s DoN application. The Court will ALLOW that motion, and dismiss this case without prejudice, because it agrees that the claims asserted in this action are now moot. It will also declare the rights of the 1 Anne C. Gamble, Walter J. Gamble, M.D., Stephen Gellis, M.D., Loring Conant, Jr., M.D., Louise Conant, Brian Greenberg, Peggy Greenberg, Karen d’Amato, Neil Dinkin, Christine Barensfeld, and John W. Hagerman. 2 Suffolk Construction Company, Inc., Turner Construction Company, and Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. – 2 – parties with respect to one of the legal issues raised in the amended complaint. The Court takes judicial notice of the two DPH letter decisions that are attached to the Hospital’s memorandum of law: the October 27, 2016, letter decision in which DPH approved the Hospital’s DoN application, and the June 3, 2016, letter decision in which DPH rejected claims that certain ongoing or now completed renovations at the Longwood campus were part of the BCCB project and thus required DoN approval.3 The amended complaint asserts three general categories of claims, all of which are now either moot, must be pursued as part of the c. 30A appeal from the final decision by DPH, or raise a pure question of law that can […]

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