• SC20666 - High Watch Recovery Center, Inc. v. Dept. of Public Health (Contested hearing; subject matter jurisdiction "Held that the Appellate Court incorrectly concluded that the plaintiff’s petition requesting intervenor status in the public hearing on B Co.’s certificate of need application was not a legally sufficient request for a public hearing for purposes of § 19a-639a (e), and, accordingly, the department’s decision to approve B Co.’s application was a final decision in a contested case: Contrary to the defendants’ contention that, to satisfy § 19a-639a (e), the plaintiff was required to expressly state in its petition to intervene that it was an entity with five or more people, that statute does not impose such a requirement but merely provides that an entity must be an entity with five or more people to be entitled to a hearing, and it was undisputed that the plaintiff satisfied that numerical requirement and that the OHCA was fully aware of that fact.

Furthermore, given the undisputed fact that the OHCA had already scheduled a public hearing on B Co.’s application, this court discerned no ambiguity with respect to the plaintiff’s request because, when the OHCA has already scheduled a public hearing, it is only logical that a party wanting to oppose the application would request intervenor status in that hearing, not request another or a different hearing, and that was precisely what the public notice instructed the plaintiff to do if it wanted to be heard on the plaintiff’s application.")