Good Hope Health System, L.L.C. v. North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services

This case concerns respondent North Carolina Department of Health and Human Service’s (NCDHHS’s) denial of petitioner Good Hope Health System’s (GHHS’s) Certificate of Need (CON) application filed in 2003. After the CON Section of NCDHHS’s Division of Facility Services initially denied the application, GHHS proceeded to a contested case hearing after which an administrative law judge recommended that the CON be approved. NCDHHS thereafter issued a final agency decision denying the CON. GHHS and petitionerintervenor Town of Lillington appealed to the Court of Appeals. In a divided opinion, the…