Achoy Assisted Living, Inc. v. Agency for Health Care Administration
AHCA adopted all of the ALJ's factual findings in the recommended order but then re-labeled numerous findings of fact as conclusions of law and rejected them. The Third DCA held an agency cannot escape its obligation to accept ALJ findings supported by competent substantial evidence by re-characterizing them as legal conclusions, and remanded with instructions for AHCA to enter a final order consistent with the recommended order.
Key facts
- Achoy Assisted Living, Inc. challenged an Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) final order that adopted all factual findings from an Administrative Law Judge's recommended order but then re-labeled and rejected many of those findings by re-characterizing them as conclusions of law.
- The Administrative Law Judge issued a recommended order containing factual findings supported by competent substantial evidence; AHCA adopted these findings but subsequently re-classified them as legal conclusions and rejected them in its final order.
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Why it matters
Provides Third DCA authority (aligning with the Second and Fifth DCAs in Pillsbury, Gross, and Kinney) for practitioners challenging agency final orders that recast DOAH factual findings as legal conclusions to reject… — full analysis with a trial
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