Opinion

Hirsch v. New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners

  • 128 N.J. 160
  • 607 A.2d 986
  • 1992 N.J. LEXIS 381
Court
Supreme Court of New Jersey
Filed
Jun 18, 1992
Status
Published
On the bench
Affirmance, Clifford, Garibaldi, Handler, Hern, Pollock, Stein, Wilentz
Cited by
12 cases
Authority
More cited than 73.4%

declining to rule on certain arguments of appellant in part because they first were raised after petition for certification had been granted

How later courts described this case

  • declining to rule on certain arguments of appellant in part because they first were raised after petition for certification had been granted
  • declining to rule on claims first presented by appellant after the petition for certification had been granted
  • declining to rule on issue raised for first time after petition for certification was granted
  • declining to address a claim presented after the Court granted a petition for certification

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

PER CURIAM.

The Appellate Division rejected plaintiffs’ facial challenges to the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners’ questionnaire that the Board had made part of New Jersey physicians’ and podiatrists’ biennial license-renewal application. We affirm the judgment below substantially for the reasons set forth in Judge Coleman’s comprehensive opinion. See Hirsch v. New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners, 252 N.J.Super. 596 , 600 A. 2d 493 (1991). Although some of the questions on the application could benefit from reformulation to achieve a better-defined focus and to reflect a more sensitive appreciation of the privacy concerns of those who must answer, we cannot say that on this record there has been a clear demonstration of unreasonableness. We add, however, that our ruling on the facial validity of the questions should not be interpreted as an absolute bar to later consideration of a particularized claim of damage or injury by an aggrieved license-renewal applicant.

We decline to rule on so much of plaintiffs’ claims as is based on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 12101-12213 , plaintiffs having first presented those claims after their petition for certification had been granted. Moreover, we are uncertain that this Court has jurisdiction over ADA-based claims if, as here, the individual *162 plaintiffs have not first filed those claims with the Department of Justice, see 28 C.F.R. §§ 35.170 (c), 35.171(a)(2), 35.190(b)(6) (1991); but in that respect as well we defer a definitive ruling until presented with an appeal in which the ADA issues have been fully developed.

Judgment affirmed.

For affirmance Chief Justice WILENTZ and Justices CLIFFORD, HANDLER, POLLOCK, O’HERN, GARIBALDI and STEIN — 7.

Opposed — none.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.