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Foster Taft v. Ventura County Medical Center, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 21-55216 · judgment December 23, 2021


Certiorari denied · May 16, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 0% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

  1. Does 42 U.S.C. §1983 confer a private cause of ac­ tion for privacy violations of HIPAA, in particular 164.502(a)? Within this issue, the court would point out that a private right of action is different than a private right. Also, the court would have to determine whether 45 U.S.C. 164.502(a) confers a private right.

  2. Does 5 U.S.C. §552a(l) and §551(1) of the Privacy Act, which applies to agencies of the federal govern­ ment, apply to a state hospital, as a “state actor”, entangled with substantial federal regulation and funding, or do, only, people with medical records in a federal agency, proper, have a private right of action for unauthorized disclosures and violations of federal pri­ vacy laws.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Foster Taft

For respondent
Hugh S. Spackman
Clinkenbeard, Ramsey, Spcakman & Clark, LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. May 16 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Apr 26 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/12/2022.
  3. Apr 12 2022
    Waiver of right of respondent Ventura County Medical Center, et al. to respond filed.
  4. Mar 22 2022
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 25, 2022)