IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION FOR MEDICINAL MARIJUANA ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT CENTER FOR PANGAEA HEALTH AND WELLNESS, LLC., ET AL. (NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH) (CONSOLIDATED) - Published

In these eight appeals, appellants argued that the Department of Health made numerous errors in its selection of entities to operate Alternative Treatment Centers to grow, process, and dispense marijuana as part of the State's Medicinal Marijuana Program. They complained about, among other things, the Department's selection process, including the criteria used, the manner in which applications were scored, and the overall sufficiency and explanation of the final agency decisions; they specifically contended that the Department should at least have engaged in an interim process by which disappointed applicants could question or challenge the scores received prior to the issuance of final agency decisions that left it to the court to act as a clearing house for all such challenges. In agreeing the scoring system produced arbitrary results that have gone unexplained, the court vacated the final agency decisions and remanded for further proceedings.