Opinion
SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 2020-095
04-30-2020
In re Appeal of Mark Flynn*
ENTRY ORDER APPEALED FROM: Human Services Board DOCKET NO. B-02/20-141
In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:
Appellant is seeking to appeal a decision of the Human Services Board denying his request for shelter in the form of a hotel voucher under the general assistance program (GA) administered by the Department for Children and Families (DCF) on March 18, 2020. Appellee DCF moves to dismiss the appeal as moot on the grounds that applicant was granted housing and has been living in a motel since March 20, 2020.
"For this Court to have jurisdiction over an appeal, the appeal must involve an actual controversy arising between adverse litigants who have a legally cognizable interest in the outcome of the case." Paige v. State, 2017 VT 54, ¶ 6, 205 Vt. 287, 290. A case becomes moot "if the reviewing court can no longer grant effective relief." In re Moriarty, 156 Vt. 160, 163, (1991) (quotation omitted). Here, because appellant has been granted a hotel voucher and no period of ineligibility is being imposed, there is no further relief this Court can grant and the case is moot. Therefore, the motion to dismiss is granted.
Dismissed.
BY THE COURT:
/s/_________
Paul L. Reiber, Chief Justice
/s/_________
Beth Robinson, Associate Justice
/s/_________
Harold E. Eaton, Jr., Associate Justice
/s/_________
Karen R. Carroll, Associate Justice
/s/_________
William D. Cohen, Associate Justice