07-12-11 MANUEL GUAMAN, ET AL. VS. JENNIFER VELEZ, ET AL. A-1870-10T2
M-3432-10
Plaintiffs, representatives of a putative class of legal, resident immigrants who have resided in this country for less than five years, sought emergent injunctive relief staying the enforcement of N.J.A.C. 10:78-3.2. That regulation adopted the standard of eligibility for federal Medicaid benefits containedin the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), 8 U.S.C.A. §§ 1601 to 46, and applied it to New Jersey's FamilyCare Program, a State-funded Medicaid program. Pursuant to PRWORA, legal, resident immigrants who have not resided in this country for at least five years essentially are ineligible for federally-funded Medicaid benefits.
Plaintiffs argued that N.J.A.C. 10:78-3.2, and a concurrent Medicaid Communication issued by the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, violated the FamilyCare program's enabling legislation, as well as the federal and State constitutions on equal protection grounds.
Applying the standards for preliminary injunctive relief set forth in Crowe v. DiGioia, 90 N.J. 126, 132-34 (1982), we denied plaintiffs' request, concluding that they failed to demonstrate a well-settled legal right to the relief sought, and a reasonable probability of ultimate success.
