“Health authority breached legitimate expectations by closing promised long-term care facility”
Miss Coughlan was a severely disabled resident of Mardon House, a NHS facility. The health authority had given assurances that Mardon House would be her 'home for life'. The authority later decided to close the facility and transfer residents to local authority care, prompting judicial review proceedings.
Whether the health authority's decision to close Mardon House breached the claimant's legitimate expectations and whether such expectations could found a successful judicial review claim.
The Court of Appeal quashed the health authority's decision. The authority had created a legitimate expectation that could not lawfully be frustrated without an overriding public interest justification.
This case significantly developed the doctrine of legitimate expectation in judicial review, establishing when substantive legitimate expectations can be legally enforceable against public bodies.
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OSCOLA Citation
R v North and East Devon Health Authority, ex p Coughlan [2001] QB 213 (CA)
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