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Quackenbush V. Allstate Ins: A Case Study

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Congress did not delegate authority to create new or hybrid categories. The district court does just that and has acted in excess if statutory authority. Courts are not empowered to create new law at a parties request; this is the role of Congress. Such rules are adopted pursuant to expressed authorization by Congress and they alone “create new law, rights, or duties, in what amounts to a legislative act.” White v. Shalala, 7 F.3d 296, 303 (2nd Cir. 1993); Sweet v. Sheahan, 235 F.3d 80, 91 (2d Cir. 2000). The district courts duty is solely interpretive and do not serve to create new law, rights, or duties. “[F]ederal courts have a strict duty to exercise the jurisdiction that is conferred upon them by Congress.” Quackenbush v. Allstate Ins. …show more content…

Under the "plain-meaning" rule, if the intention of the legislature is "so apparent from the face of the statute that there can be no question as to its meaning, there is no need for the court to apply canons of construction" Overseas Education Ass'n v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, 876 F.2d 960 (D.C. Cir. 1989). A statute must be construed according to its plain meaning except in extraordinary conditions, which are not present here. Dept. of Housing & Urban Dev. v. Pucker, 122 S. Ct. 1230, 1233 (2002). Silence in a statute regarding a particular topic does not render the statute unclear or ambiguous unless the statute is susceptible of more than one reasonable interpretation. In re Welfare of R.S., 805 N.W.2d 44 (Minn. 2011). Before considering whether the canon of statutory construction should be applied, the district court would first need to determine whether the statute in question is ambiguous. Courts have generally held that a statute is ambiguous when reasonably well-informed persons could understand the language in either of two or more senses State ex rel. Neelen v. Lucas, 24 Wis. 2d 262, 128 N.W.2d 425 (1964). The district court does not indicate that it is applying the canon of statutory construction nor does it state that any portion of the Act is ambiguous such that it promulgated an additional category of private

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