Mayo Clinic Case Remanded

Abstract

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, by decision dated May 13, remanded the Mayo Clinic case (Mayo Clinic v. United States). The appellate court concluded that “[a]pplying the statute to Mayo [by it] is not possible on this [summary judgment] record.” Two reasons are given for this conclusion. One, “how to measure educational activity as opposed to noneducational activity, as well as the degree to which education must be Mayo's primary purpose, are disputed.” Second, the parties disagree as to whether the education function must be the principal or most important purpose as opposed to a merely substantial purpose. Observing that “[s]eparating out the wheat from the chaff—the educational from the noneducational—while difficult, is not impossible,” the court dispatched “these difficult and fact-intensive issues of fact and law” to the district court. (The district court opinion is summarized in the October 2019 issue.)