Phany Poeng v. United States

ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR STAY OF ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION

Plaintiff Phany Poeng (“Plaintiff’) moves to stay the Food and Nutrition Service’s (“FNS”) administrative proceedings pursuant to 7 U.S.C. § 2023 (a)(17) and 7 C.F.R. § 279.10 (d). Defendant United States of America (“Defendant”) opposes. All parties are represented by counsel. The Court decides the matter on the papers submitted and without oral argument pursuant to Civil Local Rule 7.1(d.l).

I. Background

Plaintiff is the sole proprietor and owner of a retail food store known as 97 Supermarket. Since March 1999 Plaintiff has participated as an authorized retailer in the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) Food Stamp Program (hereinafter “program”) whereby Plaintiff accepts food stamps as payment for eligible food items.

In March 2000 Plaintiff received a letter from USDA representative Michael Guthrie (“Mr. Guthrie”) informing Plaintiff that his authorization would be suspended for six months. Mr. Guthrie’s letter charged that Plaintiffs store clerks wrongfully accepted food stamps for ineligible items on five of seven occasions during a 10-week investigation. The ineligible items included a…