Background
AA had received 30 hours and 38 minutes of personal assistance per week from the City of Gothenburg since 2018 under Sweden’s Act Concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments. Although the award was indefinite, it permitted reconsideration if circumstances changed or AA’s entitlement came into question. In December 2024, the City reconsidered the award based on asserted changed circumstances and terminated AA’s assistance.
AA appealed. After an earlier remand and further proceedings, the Gothenburg Administrative Court set aside the City’s decision, finding that the City had not shown that AA’s needs had changed sufficiently to justify reconsidering the 2018 award. The City appealed to the Gothenburg Administrative Court of Appeal, which granted leave to appeal and ordered that the lower court’s judgment would not take effect pending further order or final disposition. AA challenged that interim suspension in the Supreme Administrative Court, while the City consented to his appeal.
The Court’s Holding
The Supreme Administrative Court did not decide whether the Administrative Court of Appeal had properly suspended the lower court’s judgment. While AA’s appeal was pending, the appellate court issued its final judgment in the underlying personal-assistance case.
That final judgment caused the challenged interim order to lapse. Because there was no longer an operative suspension order for the Supreme Administrative Court to review, the Court struck the case from its docket.
Key Takeaways
- An interim suspension order lapses when the court that issued it enters final judgment in the underlying case.
- The Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the proceeding as moot and expressed no view on the merits of AA’s entitlement to personal assistance.
- The City’s consent to AA’s requested relief did not preserve a live dispute after the challenged order ceased to have effect.
Why It Matters
The decision illustrates the limited lifespan of appellate interim relief in Swedish administrative litigation. A challenge directed only at an interim order may become moot once the underlying appeal is finally decided, leaving the reviewing court without an operative order to affirm or set aside.