Welcome to Unit 8 Administrative Law Ann Sanok

Impact can vary: When an agency makes a decision, sometimes one person is affected, sometimes several, and sometimes hundreds or thousands.

Who can overrule an agency? That depends. A court’s right to overrule or evaluate a decision made by an administrative agency is called “Judicial Review”

Sources of Authority Judicial authority to review agency actions comes from a variety of sources. Most judicial authority to review agency actions comes from statutes. Constitutional and common law sources may also provide for judicial review. Quiz Alert!

Here comes the judge?... The availability of judicial review is limited by a number of doctrines. Congress can exempt some, but not all agency discretionary actions from review. Congress may establish when the review must be sought and where it must be sought, and may set limits on the judiciary’s authority in reviewing agency action.

Discretionary decisions usually not reviewable Decisions that have been “committed to agency discretion” are not subject to judicial review. If a lawsuit is filed stemming from an action committed to an agency’s discretion, it must be dismissed, because the reviewing court lacks authority to hear the case. This prevents review of procedural, as well as substantive, issues. However, not all discretionary agency decisions are exempt from review.

One example… An example of a decision committed to agency decision at law can be found in the Supreme Court case Webster v. Doe. This is part of this week’s DB and involves a man who was fired from the CIA because he was gay.

Congress can regulate aspects of review… Although time limitations are permissible, Congress may not explicitly preclude judicial review of constitutional issues by statute.

Who can challenge a decision? Any person or entity with “standing”. The standing doctrine requires that the person bringing a lawsuit have a personal interest in the case . They must be impacted or could be impacted by the decision. Quiz Alert!

Who is impacted? The actual litigant or subject of the order or dispute Anyone directly affected by the decision. Other interested persons can also seek judicial review: A qui tam action is an action brought by a private individual on behalf of the government. Quiz alert!

More on standing… Usually someone impacted financially by an agency decision will have standing to challenge it.

However, standing is not limited to those with financial interests: Both environmental and aesthetic injury have been recognized by the courts as sufficient to confer standing Quiz Alert!

For example… A physician could challenge a regulation regarding abortions if he can show that he is financially impacted by it. A dairy farmer can challenge a decision regarding milk prices or health regulations pertaining to dairy operations.

Neighbors… In Duke Power Co. v.Carolina Environmental Study Group, the Court held that the residents of a community where a nuclear power plant was planned to be constructed could possibly show sufficient environmental injury to confer standing to challenge the law authorizing the construction.

What about taxpayers in general? A person’s status as a citizen does not confer a right to challenge a law or agency action. That is, disagreement with a law or governmental behavior, without any accompanying harm, is not sufficient to confer standing.

FINAL AGENCY ACTION At common law and under the APA, only final agency actions are judicially reviewable. The doctrines of primary jurisdiction, exhaustion of administrative remedies, and ripeness are used to test the timing of an appeal for finality.

The exhaustion doctrine The exhaustion doctrine provides that all administrative remedies must be pursued and exhausted (completed) before judicial review is available. The administrative process must be given a full and complete opportunity to correct its own errors before judicial intervention occurs

Make sure you know that… Four common law doctrines—res judicata, collateral estoppel, equitable estoppel, and laches—may be applied by a reviewing court or administrative agency.

The doctrine of res judicata The doctrine of res judicata prevents the same claim from being raised more than once. This means if the issue was already litigated and decided by the court, it cannot be litigated again by the same party. Quiz alert!!!

Example of res judicata For example, Glen has an automobile collision with Nell, in which Glen’s neck and leg are injured. He sues Nell for his personal injuries resulting from the accident. At trial, Glen introduces evidence of his leg injury, but fails to introduce evidence of his neck injury. He prevails and is awarded damages for his leg injury by a jury. He later files a new complaint to recover damages resulting from his neck injury. The second claim is res judicata, as there was a previous action that arose out of the same set of facts involving the same parties and resulted in a final decision on the merits.

You Snooze You Lose Doctrine: Laches The doctrine of laches is a common law concept that prohibits a party from raising a claim when the party's delay in raising the claim has prejudiced an adverse party. For instance, if someone wants to sue for wrongful termination 10 years after being dismissed from employment, this puts the employer at a disadvantage as the relevant witnesses and records may be difficult to obtain.

Standards of Review De Novo Review: under the de novo standard, courts review agency decisions anew; that is, no deference is given to the agency’s factual findings. The reviewing court may substitute its opinion for that of the agency. Record de novo permits a court to substitute its opinion for that of the agency, although the court is limited to reviewing the record from the agency. No new hearing is conducted nor evidence received. The court is limited to the record as it exists when the agency completes its work. If a court determines that evidence was improperly denied admission by the agency, the case must be remanded with an instruction to admit the evidence and reconsider the decision in light of the new evidence. The court will not admit the evidence and reconsider the decision itself.

This week…. DB Quiz Rough Draft of Final Paper. If you want me to grade your draft as a final paper –let me know when you submit. This means that the rough draft and final paper will have the same grade.

Any Questions?? Have a great week!