In this task, you will be shown a prompt from a judicial decision and multiple holding statements derived from citations following text in a legal decision. Holdings represent the governing legal rule when the law is applied to a particular set of facts. There are five answer choices for each citing text. The correct answer is the holding statement that corresponds to the citing text. You should write an incorrect option. Even though there exist multiple wrong answers, we only need a single wrong answer. There is a <HOLDING> token in the position of the citing text prompt where the holding statement was extracted.

[EX Q]: Commission, and appellants, yet the County Commissioners did not require any of them to face cross-examination before submitting those documents. Appellants maintain that all of this documentary evidence should have been placed before the County Commissioners by sworn witnesses who faced cross-examination, and, therefore, it should not have been considered by them. We disagree. "A zoning board, along with other administrative agencies, is generally not bound by the technical rules of evidence although it must observe fundamental fairness in dealing with the parties who appear before it." Ginn v. Farley, 43 Md.App. 229, 236, 403 A.2d 858, cert. denied, sub nom. Engel v. Farley, 286 Md. 747 (1979). See also Entzian v. Prince George's County, 32 Md.App. 256, 262, 360 A.2d 6 (1976) (<HOLDING>). The documents properly could be considered by
Holding statements: (A) recognizing that commission is not bound by statutory or common law rules of evidence (B) holding that because no clear implication could be derived from the language of the statute that the state should be bound by the local zoning ordinances the state was not bound (C) holding that agency is bound by its regulations (D) recognizing that administrative agencies are not bound by rules of evidence (E) recognizing that zoning agency bodies are not bound by strict rules of evidence
[EX A]: recognizing that commission is not bound by statutory or common law rules of evidence

[EX Q]: as Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, Holland had been given the authority to review the allegations against Vickers and make the ultimate decision to keep her or fire her. Without more than what Vickers has offered as evidence, we cannot- see how a reasonable jury might find a retaliatory motive at work in Holland's decision. Vickers' retaliation claim is further undermined by the fact that even though it was Holland who fired her, Bedwell was the focus of her discrimination claims. Vickers failed to put on any evidence to show that Holland's decision was in any way influenced by Bedwell, who had retired before Vickers' refusal to sign the releases in April 2001 that triggered her firing. See, e.g., Griffin v. Wash. Convention Ctr., 142 F.3d 1308, 1311-12 (D.C.Cir.1998) (<HOLDING>). Nor can Vickers' Title VII claims draw
Holding statements: (A) holding that a common employer and administrator does not necessarily influence the administrators decision (B) holding that the relevant time is the time of the employment decision (C) holding that subordinates bias is only relevant where the ultimate decision maker is not insulated from the subordinates influence (D) holding that it is the conduct required to obtain a conviction rather than the consequences resulting from the crime that is relevant (E) holding that the relevant question is whether the courts decision deprived the petitioner of his right to place before the sentencer relevant evidence in mitigation of punishment
[EX A]: holding that a common employer and administrator does not necessarily influence the administrators decision

[EX Q]: has sixty days after the judgment to file a notice of appeal. Fed. R.App. P. 4(a)(1)(B). Although the parties no longer contest the timeliness of this appeal, the timely filing of an appeal is "mandatory and jurisdictional." Acevedo-Villalobos v. Hernandez, 22 F.3d 384, 387 (1st Cir.1994) (internal quotation marks omitted). Therefore, unless the sixty-day rule applies, we must dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. See id. (noting that court "lack[s] jurisdiction over late appeals"). The United States, its officer, or agency is a "party" to a case not only where it is a named party to the appeal, see In re Lloyd, Carr, & Co., 617 F.2d 882, 884 n. 1 (1st Cir.1980), but also where it has actively participated in the proceedings, see id.; cf. In re Serrato, 117 F.3d 427, 429 (9th Cir.1997) (<HOLDING>). This appeal encompasses challenges to two
Holding statements: (A) holding that us trustee did not become party merely by his involuntary appearance to quash a summons (B) holding that defendant did not waive his special appearance by filing a motion for new trial subject to the special appearance (C) holding that defendant did not waive special appearance (D) holding that party waived special appearance (E) holding the notice of appearance was not a motion under rule 12b2 4 or 5 and therefore the filing of the notice constituted a voluntary appearance by the defendants in this action which was the equivalent of the service of the summons upon them
[EX A]:
holding that defendant did not waive his special appearance by filing a motion for new trial subject to the special appearance