Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 161 - Civil Rights Commission › Chapter 4 - Contested Cases › Rule 161-4.17 - Evidence

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
(1) The presiding
			 officer shall rule on admissibility of evidence and may, where appropriate,
			 take official notice of facts in accordance with all applicable requirements of
			 law.
(2) Stipulation of facts is
			 encouraged. The presiding officer may make a decision based on stipulated
			 facts. Stipulated facts are binding on the presiding officer and the commission
			 when it has not been proven that the stipulation was the result of fraud,
			 wrongdoing, misrepresentation, or was not in accord with the intent of the
			 parties.
(3) Evidence in the
			 proceeding shall be confined to the issues as to which the parties received
			 notice prior to the hearing unless the parties waive their right to such notice
			 by express or implied waiver, or the presiding officer determines that good
			 cause justifies their expansion. If the presiding officer decides to admit
			 evidence on issues outside the scope of notice over the objection of a party
			 who did not have actual notice of those issues, that party, upon timely motion,
			 shall receive a continuance sufficient to amend pleadings and to prepare on the
			 additional issue. The scope of the issues at public hearing may include the
			 facts as uncovered in the investigation and need not be limited to the
			 allegations as stated in the original complaint.
(4) The party seeking admission of an exhibit
			 must provide opposing parties with an opportunity to examine the exhibit prior
			 to the ruling on its admissibility. Copies of documents should normally be
			 provided to opposing parties. All exhibits admitted into evidence shall be
			 appropriately marked and be made part of the record.
(5) Any party may object to specific evidence
			 or may request limits on the scope of any examination or cross-examination.
			 Such an objection shall be accompanied by a brief statement of the grounds upon
			 which it is based. The objection, the ruling on the objection, and the reasons
			 for the ruling shall be noted in the record. The presiding officer may rule on
			 the objection at the time it is made or may reserve ruling until the written
			 decision. Evidentiary objections, other than those based on relevancy,
			 materiality, unduly repetitious evidence, privilege, discovery rules, or scope
			 of examination, or any ground for which a ruling is compulsory as a matter of
			 law, shall be simply noted in the record by the presiding officer
(6) Whenever evidence is ruled inadmissible,
			 the party offering that exhibit may submit an offer of proof on the record. The
			 party making the offer of proof for excluded oral testimony shall briefly
			 summarize the testimony or, with permission of the presiding officer, present
			 the testimony. If the excluded evidence consists of a document of exhibit, it
			 shall be marked as part of an offer of proof and inserted in the
			 record.
(7) Although the rules of
			 evidence do not apply in a contested case hearing, a finding shall be based
			 upon the kind of evidence on which reasonably prudent persons are accustomed to
			 rely for the conduct of their serious affairs, and may be based upon such
			 evidence even if it would be inadmissible in a jury trial. Irrelevant,
			 immaterial, or unduly repetitious evidence shall be excluded. The commission
			 shall give effect to the rules of privilege recognized by law.
(8) The authenticity of all documents
			 submitted as proposed exhibits at the prehearing conference shall be deemed
			 admitted unless objection is made at the prehearing conference or a written
			 objection to authenticity of a document is filed at least ten days prior to the
			 hearing. A party will be permitted to challenge authenticity at a later time
			 upon a clear showing of good cause for failure to have made the objection
			 earlier A party's objection to authenticity is that party's refusal to admit
			 the fact of authenticity and need not be ruled upon to be effective. If
			 authenticity is not admitted under this rule it may be proved at hearing by any
			 means permitted by law.
(9) No
			 evidence shall be received at any hearing concerning offers or counter-offers
			 of adjustment during efforts to conciliate or settle an alleged unfair or
			 discriminatory practice.