North Dakota Administrative Code › Title 98 - Office of Administrative Hearings › Article 98-02 - Uniform Rules of Administrative Procedure for Adjudicative Proceedings › Chapter 98-02-03 - Hearing Procedure › Section 98-02-03-03 - Hearing procedure

Current through Supplement No. 393, July, 2024
The hearing is directed to receiving factual evidence and
				  expert opinion testimony related to issues in dispute. Argument will not be
				  received in evidence; rather, it must be presented in statements, memoranda, or
				  briefs, as determined by the hearing officer. Brief opening statements, limited
				  to stating the party's position and what it intends to prove, may be allowed,
				  in the hearing officer's discretion. Unless the hearing officer determines
				  otherwise, the hearing must proceed and be conducted in substantially the
				  following manner:
1. Testimony must
				be preserved by electronic recording unless the agency elects to use a court
				reporter or stenographer. If a request is made prior to the hearing, the agency
				may allow a party to preserve testimony by court reporter. The requesting party
				shall agree to pay for the court reporter and the cost of transcript
				preparation. The requesting party shall make all the necessary arrangements for
				the court reporter. The requesting party may not delay the proceeding by use of
				the court reporter or in the preparation of the transcript.
2. The hearing must be conducted in the
				English language. The proponent of any testimony to be offered by a witness who
				does not speak the English language proficiently shall provide an interpreter,
				approved by the hearing officer, proficient in the English language and the
				language in which the witness shall testify. The cost of such interpreter must
				be paid by the party providing the interpreter, unless the proponent of such
				testimony identifies a prevailing requirement that the agency provide an
				interpreter.
3. When the agency is
				a party, the hearing officer may require that the agency proceed first, by
				making an opening statement explaining the action taken, describing the
				evidence upon which that action was based, and identifying the applicable
				statutes, rules or regulations, or policy interpretations upon which the action
				was based.
4. All parties may
				present evidence and argument with respect to the issues, and cross-examine
				witnesses. Cross-examination of witnesses will ordinarily follow direct
				examination, but the sequence may be regulated by the hearing officer.
5. The party with the burden of
				proof shall begin the presentation of the evidence, followed by the other
				parties in a sequence determined by the hearing officer. In all cases the
				burden of presenting evidence to support a fact or position rests with the
				proponent of the fact or position.
6. When all parties and witnesses have been
				heard, opportunity must be offered to present final argument, in a sequence
				determined by the hearing officer. Final argument may be allowed in the form of
				memoranda or briefs, or oral argument, in the discretion of the hearing
				officer.
7. The record of the
				hearing must be closed upon receipt of the final memoranda or briefs,
				transcript, if any, or late-filed exhibits requested by the hearing officer,
				subject to the authority for an administrative agency to consider additional
				information or evidence not presented at the hearing, as provided by North
				Dakota Century Code section
				 28-32-25.
General Authority: NDCC 54-57-05
Law Implemented: NDCC 28-32-25, 28-32-34, 28-32-35, 54-57-04