Opinion ID: 453189
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: 18 Section 313(b) of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 825l (b), (1974), requires that parties aggrieved by an order of the Commission must petition for review within sixty days after the order of the Commission upon the application for rehearing. Id. The rehearing of issues before the Commission is an integral part of the statute: No objection to the order of the Commission shall be considered by the court unless such objection shall have been urged before the Commission in the application for rehearing unless there is reasonable ground for failure so to do. Id. Section 313(a) of the Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 825l (a) (1974), provides that [a]ny person, State municipality or State commission aggrieved by an order issued by the Commission may apply for a rehearing of an order within thirty days of its issuance, 11 and thus appears to permit petitions for rehearing of orders on rehearing. The statute is silent, however, as to the effect of such a petition on the timeliness requirement in Sec. 313(b). 19 FERC and Delmarva contend that the relevant order in this case was Opinion No. 185-A, issued on September 29, 1983, in which the Commission denied rehearing on the municipalities' claim of discrimination. FERC and Delmarva argue that since the municipalities elected not to pursue further this particular matter before the Commission, the 60-day period under Sec. 313(b) commenced on September 29, 1983, and expired on November 28, 1983, well before the municipalities' petition for review was filed. The application for rehearing subsequent to Opinion No. 185-A did not raise the subject of discrimination as between the cooperative and municipal customers, and the Order of November 28, 1983, did not address it. Delmarva and the Commission submit that we should not permit the municipalities to boot-strap their untimely petition into a timely one on the basis of the Commission order of November 28, 1983. 20 The courts have consistently held that the 60-day statutory time period of Sec. 313(b) creates a jurisdictional bar to judicial review. See, e.g., Cities of Batavia v. FERC, 672 F.2d 64, 72-73 (D.C.Cir.1982); Distrigas Corp. v. FERC, 608 F.2d 25, 27 (1st Cir.1979). However, not all orders of the Commission, or of other administrative agencies, are immediately reviewable. Although Sec. 313(b) is not limited by its terms to final orders, courts have long placed the judicial gloss of the finality requirement on their interpretations of the provision. See, e.g., Papago Tribal Utility Authority v. FERC, 628 F.2d 235, 238-39 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1061, 101 S.Ct. 784, 66 L.Ed.2d 604 (1980); Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. v. FPC, 538 F.2d 966, 969 (2d Cir.1976). See generally 16 C. Wright, A Miller, E. Cooper, & E. Gressman, Federal Practice and Procedure Sec. 3942 (1977 and supp.1985) (discussion of finality requirement). The final order requirement raises two issues in the context of this case: whether Opinion No. 185-A, the order denying rehearing, inter alia, on the claim of undue discrimination, was a final order for purposes of appellate review; and if so, whether we may nonetheless address the discrimination claim pursuant to a timely petition for review of the subsequent order of November 28, 1983. 21 The Supreme Court has stated that the orders encompassed within Sec. 313(b) relat[e] to orders of a definitive character dealing with the merits of a proceeding before the Commission and resulting from a hearing upon evidence and supported by findings appropriate to the case. FPC v. Metropolitan Edison Co., 304 U.S. 375, 383-85, 58 S.Ct. 963, 966-67, 82 L.Ed. 1408 (1938). Ordinarily, an agency order is final for purposes of appellate review when it 'imposes an obligation, denies a right, or fixes some legal relationship as a consummation of the administrative process[.]'  Papago Tribal Utility Authority, 628 F.2d at 239 (quoting Cities Service Gas Co. v. FPC, 255 F.2d 860, 863 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 358 U.S. 837, 79 S.Ct. 61, 3 L.Ed.2d 73 (1958)). See also Chicago & Southern Air Lines v. Waterman S.S. Corp., 333 U.S. 103, 112-13, 68 S.Ct. 431, 436-37, 92 L.Ed. 568 (1948); Conway Corp. v. FPC, 510 F.2d 1264 (D.C.Cir.), aff'd 426 U.S. 271, 96 S.Ct. 1999, 48 L.Ed.2d 626 (1976). 22 Opinions No. 185 and 185-A meet the above mentioned tests. Taken together, these orders established the rates at which Delmarva was legally entitled to assess its non-setting wholesale customers for electricity supplied to them for the period from December 1, 1978, to November 30, 1980. 12 It cannot be disputed that this action by the Commission fixed a legal relationship between Delmarva and the municipalities. 13 It is equally clear that the action of the Commission in reversing the ALJ on the discrimination issue aggrieved the municipalities within the meaning of Sec. 313(b). We therefore conclude that, had the municipalities petitioned in this court for review of Opinion 185-A within 60 days of its issuance, we would have had jurisdiction to review the opinion as a final order by the Commission. See Papago Tribal Utility Authority, 628 F.2d at 239 (describing an order establishing just and reasonable rates as [t]he quintessential reviewable order.); see also Cities of Bethany, et al. v. FERC, 727 F.2d 1131 (D.C.Cir.1984) (reviewing merits of Commission order establishing just and reasonable rates where wholesale customers of the utilities complained that the rates were based on an unfairly discriminatory demand allocation methodology). 23 As we have explained, however, the municipalities did not seek immediate judicial review, but chose instead to apply for further rehearing before the Commission. We must therefore consider the more difficult question whether this Court has jurisdiction to address the discrimination claim raised by the timely petition for review of the subsequent order of November 28, 1983. Section 313(b) provides that a petition for review must be filed within 60 days of the order of the Commission upon the application for rehearing. The Commission argues that this language requires parties to petition for review of each order in which the Commission completes its rehearing of a particular issue. We do not believe, however, that this bare language of the statute compels the conclusion urged upon us by the Commission. Courts have read a requirement of finality into Sec. 313(b) only after a full consideration of the proper allocation of responsibilities between the expert administrative agencies and the judiciary. The same criteria are relevant in resolving the jurisdictional question in this case. 24 The doctrine of finality serves interests closely related to those served by the doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies. Common to the two doctrines is a careful balancing of the need for effective judicial protection against the need for efficient and responsible administrative action. Aquavella v. Richardson, 437 F.2d 397, 403 (2d Cir.1977) (quoted in 16 C. Wright, A. Miller, E Cooper & E. Gressman, supra, Sec. 3942, at 314 n. 6 (1977)). See generally McKart v. United States, 395 U.S. 185, 193-95, 89 S.Ct. 1657, 1662-63, 23 L.Ed.2d 194 (1969). 14 When, as in this case, the objection to a court's assuming jurisdiction centers on the tardiness rather than the prematurity of a petition for judicial review, there is little reason to fear that judicial review will inappropriately displace agency expertise or intrude upon agency autonomy. Substantial considerations of judicial and administrative efficiency, on the other hand, are relevant. [O]ne of the principal reasons to await the termination of agency proceedings is the possibility that a dispute may be mooted if the party ultimately prevails before the agency, thereby obviating all occasion for judicial review. Bethlehem Steel Corp. v. U.S.E.P.A., 669 F.2d 903, 908 (3d Cir.1982) (quoting FTC v. Standard Oil Co. of California, 449 U.S. 232, 244, 101 S.Ct. 488, 495, 66 L.Ed.2d 416 (1980)). 25 The municipalities contend, in this regard, that a favorable determination of the two issues on which the municipalities petitioned for review of Opinion No. 185-A would have benefitted the municipal class by $1,036,000, limiting the disparity for the entire wholesale municipal class to $592,000, and to substantially less for the petitioners, four members of the twelve-member municipal class. The municipalities therefore argue that, had they prevailed on rehearing, they might have decided against any appeal of this case. At a minimum, their success upon further rehearing before the Commission would likely have narrowed the amount of the alleged discrimination, thereby altering the character of the record and of the case. 26 Additionally, the municipalities note that successive petitions arising from the same case need not be filed in a single court of appeals, because the Federal Power Act allows aggrieved parties a choice of forums for review. 15 Conceivably, if petitions for review were filed after two Commission orders on rehearing, two different courts of appeals might have under consideration different aspects of an order while the Commission continues to consider still other aspects of the same order--a wasteful, inefficient result. 27 These considerations must be balanced against the danger that, as Delmarva contends, the sixty day review period could be frustrated through the seriatim filing of rehearing petitions with FERC. Brief of Intervenor at 15, n. 5. We believe, however, that any concern on the part of the Commission over the prospect of dilatory, repetitive petitions for rehearing can readily be remedied by Commission regulation. In any event, there is no intimation in this record that the municipalities' second petition for rehearing was frivolous. One of the matters raised in that petition was the municipalities' contention that the Commission's refusal to require Delmarva to allocate demand costs to the Q rate (interruptible loads) customers stemmed partly from the erroneous finding that Delmarva credited the demand charges included in the Q rate tariff against the full-requirements customers' cost for the use of the system. This basis for the Commission's decision became apparent only upon the issuance of Opinion No. 185-A. In its November 28 order, the Commission decreed that if Delmarva has not credited these charges ... it is hereby directed to follow the policy set forth in Opinion No. 185-A, and do so. 25 F.E.R.C. p 61,308 (reprinted in Appendix at 103). In essence, the November 28 order was a clarification and modification Opinion No. 185-A which implicitly acknowledged an ambiguity in the earlier opinion. 28 To the extent that the objections raised in the second petition for rehearing became available only upon issuance of Opinion No. 185-A, Sec. 313(b) would appear not only to permit but to require that these objections be raised before the Commission in the first instance. See FPC v. Colorado Interstate Gas Co., 348 U.S. 492, 498-99, 75 S.Ct. 467, 471, 99 L.Ed. 583 (1955) (court of appeals may not consider, sua sponte, objection not first raised before agency). 16 The Commission's rejoinder is that only the Rate Q and cash working capital issues, not the discrimination issue, possibly required further rehearing, and that the municipalities should have petitioned for review and requested a stay pending the final disposition on the Rate Q question. 29 We agree with the Second Circuit, which squarely rejected a similar argument in State of New York v. United States, 568 F.2d 887 (2d Cir.1977). In that case, the Interstate Commerce Commission had denied reconsideration of an earlier order with respect to three rates but granted reconsideration as to a fourth. The petitioners filed no petition for review until beyond 60 days after the partial denial but within 60 days from the date of a subsequent order declaring all four rates to be lawful. The court held that it had jurisdiction to review all four rates, concluding that: [a]s a practical matter, it would have been judicially imprudent for us as a reviewing court to consider piecemeal the initial order while the proceeding as a whole remained pending before the Commission. Id. at 893. The court specifically rejected the Commission's argument that petition for review of the first order could have been filed in court and the action could have been stayed until the conclusion of the administrative proceedings. Id. The court concluded that the Commission's approach ran counter to the deeply rooted policies of the federal courts against piecemeal appeals and in favor of allowing administrative proceedings to run their course without interference from the courts. Id. 17 30 This laudably practical approach, 16 C. Wright, et al., supra, p 3942, at 185-86 notes 5 and 10, is consistent with those cases holding that the period for seeking review may be tolled by a petition for rehearing, even though not expressly provided for by statute. The Supreme Court has stated that [u]nless Congress provides otherwise, '[w]here a motion for rehearing is in fact filed there is no final action until the rehearing is denied.'  American Farm Lines v. Black Full Freight Service, 397 U.S. 532, 541, 90 S.Ct. 1288, 1293, 25 L.Ed.2d 547 (1970) (quoting Outland v. CAB, 284 F.2d 224 (D.C.Cir.1960). See also, Pennsylvania v. ICC, 590 F.2d 1187, 1193 (D.C.Cir.1978); B.J. McAdams, Inc. v. ICC, 551 F.2d 1112 (8th Cir.1977); Outland v. CAB, 284 F.2d 224 (D.C.Cir.1960). 18 Contra, Selco Supply Co. v. U.S.E.P.A., 632 F.2d 863 (10th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1030, 101 S.Ct. 1740, 68 L.Ed.2d 225 (1981). It is true that in these cases, the reconsideration and subsequent review involved the same issue. Even so, the policies behind the tolling rule--the avoidance of the practice of filing protective petitions and the fostering of judicial economy--seem equally applicable in this case. 31 This tolling rule has numerous analogies in the ordinary civil litigation context. Fed.R.App.P. 4(a)(4) provides that the 30-day period for taking an appeal will be suspended by the filing of various types of motions in the district court. See, e.g., Richerson v. Jones, 572 F.2d 89, 93 (3d Cir.1978) (motion for reconsideration tolls time limitation for appeal). A motion to alter or amend a judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 59, for example, may deal only with one aspect of the district court's judgment, but will nevertheless suspend the appeal period as to the entire judgment. Similarly, the time period will be tolled as to all parties, including those who choose not to file motions in the district court. Fed.R.App.P. 4(a)(4). The judicial economy promoted by this rule is no less desirable in the administrative law context. Additionally, by staying our hand until the disposition of a second petition for rehearing, we give the agency an opportunity to correct any errors in the initial opinion on rehearing. This consideration becomes especially significant in contexts, such as the one in this case, that require the application of much specialized knowledge on the part of the agency. 32 In sum, we hold that the 60-day period under Sec. 313(b) is tolled while the Commission considers a timely petition for rehearing of an issue addressed in an earlier order on rehearing, and that a timely petition from the second order on rehearing will allow a party to raise all issues that could have been raised in a timely petition for review of the first order. That is the case here. 19 Accordingly, we turn to address the merits of the municipalities' petition.