Opinion ID: 2232144
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Scope of Review of Agency Finding.

Text: The majority and dissenting members of this court are in full agreement as to the principles of law governing the scope of judicial review of an agency's findings of fact under the Wisconsin Administrative Procedure Act (ch. 227, Stats.). The controlling statute is sec. 227.20 (1) (d), which authorizes a reviewing court to reverse or modify an agency decision if substantial rights of the aggrieved party have been prejudiced as a result of the administrative findings  being unsupported by substantial evidence in view of the entire record as submitted. (Italics supplied.) Thus, to apply this standard we must first determine what is meant by substantial evidence. E. Blythe Stason, in an article entitled Substantial Evidence in Administrative Law, 89 University of Pennsylvania Law Review (1941), 1026, 1038, states: [T]he term `substantial evidence' should be construed to confer finality upon an administrative decision on the facts when, upon an examination of the entire record, the evidence, including the inferences therefrom, is found to be such that a reasonable man, acting reasonably, might have reached the decision; but, on the other hand, if a reasonable man, acting reasonably, could not have reached the decision from the evidence and its inferences then the decision is not supported by substantial evidence and it should be set aside. This court, in Gateway City Transfer Co. v. Public Service Comm. (1948), 253 Wis. 397, 405, 406, 34 N. W. (2d) 238, quoted from Consolidated Edison Co. v. National L. R. Board (1938), 305 U. S. 197, 59 Sup. Ct. 206, 83 L. Ed. 126, to the effect that substantial evidence is such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion. (Emphasis supplied.) We deem that the test of reasonableness is implicit in the statutory words substantial evidence. However, in applying this test the crucial question is whether a reviewing court is only to consider the evidence which tends to support the agency's findings, or whether it is also to consider the evidence which controverts, explains, or impeaches the former. Use of the statutory words in view of the entire record as submitted strongly suggests that the test of reasonableness is to be applied to the evidence as a whole, not merely to that part which tends to support the agency's findings. This court so interpreted sec. 227.20 (1) (d), Stats., in Albrent Freight & Storage Co. v. Public Service  Comm. (1953), 263 Wis. 119, 128, 56 N. W. (2d) 846, 58 N. W. (2d) 410, and Motor Transport Co. v. Public Service Comm. (1953), 263 Wis. 31, 45, 56 N. W. (2d) 548. See also 4 Davis, Administrative Law Treatise, pp. 129, 130, sec. 29.03. It is a commonly accepted principle that a reviewing court should not pass on the credibility of witnesses nor the weight of the evidence, because these lie exclusively within the province of the agency. Likewise, a reviewing court is not to substitute its judgment for that of the agency where, in evaluating conflicting evidence in a field in which the agency possesses expertise which the court does not, the agency probably has employed its expert knowledge. However, in reviewing an agency finding, drawing a line between a weighing of the evidence and the evaluation of its reasonableness presents an illusive problem. We deem apropos the comment found in 4 Davis, Administrative Law Treatise, pp. 143, 144, sec. 29.06: But when should a court hold a finding reasonable which is based upon evidence which the court considers to be weaker than the evidence on the other side? Close examination of particular cases reveals that courts which are ordinarily trying to limit themselves to reasonableness inevitably to some extent determine questions of rightness, for the problem is in final analysis one for judicial judgment, and the formula for review becomes to some extent artificial. One is reminded of the sound observation of the court made in the Universal Camera opinion: `A formula for judicial review of administrative action may afford grounds for certitude but cannot assure certainty of application. Some scope for judicial discretion in applying the formula can be avoided only by falsifying the actual process of judging or by using the formula as an instrument of futile casuistry. It cannot be too often repeated that judges are not automata. The ultimate reliance for the fair operation of any standard is a judiciary of high competence and character and the constant play of an informed professional critique upon its work. . . . [T]he precise  way in which courts interfere with agency findings cannot be imprisoned within any form of words . . .' Universal Camera Corp. v. National L. R. Board (1951), 340 U. S. 474, 488, 489, 71 Sup. Ct. 456, 465, 95 L. Ed. 456. The division among the members of this court in the instant appeal illustrates the difficulty involved in application of the reasonableness test without crossing the line of weighing evidence.