Opinion ID: 1381677
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: mixed issues of law and fact under the apa

Text: [9] Since we conclude that the tribunal applied the correct law to facts which were not clearly erroneous, there is no issue as to mixed questions of law and fact. However, an additional discussion relating to the proper scope of review of mixed issues of law and fact is necessary in light of the course taken by the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals characterized the case as one involving mixed questions of law and fact and proceeded to try the facts de novo in its application of the law. [10] A reviewing court is not able to review facts de novo on mixed questions of law and fact, though language in previous opinions led the Court of Appeals to mistakenly do so in this case. By mixed questions of law and fact we are really referring not to the facts themselves, nor the law governing the situation, but to the law as applied to those facts. [E]quating the law application process with the fact identification process, as many courts do, can lead only to distorted analysis. Abrahams, at 77, citing L. Jaffe, Judicial Control of Administrative Action 546-48 (1965). Mixed questions of law and fact, or law application issues, involve the process of comparing, or bringing together, the correct law and the correct facts, with a view to determining the legal consequences. As we said in Daily Herald Co. v. Department of Empl. Sec., 91 Wn.2d 559, 561, 588 P.2d 1157 (1979), mixed questions of law and fact exist where there is dispute both as to the propriety of the inferences drawn by the agency from the raw facts and as to the meaning of the statutory term. We have invoked our inherent power to review de novo those issues. See Daily Herald; Department of Rev. v. Boeing Co., 85 Wn.2d 663, 538 P.2d 505 (1975); Weyerhaeuser Co. v. Department of Rev., 16 Wn. App. 112, 553 P.2d 1349 (1976). De novo review in these cases refers to the inherent authority of this court to determine the correct law, independently of the agency's decision, and apply it to the facts as found by the agency and upheld on review by this court. In Daily Herald we determined, then applied, the correct law to essentially undisputed facts. What we reviewed de novo was the meaning of the statute and how it applied to facts as determined by the trier of fact; we did not engage in reweighing evidence of credibility and demeanor. In this case, the Court of Appeals was presented with evidence sharply in conflict, in the form of expert testimony, and the majority determined the weight of the evidence contrary to that of the fact finder. The dissent weighed the evidence again, coming to still another conclusion. We hold that it is not the province of the reviewing court to try the facts de novo when presented with mixed questions of law and fact, whether on appeal from a judgment of the superior court, administrative tribunal, or administrative judge. See Bennett Veneer Factors, Inc. v. Brewer, 73 Wn.2d 849, 441 P.2d 128 (1968).