Opinion ID: 2076369
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Prejudgment of Contested Issues.

Text: The conclusory character of the hearing examiner's findings and the credibility problems of the officer on whose testimony they were based are, in our view, sufficient without more to require us to vacate the order revoking Mr. Eilers' license. The need for such action on our part is even more pronounced, however, in light of the hearing examiner's apparent prejudgment of important contested issues in the case. As we have noted at page 682, supra, the hearing examiner remarked during the cross-examination of Officer Braswell that he was convinced that Mr. Eilers had committed a traffic violation at the red light. At the time when he made this remark, Mr. Eilers and Ms. Shelley had not yet testified. The conclusion is inescapable that the hearing examiner made a determination which seriously damaged Mr. Eilers' position after having heard from the District, but without Mr. Eilers having been accorded an opportunity to be heard. It is, of course, fundamental that a trier of fact may not decide any question before hearing all of the evidence. Juries are routinely instructed that [i]t is important that you keep an open mind and not decide any issue in the case [18] until the entire case has been submitted to you with my final instructions. CRIMINAL JURY INSTRUCTIONS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, No. 1.02, at 7 (3d ed. 1978). A decision against a litigant which has been reached after hearing only a part of his evidence rests upon an egregiously erroneous foundation. Fong Foo v. United States, 369 U.S. 141, 143, 82 S.Ct. 671, 672, 7 L.Ed.2d 629 (1962) (per curiam). Indeed, Professor Davis has suggested that the basic credo of democratic governments (as distinguished from authoritarian regimes) in regard to administrative decision-making is: Be sure you give the affected party a chance to meet the evidence against his interest and a chance to present an argument on questions of law and policy. 2 K. DAVIS, ADMINISTRATIVE LAW TREATISE § 10:4, at 317 (2d ed. 1979). In the present case, the examiner had not heard any of Mr. Eilers' evidence when he announced that he was convinced that Mr. Eilers had committed a traffic violation. Moreover, the issue which was so prematurely resolved was of central importance to the case, for it went to the officer's credibility with regard to whether there was any basis for stopping Mr. Eilers at all. If a trier of fact were to conclude that the officer was lying on that subject, or even mistaken with regard to it, a substantial cloud would surely hang over his testimony with respect to events which occurred immediately after the stop. Later in the proceeding, the hearing examiner compounded his evident prejudgment of one issue with what appeared to be a premature resolution of the entire case. After all of the evidence had been received, but before counsel for Mr. Eilers had begun his closing argument, the hearing examiner asked him if he had anything in mitigation. Mitigation is defined as alleviation, reduction, abatement or diminution of a penalty or punishment imposed by law. BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 904 (5th ed. 1979). [19] In other words, before hearing argument with respect to whether or not the District had proved its case, the hearing examiner invited the kind of plea for leniency which is generally made on behalf of a party who has already been determined to have transgressed. After counsel presented his argument on the merits, the hearing examiner announced his decision, which included the sanction, without any comment whatever regarding counsel's contention that the District had not proved its case. Under other circumstances, and considering the presumption of regularity, see page 683, supra, we might well be disposed to assume that the examiner did not intend his remarks about the violation at the red light to mean what they appear to mean. Similarly, the inquiry about mitigation, if it stood alone in the record, could simply be explained as a poor choice of words. Unfortunately, however, these comments did not represent an aberration from the examiner's overall approach to the case. On the contrary, they were entirely consistent with it. What the examiner said conformed to what he did. An objective, disinterested observer fully informed of these facts would surely entertain significant doubt that Mr. Eilers received a fair hearing. Cf. Pepsico, Inc. v. McMillen, 764 F.2d 458, 460 (7th Cir.1985). Under these circumstances, the action of the agency cannot stand.