Opinion ID: 2095076
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Board's Authority to Dismiss the Appeal

Text: In general, this court reviews an agency decision only to determine whether it is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise contrary to law. Stancil v. District of Columbia Rental Housing Comm'n, 806 A.2d 622, 623 (D.C. 2002) (citation omitted). With that standard in mind, we note that a Board regulation states: If an appellant fails to file a brief in a timely manner, an appellee may move for dismissal of the appeal. 1 DCMR § 510.10 (2001). It was certainly reasonable for the Board to interpret this regulation as its authority to dismiss an appeal based on a failure to file a brief. Moreover, this court has consistently held that it will uphold the agency's interpretation of its own procedural regulation unless that interpretation is clearly wrong. Waste Management of Maryland, Inc. v. District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment, 775 A.2d 1117, 1122 (D.C.2001) (citation and internal punctuation omitted). Therefore, because the Board undoubtedly has the authority under section 510.10 to dismiss an appeal for failure to file a brief, its decision to do so in this case was not contrary to law. Even if 1 DCMR § 510.10 could possibly be read in a way that does not explicitly authorize the Board to dismiss an appeal for failure to file a brief, this court looks favorably on an agency's decision to adopt procedures employed by the courts of the District of Columbia when there is no applicable regulation. See Stancil, 806 A.2d at 625. Under the circumstances here, the Board could have found guidance in this court's Rule 31(c), which states: If an appellant fails to file a brief within the time provided by this rule... an appellee may move to dismiss the appeal. See also Levy v. Currier, 587 A.2d 205, 206 n. 2 (D.C.1991) (under Rule 31(c), dismissal of an appeal is an available sanction for failure to file a brief on time). [4]