Opinion ID: 407565
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Remedies for Ex Parte Communications

Text: 77 Section 557(d) contains two possible administrative remedies for improper ex parte communications. The first is disclosure of the communication and its content. 5 U.S.C. § 557(d)(1)(C) (1976). The second requires the violating party to show cause why his claim or interest in the proceeding should not be dismissed, denied, disregarded, or otherwise adversely affected on account of (the) violation. Id. § 557(d)(1)(D); see also id. § 556(d). Congress did not intend, however, that an agency would require a party to show cause after every violation or that an agency would dismiss a party's interest more than rarely. See S.Rep.No. 354, supra, at 37-39, Sunshine Act Sourcebook at 232-34. Indeed, the statutory language clearly states that a party's interest in the proceeding may be adversely affected only to the extent consistent with the interests of justice and the policy of the underlying statutes. 5 U.S.C. § 557(d)(1)(D) (1976). 30 78 The Government in the Sunshine Act contains no specific provisions for judicial remedy of improper ex parte communications. However, we may infer from approving citations in the House and Senate Reports that Congress did not intend to alter the existing case law regarding ex parte communications and the legal effect of such contacts on agency decisions. See S.Rep.No. 354, supra, at 3, 35, Sunshine Act Sourcebook at 198, 230; H.R.Rep.No. 880, Pt. I, supra, at 4, Sunshine Act Sourcebook at 515 (citing Jacksonville Broadcasting Corp. v. FCC, 348 F.2d 75 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 893, 86 S.Ct. 186, 15 L.Ed.2d 150 (1965), and Sangamon Valley Television Corp. v. FCC, 269 F.2d 221 (D.C.Cir.1959)). 79 Under the case law in this Circuit, improper ex parte communications, even when undisclosed during agency proceedings, do not necessarily void an agency decision. Rather, agency proceedings that have been blemished by ex parte communications have been held to be voidable. See, e.g., Home Box Office, Inc. v. FCC, 567 F.2d 9, 58 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 829, 98 S.Ct. 111, 54 L.Ed.2d 89 (1977); United Air Lines v. CAB, 309 F.2d 238, 240-41 (D.C.Cir.1962); WORZ, Inc. v. FCC, 268 F.2d 889, 890 (D.C.Cir.1959). 31 In enforcing this standard, a court must consider whether, as a result of improper ex parte communications, the agency's decisionmaking process was irrevocably tainted so as to make the ultimate judgment of the agency unfair, either to an innocent party or to the public interest that the agency was obliged to protect. 32 In making this determination, a number of considerations may be relevant: the gravity of the ex parte communications; 33 whether the contacts may have influenced the agency's ultimate decision; 34 whether the party making the improper contacts benefited from the agency's ultimate decision; 35 whether the contents of the communications were unknown to opposing parties, who therefore had no opportunity to respond; 36 and whether vacation of the agency's decision and remand for new proceedings would serve a useful purpose. 37 Since the principal concerns of the court are the integrity of the process and the fairness of the result, mechanical rules have little place in a judicial decision whether to vacate a voidable agency proceeding. Instead, any such decision must of necessity be an exercise of equitable discretion. 80