Opinion ID: 1284866
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Alleged Due-Process Violations

Text: Appellants contend that the failure to join the other members of the multi-utility pooling agreement (MAPP) in the corridor- and route-designation hearings and the improper influence exerted by Larry Hartman, a former employee of Commonwealth Associates which was employed by CPA/UPA to choose its corridor, denied them due process. There is no validity to these contentions. Under the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure, for a party to be an indispensable party he must satisfy certain requirements. Rule 19.01 reads in part as follows: A person who is subject to service of process shall be joined as a party in the action if (1) in his absence complete relief cannot be accorded among those already parties, or (2) he claims an interest relating to the subject of the action and is so situated that the disposition of the action in his absence may (i) as a practical matter impair or impede his ability to protect that interest or (ii) leave any of the persons already parties subject to a substantial risk of incurring double, multiple, or otherwise inconsistent obligations by reason of his claimed interest. Appellants, however, have demonstrated no way in which the corridor or route selection would be affected by the joinder of these parties. They claim, for example, that [t]he prejudice to appellant in this regard is the fact that it might pay for its share of the power line and wind up being denied the use of it; and of having its rates based on all of the deferred construction costs of all of the involved utilities alone, without linking this prejudice to the decisions that were made at the corridor- and route-selection hearings. Thus, since the MAPP members were never shown to be indispensable to these proceedings, the decision of the hearing officer not to require them to answer interrogatories was correct. The claim of bias against Larry Hartman is equally without merit. All the cases cited by appellants proscribe bias by the decision maker and not by a witness. Cinderella Career and Finishing Schools, Inc. v. Federal Trade Comm., 138 U.S.App.D.C. 152, 425 F.2d 583 (1970) (decision maker); Texaco, Inc. v. Federal Trade Comm., 118 U.S.App.D.C. 366, 336 F.2d 754 (1964) (decision maker); Amos Treat & Co., Inc. v. Securities Exchange Comm., 113 U.S.App. D.C. 100, 306 F.2d 260 (1962) (staff of decision-making agency). As the trial court correctly noted,    Mr. Hartman was not a decision maker in the final determination of these matters and his participation as a member of the Power Plant Siting Staff and his testimony before the hearing officer did not violate constitutional due process.   .       The hearing officer    was in a position to observe the activities and demeanor of Mr. Hartman and specifically found    that Mr. Hartman was not prejudiced or biased.    [Moreover, t]he issue of potential bias or prejudice of a particular witness runs to the weight to be given to the testimony of such witness by the hearing officer, and is not a ground for reversal of the decision of the ultimate decision maker   .