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

Heading: The Board's Decision to Dismiss the Appeal in This Case

Text: Having concluded that the Board had legal authority to dismiss the appeal because of Felicity's failure to file a brief, we turn to the question of whether the Board abused its discretion in opting to exercise this authority. [T]he function of the court in reviewing administrative action is to assure that the agency has given full and reasoned consideration to all material facts and issues. The court can only perform this function when the agency discloses the basis of its order by an articulation with reasonable clarity of its reasons for the decision. Dietrich v. District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment, 293 A.2d 470, 473 (D.C.1972). While we hold that the Board did not abuse its discretion, we note that this case is not as clear-cut as the Board and DCRA make it out to be. In its findings the Board said that its order of June 21, 2001, gave sufficient guidance to Felicity. This, in our view, was an overstatement. Instead of specifically setting forth the steps Felicity needed to take in order to have a transcript prepared and made part of the record, the order merely referred Felicity to a regulation, which states in relevant part: Upon receipt of a notice of appeal the Executive Officer shall promptly acknowledge receipt... and request the Director to compile, index, and transmit to the Board ... the following: A summary (or a transcript, if any) of all testimony given .... 1 DCMR § 505.1(c). In this case, however, no transcript was made simultaneously with the hearing. Consequently, this regulation would not inform a litigant of the specific steps to be taken in order to obtain a transcript that would be acceptable to the Board. [5] Nevertheless, we need not dwell on whether the Board's orders provided adequate guidance to Felicityor even, for that matter, whether the Board had a duty to provide such guidance under the circumstances presented herebecause counsel's misunderstanding of the proper procedure for preparing a transcript and making it part of the record in no way affected the clarity of the Board's order to file his brief by a specified date. Even if counsel was still uncertain as to the proper procedure, his further attempts to seek clarification in no way impeded him from seeking an extension of time for filing his brief. Cf. Waste Management of Maryland, 775 A.2d at 1123 (holding that Waste Management could have taken an appeal and applied for a variance simultaneously). The fact that the Board did not remind Felicity that its brief was due (or overdue) is of no consequence, for it had no obligation to do so. See Stancil, 806 A.2d at 625 (Given petitioner's lack of initiative [in seeking a continuance], the RHC was surely under no duty to grant a continuance sua sponte on his behalf). Finally, the Board's decision not just to dismiss Felicity's appeal but to do so with prejudice was not an abuse of discretion. By counsel's own admission, the crux of Felicity's appeal would have been that the hearing examiner based his ruling on evidence that was not properly entered into the record. Specifically, Felicity wished to challenge the OAD's consideration of a letter from a member of the Council of the District of Columbia. Before deciding to dismiss with prejudice, the Board examined the OAD's decision of August 18, 2000, and concluded that the hearing examiner relied on a great deal of testimony and evidence, and that [e]ven if ... some evidence or exhibits were not properly admitted into evidence, it appears that there was ample other evidence to support [the examiner's] findings. An agency's findings will be left undisturbed if they are supported by substantial evidence in the record as a whole, see Spevak v. District of Columbia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, 407 A.2d 549, 553 (D.C.1979), even if contrary evidence also exists in the record, see K.G.S., Inc. v. District of Columbia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, 531 A.2d 1001, 1003 (D.C.1987). Regardless of whether the letter from the Council member was improperly admitted into evidence, the OAD's decision was made after it took into account a great deal of other evidence apart from that letter. The Board, reviewing the whole record, could thus reasonably conclude that a single letter would not have been dispositive; at the very least, the Board could permissibly ruleas it didthat the OAD's ruling was not questionable or defective on its face. Accordingly, the Board did not err in dismissing the appeal with prejudice. Cf. Lynch v. Meridian Hill Studio Apts., Inc., 491 A.2d 515, 520 (D.C.1985). The Board's decision is therefore Affirmed.