Opinion ID: 1505912
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Appeal from Superior Court as to DLII's Revocation

Text: The next question is whether petitioner can collaterally attack the validity of DLII's permit revocation by challenging it in Superior Court (absent our contested case review). Petitioner argues that if this court lacks jurisdiction to address the DLII revocation issue (as we now have held), the Superior Court does have jurisdiction to declare both the DLII and DHCD revocations invalid; that he had no responsibility to exhaust his BAR remedy for the DLII revocation because that action was patently void; and that we accordingly should reverse the court's dismissal of the complaint and remand for further proceedings on the revocation issue. We disagree. There can be cases where an agency clearly appears, on the face of the record, to exceed its jurisdiction. Thus, [n]o court requires exhaustion when exhaustion will involve irreparable injury and when the agency is palpably without jurisdiction. 3 K. DAVIS, supra, § 20.02, at 56; accord Bannercraft Clothing Co. v. Renegotiation Board, 151 U.S.App.D.C. 174, 189, 466 F.2d 345, 360 (1972), rev'd, 415 U.S. 1, 94 S.Ct. 1028, 39 L.Ed.2d 123 (1974) (recognizing irreparable injury standard, but finding that no such injury existed in that case). On the other hand, exhaustion may not be avoided by the mere assertion that an agency is operating ultra vires,  id., and probably every court requires exhaustion when the question presented is one within the agency's specialization and when the administrative remedy is as likely as the judicial remedy to provide the wanted relief. 3 K. DAVIS, supra, § 20.01 at 56-57. Noting that [i]n between these extremes is a vast array of problems on which judicial action is variable and difficult or impossible to predict, id. at 57, Professor Davis proposes that the courts decide whether exhaustion is required by reference to three factors: extent of injury from pursuit of administrative remedy, degree of apparent clarity or doubt about administrative jurisdiction, and involvement of specialized administrative understanding in the question of jurisdiction. Id., § 20.03, at 69. As applied to this case, each of these factors militates in favor of the District's argument that petitioner, in order to challenge DLII's revocation of his permit, was required to exhaust his BAR appeal rights  of which he had clear notice  rather than go to Superior Court. First, given the fact that petitioner himself invoked the BAR's jurisdiction to review DHCD's revocation, we perceive no possible injury if petitioner had pursued a BAR appeal of the DLII revocation. Second, there are no clear answers to the related questions whether the BAR has jurisdiction to review DLII revocations under Organization Order No. 112, and whether DLII, or only DHCD, received permit revocation authority from DLI by way of DED under Reorganization Order No. 55, supra, Commissioner's Order No. 69-96, supra, Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1975, supra, and Mayor's Order 78-42, supra  as the complexity of the parties' respective arguments shows (Part II., supra ). Finally, given the BAR's central role in permit revocation at least since Reorganization Order No. 55, supra, as well as the consistent interpretation by the various officials involved that DLI's permit revocation authority was inherent in DED's (now DLII's) permit issuance authority, it is clear that the BAR's specialized administrative understanding will be helpful to a court's ultimate resolution of the related questions whether the BAR has jurisdiction over DLII revocations and whether DLII has authority to revoke a permit. Accordingly, subject to our resolution of one remaining concern, petitioner's failure to exhaust his BAR appeal rights with respect to DLII's revocation of his sign permit is fatal to his Superior Court case insofar as he sought a declaratory judgment that DLII's revocation was invalid. Bay River, Inc., supra, 26 Or.App. at 721, 554 P.2d at 623; see Rhodes v. Quaorm, 465 A.2d 370, 372-73 (D.C.1983); Pender v. District of Columbia, 430 A.2d 513, 515 (D.C.1981); Tarpley v. District of Columbia, 342 A.2d 14, 16 (D.C.1975). The remaining concern is that petitioner no longer has a BAR remedy for the DLII revocation, the time for appeal having expired. This suggests the question whether DLII's revocation must be deemed valid, despite petitioner's Superior Court challenge to DLII's very authority  its jurisdiction  to revoke permits. The answer is yes. The BAR had jurisdiction to determine the jurisdictional facts that would be dispositive of the question whether DLII had authority to revoke permits. See 2 K. DAVIS, supra, § 18.07; Part III.A., supra. Petitioner knew he could seek an administrative remedy through the BAR. He chose to forego it. Thus, DLII's revocation, not appealed to the BAR, is a final decision which, under principles of res judicata (as an issue that might have been litigated), is not subject to collateral attack, even though the challenge is to DLII's jurisdiction, not merely to the appropriateness of the revocation by a department with unquestioned jurisdiction to revoke permits. McCulloch Interstate Gas Corp. v. Federal Power Commission, 536 F.2d 910 (10th Cir.1976); see Sunshine Anthracite Coal Co. v. Adkins, 310 U.S. 381, 60 S.Ct. 907, 84 L.Ed. 1263 (1940); RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF JUDGMENTS §§ 15, 83 (1980) (and commentary); 2 K. DAVIS, supra, § 18.07; cf. First National Bank of Greeley v. Board of County Commissioners, 264 U.S. 450, 44 S.Ct. 385, 68 L.Ed. 784 (1924) (waiver theory applicable when agency's jurisdiction is not contested); 3 K. DAVIS, supra, §§ 20.07, -.10 (same). It follows that DLII's revocation of petitioner's permit must be deemed valid.