Opinion ID: 1432114
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act

Text: Under the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act, §§ 16-3-101 through 16-3-115, W.S. 1977, all parties in a contested case must be afforded an opportunity for a hearing replete with statutory safeguards. Section 16-3-107. Section 16-3-101(b)(ii) defines contested case as    a proceeding including but not restricted to ratemaking, price fixing and licensing, in which legal rights, duties or privileges of a party are required by law to be determined by an agency after an opportunity for hearing. A licensing decision constitutes a contested case if the agency must provide notice and an opportunity for a hearing: (a) When the grant, denial, suspension or renewal of a license is required by law to be preceded by notice and an opportunity for hearing the provisions of this act [§§ 16-3-101 through 16-3-115] concerning contested cases apply. Section 16-3-113(a), W.S. 1977. Section 16-3-101(b)(vi) defines a party for purposes of a contested-case proceeding: (vi) `Party' means each person or agency named or admitted as a party or properly seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party. We have reviewed these provisions of the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act in the past and said that an administrative matter qualifies as a contested case where the law, independent of the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act, requires legal rights to be determined after an opportunity for a trial-type hearing. Diefenderfer v. Budd, Wyo., 563 P.2d 1355, 1359 (1977); Thornley v. Wyoming Highway Department, Motor Vehicle Division, Wyo., 478 P.2d 600, 603 (1971). We turn, then, to the federal and state legislation pertaining to procedural requirements for administrative review of certificate-of-need applications to determine (1) whether the agency must provide notice and opportunity for hearing and, if so, (2) which entities are entitled to assert these protections.