Opinion ID: 1586010
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Did district court have review jurisdiction?

Text: The department contends district court had no jurisdiction to review because claimant's application for rehearing, made to the appeal board, was filed too late. It reasons the denial of the rehearing application therefore was void and could not operate to toll the thirty-day period for seeking judicial review. See §§ 96.6(8), 17A.19(3), The Code. The appeal board decision was filed January 11, 1980. The application for rehearing had to be filed within twenty days. § 17A.16(2), The Code; see Cunningham v. Iowa Department of Job Service, 319 N.W.2d 202, 204 (Iowa 1982); § 96.6(5)-(6), The Code; 370 I.A.C. § 6.4(2)(f). Thus the last day for filing was January 31, 1980. Claimant's application was dated January 31, 1980, but was stamped by the appeal board as being received on February 1, 1980. However, the board's Decision on Rehearing shows the date of the application to be January 31, 1980. We find this, coupled with the fact the board must have considered the application timely when it ruled on it, substantiates claimant's contention that she mailed the application on January 31, 1980. The department does not cite its own rule 370 I.A.C. subsection 4.35(1), which in relevant part states: Except as otherwise provided by statute or by department rule, any payment, appeal, application, request, notice, ... submitted to the department shall be considered received by and filed with the department: a. If transmitted via the United States postal service or its successor, on the date it is mailed as shown by the postmark, or in the absence of a postmark, the postage meter mark of the envelope in which it is received; or if not postmarked or postage meter marked or if the mark is illegible, on the date entered on the document as the date of completion. (Emphasis added.) Cf. 370 I.A.C. § 6.4(1)(b) (mailing deemed filing for appeal to appeal board). We find that this rule is within the authority granted the department by subsection 96.6(6), The Code, and it controls in this situation. Because the department did not submit the envelope, the relevant date is that entered on the document as the date of completion, January 31, 1980. The application was filed on time. The subsequent time sequences resulted in the petition for judicial review satisfying the subsection 17A.19(3) thirty-day filing time requirement. The district court had, and this court consequently has, jurisdiction to review the department's action.