Opinion ID: 2639400
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Was the Department of Water Resources Authorized to Participate as a Party in a Proceeding for Judicial Review of the Department's Decision?

Text: Sagewillow contends that the Department is not authorized to participate as a party in this judicial review. It argues that the Idaho Administrative Procedure Act, Idaho Code §§ 67-5201 et seq., does not provide for participation by agencies in judicial review of actions or orders in contested cases that affect individual rights. Idaho Code § 67-5270(3) (2001) provides, A party aggrieved by a final order in a contested case decided by an agency other than the industrial commission or the public utilities commission is entitled to judicial review under this chapter if the person complies with the requirements of sections 67-5271 through 67-5279, Idaho Code. The word party is defined as each person or agency named or admitted as a party, or properly seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party. IDAHO CODE § 67-5201(13) (2001). The word person is defined as any individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision or agency, or public or private organization or entity of any character. IDAHO CODE § 67-5201(15) (2001). Sagewillow named the Department as a party respondent in its petition for judicial review, [6] and by statute party includes each ... agency named ... as a party. Sagewillow has not pointed to any other provision of the Idaho Administrative Procedure Act providing that an agency cannot be a party on a petition for judicial review of that agency's action in a contested case. Therefore, the Department is properly a party to this appeal. Indeed, if a requested transfer or a point of diversion or place of application for a water right were denied by the Department and there were no third parties who protested the requested transfer, under Sagewillow's argument only the applicant for the transfer could participate in the petition for judicial review.