Opinion ID: 2083040
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Preservation of errors.

Text: The railroad makes several subarguments under the heading of due process: (1) section 327G.32 requires actual receipt of a copy of the crossing ordinance; (2) the statute and the due process clauses of the federal and state constitutions require the notice to inform a railroad it has a right to object to the ordinance, and that it must object within thirty days from the date of its receipt, or lose that right; (3) the statute on its face and as applied suffers from vagueness and overbreadth; (4) the board was precluded from sua sponte reconsidering and reversing its initial decision that the railroad had timely objected to the ordinance; and (5) a hearing on the merits was required that could not preclude the [railroad] as an interested party even if its objection was not timely since another railroad, no longer a party to this litigation, timely objected to the ordinance. We believe, however, that error on the issue of due process was properly preserved only on the form and method of notice. (A) Due process. At the stages of agency rehearing and review in the district court the railroad raised two arguments for the first time. First, in its application for rehearing, § 17A.16(2), the railroad argued that section 327G.32, as applied, violated due process (apparently under both federal and state constitutions). (No order granting the application was entered, and under section 17A.16(2) the application was deemed denied twenty days after its filing.) Second, in its petition for judicial review, § 17A.19, the railroad argued that section 327G.32 was unconstitutional on its face. The city argues that the railroad's failure to earlier raise these arguments constituted a waiver of any error, and that this court should not consider them. We have stated that in contested cases our review is limited to those questions considered by [the administrative agency.] General Telephone Co. v. Iowa State Commerce Commission, 275 N.W.2d 364, 367 (Iowa 1979). As one authority has stated: It is a general rule subject to some limitations and exceptions, that an appellate court will consider only such questions as were raised and reserved in the lower court. The same principle, based upon the demands of orderly procedure and the justice of holding a party to the results of his own conduct, where to do otherwise would surprise his opponent and deprive him of an opportunity to contest an issue in the tribunal which by law is supposed to decide it, and often embraced in specific statutory provisions, applies on review by courts of determinations of administrative agencies so as to preclude from consideration questions or issues which were not properly raised in the proceedings before the agency. 2 Am.Jur.2d Administrative Law § 724, at 624 (1962) (footnotes deleted); accord, 73 C.J.S. Public Administrative Bodies § 246, at 613 (1951). Cf. Temple v. Vermeer Manufacturing Co., 285 N.W.2d 157, 159 (Iowa 1979) (in reviewing contested cases, issues not presented to the district court cannot be presented for determination for the first time before this tribunal). Under this rule it appears the argument presented in the railroad's petition for judicial review, that the statute was unconstitutional on its face, was not preserved. However, there is a separate question whether the argument first raised in the application for agency rehearing was preserved. Although the argument the statute as applied violated due process was not raised in the initial proceeding before the board, the board had the opportunity to consider it when the railroad filed its application for rehearing. Thus error on this ground was preserved since the railroad's application was deemed denied by the board's refusal to grant it. See General Telephone Co., 275 N.W.2d at 367. (B) Vagueness; Overbreadth. On appeal the railroad argues section 327G.32 suffers from vagueness and from overbreadth, (which generally refers, in the context of the first amendment, to regulations that sweep unnecessarily broadly and thereby invade the area of protected freedoms, NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Flowers, 377 U.S. 288, 307, 84 S.Ct. 1302, 1314, 12 L.Ed.2d 325, 338 (1964)). Whatever the railroad intends by these arguments, it has raised them for the first time on appeal, thereby precluding this court's review. See Temple, 285 N.W.2d at 159. (C) Preclusion (res judicata). On appeal the railroad complains the board could not, sua sponte, reverse its original decision that the railroad had timely objected to the ordinance. It concludes the board abused its discretion by shifting its position, thus violating section 17A.19(8)(g). This ground was not raised in the district court and thus was waived. See Temple, 285 N.W.2d at 159. In any event, neither chapter 17A nor case law interpreting it precludes an agency from later reconsidering its own findings made at a prehearing conference. (D) Status as an interested party. On appeal the railroad asserts a hearing on the merits was required under chapter 327G because another railroad, notwithstanding the subsequent withdrawal of its objection, timely objected to the ordinance. Again, this ground was not presented to the district court and as such, was waived. See Temple, 285 N.W.2d at 159.