Opinion ID: 680702
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Seashore's Party Status.

Text: 19 When an agency interprets its own administrative regulation promulgated under the statute charged to its administration, this court owes a high degree of deference to that interpretation. Udall v. Tallman, 380 U.S. 1, 16-17, 85 S.Ct. 792, 801-02, 13 L.Ed.2d 616 (1965). The agency's interpretation should be upheld unless it is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation. Id. (quoting Bowles v. Seminole Rock Co., 325 U.S. 410, 413-14, 65 S.Ct. 1215, 1217, 89 L.Ed. 1700 (1945)). We find no such error in the Commission's interpretation of its own party-status rules. 20 The Commission determined that Seashore achieved party status for purposes of appealing the ALJ's order under 47 C.F.R. Sec. 1.302 by virtue of its earlier petition to deny Jersey Shore's application in the HDO. Appellants maintain that this determination is erroneous, contending that Seashore could only have achieved party status by filing a timely petition to intervene under Commission rules, which it did not do. Seashore also did not properly appeal the ALJ's denial of its intervention petition under 47 C.F.R. Sec. 1.301(c) (1993), which requires appeals from interlocutory agency orders to be filed within five days of entry of the order. By granting Seashore party status for purposes of appeal of the final order, the Commission allegedly reached the merits of Seashore's appeal improperly. 21 Although the Commission's ruling does not comply with the Commission's intervention rules and 47 C.F.R. Sec. 1.301(c), if we affirm the Commission's determination that Seashore has party status, then the intervention rule is not relevant. We do so affirm. An FCC regulation, 47 C.F.R. Sec. 1.302(a), provides that any party to the proceeding, as a matter of right, may file an appeal from [a presiding officer's final] ruling within 30 days after the ruling is released. 47 C.F.R. Sec. 1.302(a). We will defer to the Commission's interpretation of the phrase any party to the proceeding unless it is plainly erroneous. Udall, 380 U.S. at 17, 85 S.Ct. at 801. Here, the Commission reasoned that, although not granted party status through a petition to intervene, Seashore retained party status as a result of its earlier petition to deny Jersey Shore's application. It was not unreasonable for the Commission to conclude that Seashore's interest in seeing Jersey Shore's application denied could have been affected by the settlement agreement, and therefore, to recognize Seashore status as party to protect that interest. We defer to the agency's reasonable interpretation of 47 C.F.R. Sec. 1.302(a). Seashore's appeal was thus timely filed, and the Commission did not err in reaching the merits of Seashore's appeal. 1 22