Opinion ID: 4532750
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: analysis

Text: [2] Before reaching the legal issues presented for review, it is our duty to determine whether we have jurisdiction to decide them. Id. This is the case regardless of whether the issue is raised by the parties. Id. The following statutes govern appeals from orders of the PSC and are relevant to the jurisdictional issue in this appeal: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 86-158(1) (Reissue 2014) provides, “Except as otherwise provided in section 86-123, any order of the [PSC] entered pursuant to authority granted in the Nebraska Telecommunications Regulation Act may be appealed by any interested party to the proceeding. The appeal shall be in accordance with section 75-136.” Neb. Rev. Stat. § 75-136(2) (Reissue 2018) provides: Any appeal filed on or after October 1, 2013, shall be taken in the same manner and time as appeals from the district court, except that the appellate court shall conduct a review of the matter de novo on the record. Appeals shall be heard and disposed of in the appellate court in the manner provided by law. Appeal of a [PSC] order shall be perfected by filing a notice of intention to appeal with the executive director of the [PSC] within thirty days after the effective date of the order as determined under section 75-134. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 75-134(2) (Reissue 2018) provides in part that “[e]very order of the [PSC] shall become effective ten days after the date of the mailing of a copy of the order to the parties of record except (a) when the [PSC] prescribes an alternate effective date . . . .” Neb. Rev. Stat. § 75-134.02 (Reissue 2018) provides in part: [A]ny party may file a motion for reconsideration with the [PSC] within ten days after the effective date of the order as determined under section 75-134. The filing of a - 640 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 305 Nebraska Reports IN RE APP. NO. C-4973 OF SKRDLANT Cite as 305 Neb. 635 motion for reconsideration shall suspend the time for filing a notice of intention to appeal pending resolution of the motion . . . .” In the July 10, 2018, orders about which Windstream complains, the PSC declared that the orders were effective the day they were entered. Therefore, the effective date of the orders under § 75-134(2)(a) was July 10. Under § 75-136(2), appeals from the orders would be “perfected by filing a notice of intention to appeal with the executive director of the [PSC] within thirty days after” July 10. While under § 75-134.02 the “filing of a motion for reconsideration shall suspend the time for filing a notice of intention to appeal,” § 75-134.02 requires such motion for reconsideration to be filed “within ten days after the effective date of the order.” To determine compliance with these statutes, we must determine when the motions for rehearing were filed with the PSC. If the motions for rehearing were not timely, then the time for filing the notices of intention to appeal was not suspended and the notices of intention to appeal filed September 13 were not timely. [3] The motions for rehearing filed by Windstream in these cases were file stamped by the PSC as being received on July 23, 2018, which was more than 10 days after the July 10 effective date of the orders. In a case interpreting a statute governing filing deadlines for appeals in the Tax Equalization and Review Commission (TERC), we held that “the word ‘filed’ means ‘in the possession of’ a particular person or agency, as the circumstance dictates, and that [the statute] makes it clear that the appeal must be in the possession of TERC in order to be considered filed.” Creighton St. Joseph Hosp. v. Tax Eq. & Rev. Comm., 260 Neb. 905, 920, 620 N.W.2d 90, 101 (2000). We similarly interpret “file” and “filing” in § 75-134.02 to mean that a motion for reconsideration must be in the possession of the PSC within 10 days after the effective date of the order in order to suspend the time for filing a notice of intention to appeal. - 641 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 305 Nebraska Reports IN RE APP. NO. C-4973 OF SKRDLANT Cite as 305 Neb. 635 In the records of the proceedings in the PSC that were provided in these appeals, the only indication of when Windstream’s motions for rehearing were in the possession of the PSC is the date of July 23, 2018, that was file stamped on each motion. In a case in which the date a notice of appeal was filed was at issue, we noted that “[i]t has long been held that in the absence of evidence to the contrary, it may be presumed that public officers faithfully performed their official duties and that absent evidence showing misconduct or disregard of law, the regularity of official acts is presumed.” State v. Hess, 261 Neb. 368, 377, 622 N.W.2d 891, 900-01 (2001). We reasoned in Hess that the timely filing of documents is an official duty of the clerk of a district court and that “the timely filing of such documents is an official act to which the presumption of regularity attaches.” 261 Neb. at 377, 622 N.W.2d at 901. We further reasoned in Hess that “[t]he entry of filing by the clerk is the best evidence of the date of filing and is presumed to be correct until the contrary is shown,” and we therefore concluded that “we must presume, in the absence of affirmative evidence to the contrary, that the clerk performed his or her duty and endorsed the notice of appeal with the date it was in fact presented to him or her for filing.” 261 Neb. at 377-78, 622 N.W.2d at 901. [4] By reasoning similar to Hess, we determine that the file stamp of an agency such as the PSC is afforded a presumption of regularity and that therefore, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the date the document was received by and in the possession of the agency for filing is the date shown by the file stamp. The file stamp is durable proof of filing unless overcome by meaningful evidence to the contrary. In response to the Court of Appeals’ orders to show cause, Windstream attempted to overcome this presumption by asserting that on July 20, 2018, it transmitted the motions electronically as email attachments and via the U.S. mail. Windstream’s evidence of such transmissions included affidavits of its attorney to which copies of the email were - 642 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 305 Nebraska Reports IN RE APP. NO. C-4973 OF SKRDLANT Cite as 305 Neb. 635 attached, but the emails themselves bore no attached motions for rehearing. With regard to mailing hard copies of the motions via U.S. mail on July 20, 2018, such mailing was not effective to establish that the motions were filed with the PSC on that date. As discussed above, the relevant statutes require filing within 10 days, which we interpret to mean that the motions must be in the possession of the PSC within that time. Mailing on a certain date does not establish possession by the recipient on that date. By contrast, we note that after the decision in Creighton St. Joseph Hosp. v. Tax Eq. & Rev. Comm., supra, discussed above, the Legislature amended relevant statutes related to appeals to TERC to adopt a “mailbox rule” to the effect that an appeal is timely filed if placed in the U.S. mail on or before the specified date. See Lozier Corp. v. Douglas Cty. Bd. of Equal., 285 Neb. 705, 829 N.W.2d 652 (2013). However, the statutes quoted above regarding filing of motions with the PSC do not contain a “mailbox rule” nor do the rules, effective April 19, 2019, to which we refer below, contain a “mailbox rule.” In sum, Windstream does not direct us to authority to the effect that a motion is timely filed with the PSC if placed in the mail on or before the specified date. Windstream cites only Neb. Ct. R. Pldg. § 6-1105(b)(4); however, that rule relates to service of pleadings, not to filing of pleadings. In regard to service, at oral argument the attorney for the PSC stated that the motion “had been received electronically” and, when asked to clarify, answered “it was emailed to counsel, so counsel had it.” Regarding filing, the attorney continued, “[w]hether they’re the appropriate . . . I mean, I’m not sure how filing is accomplished, even if it[’]s handdelivered. I suspect it comes in, somebody stamps it . . . .” (Emphasis supplied.) Given the foregoing and the substance of the emails, it is not clear that Windstream even considered the email sent by its counsel to constitute a “filing.” We do not believe the PSC has established filing or admitted to a fact establishing filing on July 20, 2018, and to the contrary, we - 643 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 305 Nebraska Reports IN RE APP. NO. C-4973 OF SKRDLANT Cite as 305 Neb. 635 understand the dialogue quoted above to mean that although there may have been service on opposing counsel on July 20, the filing of the motions is evidenced by a file stamp which in this case was July 23. Windstream’s evidence that it submitted the motions electronically does not overcome the presumption that the motions for rehearing were filed as stamped on July 23, 2018. A proper efiling system provides verification of receipt. No such verification has been submitted in this case. The Windstream affidavit in response to the show cause order did not aver or identify that a recipient of the email was a PSC individual authorized to receive and administer the filing. And although the email heading shows that the email was sent to various “nebraska.gov” addresses, the record does not show that any certain address is that of the proper person with whom a pleading to the PSC must be filed; during the pendency of the appeal, the PSC did not assert that a proper person received the document on July 20. It is not the duty of a court to scour the record in search of facts that might support a claim. See State v. Dill, 300 Neb. 344, 913 N.W.2d 470 (2018) (declining to scour record in search of facts that might support claim). Finally, even if we were to adopt a presumption that the email sent by Windstream on July 20 bore attached motions for rehearing and further presume that it was received by a proper recipient on that same date, Windstream has not directed us to any rule or regulation of the PSC or other authority indicating that an email attachment is an acceptable method for filing a motion with the PSC. Compare Strode v. Saunders Cty. Bd. of Equal., 283 Neb. 802, 815 N.W.2d 856 (2012) (filing of motion for rehearing by facsimile acceptable because rule adopted by TERC provides for filing by facsimile if original is mailed or delivered within 24 hours). For completeness, we note that effective April 21, 2019, the PSC amended its general rules of practice and procedure. Those rules now define a pleading to include a motion, 291 Neb. Admin. Code, ch. 1, § 001.25 (2019); require that - 644 - Nebraska Supreme Court Advance Sheets 305 Nebraska Reports IN RE APP. NO. C-4973 OF SKRDLANT Cite as 305 Neb. 635 all pleadings must be on white letter-sized paper, 291 Neb. Admin. Code, ch.1, § 002.05A (2019); and require that all pleadings must be “filed with the [PSC] at its official office,” 291 Neb. Admin. Code, ch. 1, § 002.05B (2019). They further provide that “[f]iling may be accomplished by personal delivery or mail and will be received during regular office hours of the [PSC].” Id. See, also, 291 Neb. Admin. Code, ch.1, § 002.01 (2019) (“office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday”). These rules appear to end any uncertainty over whether filings with the PSC can be accomplished via email.