Opinion ID: 2454863
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: state tax commission of missouri

Text: In St. Louis County Water Co. v. State Highway Comm., Mo., 386 S.W.2d 119, this Court reversed the judgment of the Circuit Court affirming the Commission's order and remanded the cause to the Circuit Court with directions to remand to the Commission for further proceedings in accordance with the opinion. This action was taken by this Court because the Commission made no findings properly determinative of the case, although the Commission did enter its order directing the water company to relocate some of its facilities located on the state highway right-of-way. This Court said, l. c. 124: We do not deem it our proper function to decide, in this case, whether or not the commission could, on the basis of this and other evidence presented, have found basic facts to support its ultimate finding. `The Commission is the fact-finding body, and the Court examines the evidence not to make findings for the Commission but to ascertain whether its findings are properly supported.' The per curiam opinion written on Motion for Rehearing or For Transfer to Court en Banc in St. Louis County Water Co., supra, set forth basic elements necessary in order to comply with the requirement that the Commission enter findings of fact. The Court stated, l. c. 125: By its motion for rehearing or in the alternative for transfer to the Court En Banc, the Commission argues that the findings which it made in this case were sufficient. The motion asserts: `The only ultimate fact which the Commission was required to find was whether or not the water mains in question would interfere with the construction, maintenance or use of the highway.' Insofar as the finding of ultimate fact is concerned, we can agree with this contention. We do not agree, however, that such ultimate finding, couched in the statutory language, is the only finding the Commission was required to make. The Commission must also have found the basic facts from which such ultimate fact might be inferred. `Courts do not want agencies to include detailed summaries of testimony in their findings; they want what they call the basic facts.   The basic findings are those on which the ultimate finding rests; the basic findings are more detailed than the ultimate finding but less detailed than a summary of the evidence.' 2 Davis, Administrative Law Treatise, Section 16.06, pages 450, 451. Only when the administrative agency makes such basic findings can a court properly perform its limited function of review of the administrative action. To repeat Judge Hyde's statement in Michler v. Krey Packing Co., 363 Mo. 707, 253 S.W.2d 136, 142, `In any case, finding should be sufficient to show how the controlling issues have been decided.' The Tax Commission's Findings of Fact, Nos. 1-7, noted above, are a mere statement of the chronology of events that transpired up to the time that the matter came before the State Tax Commission, and do not constitute any factual resolution of the matters in contest before the Commission, nor do they advise the parties or the Circuit Court of the factual basis upon which the Commission reached its conclusion and order. They resolve no factual disputes and therefore do not constitute true Findings of Fact. They do not provide any basis for the Circuit Court to perform its limited function in reviewing administrative agency decisions because they do not show how the controlling issues have been decided. St. Louis County Water Co. v. State Highway Comm., supra, l. c. 123. Findings Nos. 8 and 9, supra, actually constitute the Decision of the Commission. It is true that the decision of the Commission can be called the ultimate finding of fact in the case, however, it is not supportive of itself. Had the legislature determined that all that was required of an administrative agency in the rendition of its decisions was for the agency to enter up its final conclusion, much the same as a jury verdict, there would have been no reason to enact Section 536.090, supra, and require that the agency include a concise statement of the findings on which the agency bases its order, for the order itself would be all that the legislature required. Sec. 536.140(5), RSMo 1969, V.A.M.S., provides: The court shall render judgment affirming, reversing, or modifying the agency's order, and may order the reconsideration of the case in the light of the court's opinion and judgment, and may order the agency to take such further action as it may be proper to require; but the court shall not substitute its discretion for discretion legally vested in the agency. Appellants' joint reply memorandum expresses fear that if this Court dismisses this appeal then whenever a Circuit Court, in reviewing an administrative decision, labels its (the Circuit Court's) decision a remand then such a decision cannot be reviewed on appeal by this Court and this would give the Circuit Court an unbridled mechanism to remand decisions back to the administrative agency until that agency renders a decision that accords with the views of the Circuit Court on the merits; and that such action by a Circuit Court would constitute a usurpation of administrative decision that was never intended in the application of Chapter 536, V.A.M.S. The fear expressed is unfounded. The statutes themselves require the administrative agency to set forth its findings of fact and it would seem clear that the purpose in requiring such to be done is in order that the Circuit Court can know the basis for the agency's decision in order that it, the Circuit Court, can perform its limited review function and not substitute its discretion for that of the administrative agency. We are not to be understood in this opinion as deciding any phase of this case on the merits nor as indicating approval or disapproval of the Commission's decision on the merits. Our order of dismissal of this appeal as premature is premised solely on the holding that there are no findings of fact appearing in the Commission's Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Decision from which a Circuit Court could know the basis upon which the Commission reduced the assessment of $1,238,400.00 to $113,691.00 for the year 1966 and the comparable reductions made with reference to the years 1967 and 1968. The order of the Circuit Court of Iron County was authorized by Sec. 536.140 (5), supra, and was properly entered. We have set forth the Commission's Findings, Conclusions and Decision in this case in order that administrative agencies can know that a mere recitation of events giving rise to a controversy does not comply with Sec. 536.090, supra, and that it is the obligation of such agencies to resolve disputed questions of fact and set these resolutions forth as the agency's findings in order that, upon review, the Circuit Court can perform its function of review as required by Chapter 536, V.A.M.S. The appeal filed here is premature as the order of the Circuit Court does not constitute a final disposition of the case and is not a final appealable order. State ex rel. St. Louis County v. Public Service Comm., 360 Mo. 270, 228 S.W.2d 1; Hickman v. Division of Employment Security, Mo.App., 448 S.W.2d 270. The appeal is dismissed as premature. All concur.