Opinion ID: 1654370
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether There was an Adequate Opportunity to Litigate the Issue to be Estopped

Text: The only issue Wal-Mart seeks to have collaterally estopped is the reason for Smitherman's discharge. Smitherman had an adequate opportunity to litigate this issue before the appeals referee. The Unemployment Compensation Act requires that the appeals tribunal afford[ ] the parties reasonable opportunity for [a] fair hearing. Ala.Code 1975, § 25-4-93. The procedure for conducting the hearing is prescribed by regulations of the Department of Industrial Relations. See § 25-4-92(b); see generally Ala. Admin. Code r. 480-1-4-.04 to -.06. Those regulations provide for a hearing at which the parties are afforded the opportunity to present evidence and testimony of witnesses given under oath. See Ala. Admin. Code r. 480-1-4-.04. A party may be represented by an attorney. See r. 480-1-4-.05. The parties are also afforded the opportunity to request that the hearing officer issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses or the production of documents or other things. See r. 480-1-4-.06. The record shows that the appeals referee conducted a hearing regarding Smitherman's claim for unemployment-compensation benefits and that Smitherman and her attorney, as well as Wal-Mart's attorney and a representative of Wal-Mart, appeared at the hearing. While the record on this appeal does not contain a transcript of that hearing, the appeals referee did make findings of fact based on the testimony and other evidence presented by the parties. Smitherman argues that in the administrative proceeding she was not afforded an adequate opportunity to litigate all of the issues involved in her workers' compensation and retaliatory-discharge claims, which were then pending before the circuit court, because, she says, the nearly three months between the date she filed her civil action and the date of the hearing was not a sufficient time for her to conduct discovery and to properly prepare. We disagree. First, in order for the doctrine of collateral estoppel to apply, it is not necessary that the administrative proceeding and the retaliatory-discharge action be identical as to all issues. Instead, it is the issue to be estopped that must be the same in the administrative proceeding and the retaliatory-discharge action. Second, the fact that discovery was pending in Smitherman's civil action at the time of the hearing before the appeals referee does not mean that Smitherman did not have an adequate opportunity at that hearing to litigate the reason for her discharge. At the time of the hearing, Smitherman knew Wal-Mart's stated reason for terminating her employment. Smitherman had the opportunity at the hearing to present evidence to refute Wal-Mart's stated reason for her discharge. Indeed, she had the burden of showing that she was not disqualified from receiving unemployment-compensation benefits. Moreover, Smitherman failed to appeal the appeals referee's decision to the appropriate circuit court for a trial de novo, as provided by Ala.Code 1975, § 25-4-95. Therefore, we conclude that Smitherman had an adequate opportunity in the administrative proceeding to litigate the reason for her discharge.