Opinion ID: 2750940
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Submission of Agency Record

Text: The AOPA governs administrative proceedings and judicial review of decisions of DOE and certain other State agencies. See I.C. §§ 4-21.5-2-0.1 to 6. For the agencies to which it applies, AOPA includes extensive procedural requirements for adjudications under the Act. See, e.g., I.C. § 4-21.5-3-1 (governing notice of agency action); I.C. § 4-21.5-3-13 (governing qualifications of adjudicators); I.C. § 4-21.5-3-18 (governing notice and conduct of prehearing conferences); I.C. § 4-21.5-3-22 (governing conduct of discovery); I.C. § 4-21.5-3-25 (governing conduct of hearings); I.C. § 4-21.5-3-26 (governing presentation of evidence); I.C. § 4-21.5-3-27 (governing contents of orders); I.C. § 4-21.5-3-33 (governing maintenance of records of proceedings). In addition to these procedural requirements for agency actions, AOPA includes its own provisions for judicial review of agency actions. See I.C. §§ 4-21.5-5-1 to 16. A person aggrieved by an agency action may file a petition for review in the appropriate trial court, and can show the agency action was invalid by demonstrating the party was prejudiced by an agency action that was: (1) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law; (2) contrary to constitutional right, power, privilege, or immunity; (3) in excess of statutory jurisdiction, authority, or limitations, or short of statutory right; (4) without observance of procedure required by law; or (5) unsupported by substantial evidence. I.C. § 4-21.5-5-14. This section also requires that the reviewing court “shall make findings of fact on each material issue on which the court’s decision is based.” Id. The court’s review of disputed issues of fact “must be confined to the agency record for the agency action . . . . The court may not try the cause de novo or substitute its judgment for that of the agency.” I.C. § 4- 21.5-5-11. Particularly relevant in the case before us are certain AOPA provisions regarding the record of proceedings in the agency and the role of that record in facilitating judicial review. AOPA provides that each “agency shall maintain an official record of each proceeding under this 6 chapter.” I.C. § 4-21.5-3-33. “Upon a written request by the petitioner, the agency taking the action being reviewed shall prepare the agency record for the petitioner.” I.C. § 4-21.5-5-13(c). Within thirty days after an aggrieved party files its petition for judicial review “or within further time allowed by the court or by other law, the petitioner shall transmit to the court the original or a certified copy of the agency record for judicial review of the agency action . . . .” I.C. § 4- 21.5-5-13(a) (emphasis added). A petitioner’s “[f]ailure to file the record within the time permitted by this subsection, including any extension period ordered by the court, is cause for dismissal of the petition for review by the court, on its own motion, or on petition of any party of record to the proceeding.” I.C. § 4-21.5-5-13(b) (emphasis added). AOPA more specifically provides that “the original or a certified copy of the agency record for judicial review . . . consist[s of:]” (1) any agency documents expressing the agency action; (2) other documents identified by the agency as having been considered by it before its action and used as a basis for its action; and (3) any other material described in this article as the agency record for the type of agency action at issue, subject to this section. I.C. § 4-21.5-5-13(a) (emphasis added). Elsewhere in Article 21.5 is the following description: The agency record of the proceeding consists only of the following: (1) Notices of all proceedings. (2) Any prehearing order. (3) Any motions, pleadings, briefs, petitions, requests, and intermediate rulings. (4) Evidence received or considered. (5) A statement of matters officially noticed. (6) Proffers of proof and objections and rulings on them. (7) Proposed findings, requested orders, and exceptions. (8) The record prepared for the administrative law judge or for the ultimate authority or its designee under sections 28 through 31 of this chapter, at a hearing, and any transcript of the record considered before final disposition of the proceeding. (9) Any final order, nonfinal order, or order on rehearing. (10) Staff memoranda or data submitted to the administrative law judge or a person presiding in a proceeding under sections 28 through 31 of this chapter. 7 (11) Matters placed on the record after an ex parte communication. I.C. § 4-21.5-3-33(b). And with certain exceptions not relevant here, “the agency record described by subsection (b) constitutes the exclusive basis for agency action in proceedings under this chapter and for judicial review of a proceeding under this chapter.” I.C. § 4-21.5-3- 33(c). First American acknowledges that it did not transmit the agency record to the trial court as anticipated by AOPA. It insists however that the documents presented to the trial court were sufficient to decide whether the Commissioner’s hearing order was void. According to First American, “the only documents relevant to judicial review were the April 15, 2012 Order appointing an ALJ to conduct an investigative hearing and the April 19, 2012 Order setting the investigative hearing for July 12, 2012.” Reply Br. of Appellant at 24-25. First American correctly notes these documents were attached to its petition for judicial review. In support of its contention First American relies heavily on Izaak Walton League of America, Inc. v. Dekalb County Surveryor’s Office which declared, among other things: “We think the purposes of the statutes governing what constitutes an adequate agency record . . . are clear. The record must include all that is necessary . . . to accurately assess the challenged agency action.” 850 N.E.2d 957 at 965 (Ind. Ct. App. 2006). But in an opinion we decide today we declare a “bright line” rule effectively abrogating Izaak Walton and similar cases. “[W]e hold a petitioner for review cannot receive consideration of its petition where the statutorily-defined agency record has not been filed. In our view this bright-line approach best serves the goals of accuracy, efficiency, and judicial economy.” Teaching Our Posterity Success, Inc., ___ N.E.3d at ___, No. 49S05-1411-PL-700, slip op. at 9- 10 (footnote omitted). In this case First American did not file the agency record with the trial court. Therefore its petition for judicial review cannot be considered. The trial court thus erred in failing to grant the Commissioner’s motion to dismiss the petition. 8