Opinion ID: 2516613
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Appeals From OTC's Final Orders Are Cognizable Solely in the Supreme Court

Text: ¶ 8 An appeal from a final disposition by OTC lies only to the Supreme Court. [25] OTC is explicitly excluded from the provisions of Article II in the Administrative Procedures Act [APA]. [26] The law is equally well settled that an agency forfeiture, like that entered by a court, is subject only to a direct challenge. [27] No collateral attack [28] will lie upon an agency forfeiture order. If deprived of direct appeal the surety would be precluded from pressing, in a later district court proceeding, any forfeiture-related defenses interposed before OTC. No tribunal other than the Supreme Court is authorized to grant corrective relief from OTC's bond forfeiture. ¶ 9 In sum, direct judicial review of OTC's bond forfeiture is clearly USF & G's statutory due. It is arbitrarily withheld from this surety (and from all other OTC sureties) by this court's pronouncement in utter disregard of the law's time-honored protections. [29]