Opinion ID: 2519842
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the supreme court has jurisdiction to hear this appeal

Text: The County asserts that the district court should have granted its motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. The County argues that it was error for the district court to extend the time for filing the appeal because no statute existed expressly authorizing the Board to entertain a reconsideration motion. The Landowners' notice of appeal that was filed subsequent to the decision on the reconsideration motion was beyond the time for appeal from the Board's initial decision on July 9, 1991, and thus inadequate to confer jurisdiction upon the district court to hear the appeal from the Board's decision. Requirements for timely filing and service of a petition for review are jurisdictional. Absent compliance with this statutory requirement, a district court has no jurisdiction to review a final determination of the district board. Lindstrom v. Dist. Board of Health Panhandle Dist. I, 109 Idaho 956, 712 P.2d 657 (Ct.App.1985). See also Freeman v. Sunshine Mining Co., 75 Idaho 292, 271 P.2d 1022 (1954) (requirements of statutes relative to perfecting an appeal in workmen's compensation cases are mandatory and jurisdictional, and failure to comply therewith deprives the court of jurisdiction); State v. James, 112 Idaho 239, 731 P.2d 234 (Ct.App. 1986) (requirement of perfecting an appeal within the forty-two day time period is jurisdictional, and appeals taken after expiration of the filing period must be dismissed). The filing of a petition for review of a board's decision within the time prescribed by statute is a jurisdictional matter that cannot be waived by the parties. Stout v. Cunningham, 29 Idaho 809, 162 P. 928 (1917). At the time of the Board's July 9, 1991, decision validating the ACR as a public road, any person aggrieved by any act, order or proceeding of the board could appeal any time within twenty days after the first publication or posting of the statement, as required by I.C. § 31-819. I.C. § 31-1509. Clearly, the notice of appeal to the district court was not filed within twenty days of July 9, 1991, but only after the Board's decision on the Landowners' request for reconsideration. For the appeal to be deemed timely then, jurisdiction must lie for the Board to reconsider its original decision. Idaho Code § 40-203A confers upon the Board the authority to confirm the status of public highways through validation proceedings: however, the statute makes no provision regarding a motion for reconsideration by the Board once the Board has entered its order either granting or denying the validation. The statute prescribes a hearing after notice and an order discontinuing or completing the validation proceedings. A separate statute, I.C. § 31-819, provides that all of the acts and proceedings of a board of county commissioners be published in a monthly statement to give notice to the public. The only relief provided from the Board's decision is the right to appeal, which, under I.C. § 31-1509, must be filed any time within twenty days after the first publication or posting of the statement. Generally, a board of county commissioners has only such powers as are expressly or impliedly conferred upon it by statute. Prothero v. Board of County Comm'rs, 22 Idaho 598, 127 P. 175 (1912). In ruling on the County's motion to dismiss, the district court determined that I.C. § 31-828 was broad enough to confer authority on the Board to reconsider its decision. The following principles justifying reconsideration are also relevant: Even apart from any statutory provision expressly authorizing modification, administrative determinations are subject to reconsideration and change where they have not passed beyond the control of the administrative agency, as where the determinations are not final, but interlocutory, incomplete, provisional, or not yet effective, or where the powers and jurisdiction of the administrative agency are continuing in nature. While a proceeding is pending before a tribunal, there is no limit to the power of such tribunal to review any rulings it may have made, or to permit a reargument upon any proposition involved. When the jurisdiction of an administrative agency has terminated, there is no longer any power to reconsider or change the determination, and even a statutory provision for continuing jurisdiction may be held to end when the matter is no longer pending before the agency. 2 Am.Jur.2d, Administrative Law § 522 (1994). [1] Continuing its analysis on the jurisdiction question, the district court concluded that the time in which the Landowners were required to file their appeal was enlarged by the filing of their reconsideration motion. Citing Eastern Idaho Health Serv. v. Burtenshaw, 122 Idaho 904, 841 P.2d 434 (1992), the district court held that, pursuant to I.A.R. 14, the time for filing an appeal was temporarily suspended by the filing of the request for reconsideration and commenced to run anew on the date of the denial of the reconsideration request. Applying Burtenshaw, the district court ruled that the notice of appeal filed after the order on reconsideration but before the first publication date, as prescribed by I.C. § 31-1509 (1991), was timely. Viewed in another way, it appears that the time to appeal commenced upon entry of the Board's final order ruling on the Landowner's timely request for reconsideration. We uphold the district court's ruling, which was based upon an accurate reading of Burtenshaw, and thus we hold the district court had jurisdiction to hear the appeal from the Board's decision declaring the ACR to be a public road. Nevertheless, we are convinced that Burtenshaw was erroneously decided with respect to its reliance on I.A.R. 14. We expressly overrule Burtenshaw prospectively to the extent that an appellate rule, which governs only appellate proceedings, was applied to extend the period for filing a petition for judicial review of an agency's decision by the district court.