Court Opinion

ID: 9540494
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:16:38.226048+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:59:53.547937
License: Public Domain

DICKSON, Justice,
dissenting.
I am unable to join the majority because of each of the following issues: 1) applicability of the Administrative Adjudication Act; 2) timeliness of filing of Dixon’s petition for review; and 3) waiver for failure to raise constitutional claim in petition.

1. Applicability of the AAA

The Administrative Adjudication Act (AAA) (repealed effective July 1, 1987) established “a uniform method of administrative adjudication by all agencies of the state of Indiana ... [and] a uniform method of court review of all such administrative adjudication.” Ind.Code § 4-22-1-1. Indiana Code § 4-22-1-2 excludes from the definition of “administrative adjudication” “the dismissal or discharge of an officer or employee by a superior officer, but in-clud[es] hearings on discharge or dismissal of an officer or employee for cause where the law authorizes or directs such hearing.” The Court of Appeals correctly determined that the Department’s regulations did not provide for judicial review of Dixon’s dismissal.
Indiana Code § 4-22-l-14(a) provides that “[a]ny party or person aggrieved by an order or determination made by any such agency shall be entitled to a judicial review thereof in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.” A few cases hold that judicial review under this section covers all “administrative orders, decisions, or determinations not clearly and unambiguously excepted therefrom,” regardless of whether the agency action was excluded from “administrative adjudication.” Warram v. Stanton (1981), Ind.App., 415 N.E.2d 114, 116. Accord Zehner v. Indiana State Alcoholic Beverage Comm’n (1977), 173 Ind.App. 600, 364 N.E.2d 1037 (relying on State ex rel. Calumet Nat’l Bank v. McCord (1963), 243 Ind. 626, 189 N.E.2d 583, which construed earlier AAA). These cases, however, fail to recognize that the plain language of § 4-22-1-1 restricts the applicability of the AAA to judicial review of all “administrative adjudication,” which does not include, under § 4-22-1-2, certain employee dismissals.1
The non-applicability of the AAA" does not leave an aggrieved person without recourse to judicial review of administrative action. See Suttmiller v. City of Batesville (1967), 248 Ind. 391, 393, 226 N.E.2d 893 (in absence of statutory provision for review, an action for declaratory or injunc-tive relief will lie). Further, the constitutional right to review of administrative action exists to the extent necessary to ensure due process protection of property and liberty interests. See Warren v. Indiana *884Telephone Co. (1940), 217 Ind. 93, 26 N.E.2d 399. See generally Wilson v. Board of Indiana Employment Security Div. (1979), 270 Ind. 302, 385 N.E.2d 438, cert. denied, 444 U.S. 874, 100 S.Ct. 155, 62 L.Ed.2d 101 (interests meriting due process protection).
This Court should conclude that the employee Dixon does not have a right to review of his dismissal under the AAA.

2. Timeliness of Filing

Even if Dixon’s discharge was reviewable under the AAA, his claim would fail because he did not timely file his petition for judicial review. The petition for judicial review must be filed within fifteen days after the “receipt of notice” of the agency’s “order, decision, or determination.” Ind.Code § 4-22-l-14(b). Subsection 14(b) requires notice to be given as directed in § 4-22-1-6, which provides that notice be sent “in writing by registered or certified mail with return receipt requested, addressed to the person or persons against whom an order or determination may be made at their last known place of residence, or place of business.” Given the specific form of notice prescribed by the legislature, “receipt of notice” should be read to mean the date on which notice arrives at the last known address and is accepted.
In full compliance with the statute, the Department sent notice by certified mail to Dixon’s last known address. On March 1, 1985, Dixon’s mother accepted the notice as she had done for him on other occasions.2 Because receipt occurred on March 1, the filing of Dixon’s petition on April 2 was not within the fifteen-day time requirement. His untimely filing left the trial court without subject-matter jurisdiction to hear his case under the AAA.
If, as Dixon claims, the date of actual receipt of notice starts the fifteen-day period, his petition was still not timely filed. Dixon claimed that he did not actually receive the notice “until some later date in March 1985, the exact date of which was unknown to him at [the] time.”
Alleging Dixon’s failure to timely file the petition, the Department made a motion to dismiss under Trial Rule 12(B)(1) for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
“When a trial court is confronted with a motion to dismiss under Rule TR 12(B)(1), it must, then, decide upon the complaint, the motion, and any affidavits or other evidence submitted whether or not it possesses the authority to further adjudicate the action.” Cooper v. County Board of Review of Grant County (1971), 150 Ind.App. 232, 237, 276 N.E.2d 533, 536. In reaching its decision, the trial court may weigh the evidence. Id. Where the complaint on its face alleges compliance with the statutory basis for subject-matter jurisdiction, the movant must show by affidavit or evidence that jurisdiction is lacking. Sekerez v. U.S. Reduction Co. (1976), 168 Ind.App. 526, 344 N.E.2d 102 (movant merely denied allegations of jurisdiction).
Dixon’s complaint alleged compliance with § 4-22-1-14, the prerequisite to judicial review of an agency action. The Department presented evidence that receipt occurred on March 1 when Dixon’s mother accepted the notice for him. Even if the date of actual receipt is controlling, the trial court could conclude that it had subject-matter jurisdiction only if Dixon presented some evidence that his receipt was within the fifteen days prior to his filing on April 2. Dixon’s lone statement that receipt occurred at “some later date in March” is insufficient to show his compliance with the statute’s time requirements.
Regardless of whether arrival of notice or actual notice is controlling, the trial *885court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction of the claim brought under the AAA.

3. Waiver for Failure to Raise Claim

Dixon’s petition for review listed the grounds for review under § 4-22-l-14(a) almost verbatim. Specifically, the petition alleged that the Complaint Board’s determinations “were made without observance of procedures as required by the Employees Handbook” and were “not supported by substantial evidence.” The petition made no mention of a constitutional claim. To the contrary, the petition only omitted one of the grounds for review under subsection 14(a): that the agency action was “[c]on-trary to constitutional right, power, privilege, or immunity.” Ind.Code § 4-22-l-14(a)(2).
In his response to the Department’s motion to dismiss for untimely filing, Dixon did not mention the constitutional claim. After the Department filed in November 1985 a Trial Rule 12(b)(6) motion which stated that Dixon “failed to present a statutory right to a hearing or a [due process] cognizable property interest,” Dixon responded without elaboration that he was discharged for exercising a “protected right.” In February 1986, the trial court granted the Department’s motions and dismissed Dixon’s petition.
Even Dixon’s motion to correct errors, which the trial court granted on other grounds, made no mention of the constitutional claim.
The failure to allege a constitutional issue in the petition for review waives that issue on appeal. Clarkson v. Dept. of Insurance (1981), Ind.App., 425 N.E.2d 203, 206. See Linville v. Shelby County Plan Comm’n (1972), 258 Ind. 467, 281 N.E.2d 884 (constitutional issue not reviewable on appeal where it was not before trial court under the pleadings). Not only did Dixon fail to raise the constitutional claim in his petition, but he failed to raise it before the trial court dismissed his petition. Apparently, the majority thinks a constitutional claim is an ace worth concealing. The case on which the majority relies, Wilson v. Board of Indiana Employment Security Div. (1979), 270 Ind. 302, 385 N.E.2d 438, held that a person need not exhaust his administrative remedies where he challenges the constitutionality of the agency’s procedures. However, Wilson does not relieve Dixon of the obligation of raising his constitutional claim in his petition for review. I would find that the constitutional issue was waived.
I dissent.
PIVARNIK, J., concurs.

. Furthermore, State ex rel. Calumet Nat’l Bank v. McCord (1963), 243 Ind. 626, 189 N.E.2d 583, involved a license application proceeding excepted from the act in § 63-3024, not an "administrative adjudication" exclusion under § 4-22-1-2’s predecessor, § 63-3003. The McCord court determined that, while the license application proceeding was excepted from the act, the agency’s final order was not specifically excepted under § 63-3024.

. In February 1985, Dixon received a letter from an employment relations officer which advised him of his right to have the DOH director review his dismissal. This letter, dated February 8, 1985, was addressed to the same address as the one that arrived on March 1, which informed him of the director’s decision. The content of the March 1 letter makes it clear that Dixon responded to the February 8 letter. The majority’s approach would reward an interested or aggrieved person who is not responsible enough to advise the agency involved of a change in address. Deceptive manipulation is also invited.