Court Opinion

ID: 9528002
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:36:12.310437+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:26:23.050873
License: Public Domain

WARREN, J.,
dissenting.
I disagree that the trial court had jurisdiction to decide this case and, therefore, respectfully dissent.
Under ORS 183.400(1), the validity of an administrative rule may be determined by this court. We have said that the Administrative Procedures Act (APA)
“establishes a comprehensive pattern for the judicial review of administrative decisions. The various APA statutes governing judicial review provide the sole and exclusive methods of obtaining judicial review.” Bay River v. Envir. Quality Comm., 26 Or App 717, 720, 554 P2d 620, rev den 276 Or 555 (1976).
We have continued to apply that rule: When there is a process available under the APA for judicial review, that process is exclusive. See, e.g., FOPPO v. County of Marion, 93 Or App 93, 760 P2d 1353 (1988), rev den 307 Or 326 (1989); Pen-Nor, Inc. v. Oregon Dept. Higher Ed., 87 Or App 305, 742 P2d 643 (1987).
Plaintiffs assert, and the majority agrees, that they need not follow the APA judicial review provisions, because this action is for a declaration of the meaning of a statutory term and for an injunction requiring enforcement in accordance with the interpretation of the statute promoted by plaintiffs. They argue that they do not claim that the Fire Marshal’s rules are inconsistent with the statute but, rather, that the Fire Marshal is selectively enforcing the rules. Therefore, the argument goes, the validity of the rules was not before the circuit court. That argument is contrary to their complaint. Plaintiffs did not allege selective enforcement of the rules; they alleged that the Fire Marshal was acting in conformity with the rules. Their complaint was that the rules interpreting the statutory term “at retail” constitute an erroneous interpretation of the statutes and that the rules, therefore, “are violative of and inconsistent with” the statutes “and are thereby void, without force or effect.” Far from seeking to enjoin selective enforcement, the fundamental premise of their complaint was that the Fire Marshal was *555applying her rules, but that the rules contain an interpretation of the statutory term “at retail” with which they disagree.
Plaintiffs also argue that the trial court had jurisdiction, because this action is a “separate civil action” that incidentally puts the validity of the rules at issue. After we decided Bay River v. Envir. Quality Comm., supra, the Supreme Court addressed the exclusivity of APA review in an action against a state agency for trespass and nuisance. In Hay v. Dept. of Transportation, 301 Or 129, 719 P2d 860 (1986), the plaintiff motel owners claimed that the state’s action in authorizing the use of the beach in front of their motel as a parking lot constituted a trespass and a nuisance. The defendant agency argued that the action was a collateral attack on the agency rules that authorized the parking, which the plaintiffs could mount only pursuant to ORS 183.400(1). The Supreme Court agreed that the action collaterally attacked the rule, but concluded that the challenge could proceed in the context of the trespass and nuisance action:
“The agencies’ analysis assumes that the APA is the exclusive means to challenge agency rules and that the circuit court cannot consider the validity of the rule at issue. However, ORS 183.400(1) is not exclusive on its face; it states that the ‘validity of any rule may be determined upon a petition by any person to the Court of Appeals.’ ” 301 Or at 137. (Emphasis in original.)
It then concluded that requiring the plaintiffs to petition this court for a determination of the validity of the rule, while the damage action in circuit court was stayed pending the outcome of that petition, would unnecessarily delay and confuse the system of review of agency acts. 301 Or at 138. It went on to caution, however:
“Our decision does not mean that anyone who dislikes a rule may challenge that rule in circuit court; ORS 183.400(1) authorizes the Court of Appeals to hear such a challenge. Only when a party places a rule’s validity at issue in a separate civil action may circuit courts determine a rule’s validity. This is such a case.” 301 Or at 138. (Emphasis supplied.)
The exception to ORS 183.400(1) review of administrative rules set out in Hay, does not assist plaintiffs here. In *556Hay, the existence of a trespass or nuisance depended on whether the agency’s rule allowing beach parking was valid. If it was not a valid rule, a trespass or nuisance had occurred. Thus, the determination of the validity of the rule was incidental to the claims for damages. Here, in contrast, it is the relief sought, an injunction, that is incidental to the declaration that the rules are invalid. Plaintiffs seek a declaration that the Fire Marshal’s rules permit what the statutes prohibit. That is the essence of a rule challenge under ORS 183.400(1).
Despite plaintiffs’ attempts to recharacterize the action, this is a direct attack on the rules, under the guise of a declaratory judgment, rather than a collateral attack on the rules incidental to a separate civil action. The gravamen of plaintiffs’ action is an invalidation of the rules based on their assertion that the statutory term “at retail” means what plaintiffs say it means, rather than what the Fire Marshal’s rules say it means. Adi of the relief that they seek, an injunction requiring the Fire Marshal to enforce the statutes as plaintiffs read them and enjoining her from applying or enforcing her rules, is wholly dependent on and flows directly from the declaration of the invalidity of the rules. The APA provides a mechanism, ORS 183.400(1), for plaintiffs to obtain a declaration regarding the validity of the rules. Although that mechanism is not always exclusive, it is the mechanism that must be used when, as in this case, the relief that the person seeks could be granted by this court.
If the challenged rules are valid, that which the Fire Marshal permits is statutorily permissible. Only as a consequence of a holding that the rules are invalid can plaintiffs obtain any relief. This is not a separate civil action as contemplated in Hay. The majority’s conclusion that this action could properly proceed in circuit court entirely eviscerates ORS 183.400(1). I cannot join in that reading of the statute or of Hay.
Deits, J., joins in this dissent.