Court Opinion

ID: 9531732
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:14:14.042198+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:34.311030
License: Public Domain

BARNES, Judge,
concurring in result.
I concur in result here because Judge Bailey and I do not see eye-to-eye on the trial courts "discretion." I believe the filing requirements are there for a reason as Judge Mathias points out in his dissent. Specifically, I am concerned that trial courts might be tempted to exercise "discretion" regarding untimely filings too liberally. The filing deadlines are absolute, as our supreme court has made clear. For example, "It is well settled that a reviewing court may grant a request for an extension under section 4-21.5-5-13 of AOPA only if the request is made during the initial thirty days following the filing of the petition for review or within any previously granted extension." Wayne County Property Tax Assessment Bd. of Appeals v. United Ancient Order of Druids-Grove No. 29, 847 N.E.2d 924, 927 (Ind.2006).
However, because I believe sufficient documents were timely filed that would allow a decision to be made here, I follow the reasoning laid out in Izaak Walton League of America, Inc. v. DeKalb County Surveyor's Office, 850 N.E.2d 957 (Ind.Ct.App.2006), trans. denied. There, we rejected a strict, hyper-technical construction of the AOPA that would require all paper generated during an agency proceeding to be made part of the record for judicial review. Id. at 966. Instead, where all agency materials relevant to the question presented on judicial review are timely submitted, the record is sufficient. Id. at 966-67. That is what occurred here, and on this narrow basis I concur in result.