Court Opinion

ID: 5047255
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2021-10-01 07:29:01.963873+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:08:12.162407
License: Public Domain

I respectfully dissent.
I read the majority opinion to hold that the contestants in this case, respondents herein, were denied due process of law, primarily because of the exclusion of contestants' Exhibit 34, regardless of the fact that the Commissioner's order is supported by substantial evidence.
I disagree with the majority opinion in its holding that the exclusion of Exhibit 34 was a violation of due process. There are situations where the wrongful actions of the hearing officer would be so detrimental to the presentation of a party's position that it would constitute a violation of due process, but the wrongful exclusion of Exhibit 34 was not the kind of error which would deny contestants due process of law. The majority states that excluding Exhibit 34 was harmful in that it could have impeached the testimony of Dr. Branson. I believe that Exhibit 34 was only cumulative of other evidence which sought to impeach Dr. Branson's testimony and its exclusion was harmless. Contestants offered Exhibit 3, a study done six years earlier by Branson which compared a different county, Bowie County, to eight other counties, one of which was Gregg County. Contestants' Exhibit 3 was admitted to show the prior methodology used by Branson and was admitted over the applicant's objection. The methodology used by Branson in the Gregg County study was substantially different than that used in the Bowie County study. Exhibit 3 had absolutely no relevance to the charter application in Gregg County. The contestants then sought to admit Exhibit 34 which used the methodology of Exhibit 3 with updated figures. Exhibit 34 was excluded by the *Page 17 
hearing commissioner. The majority opinion states that the value of Exhibit 34 was its impeachment of Branson's testimony. Exhibit 34 could not impeach Branson as to the Gregg County study because the methodology used by Branson in the Gregg County study was different from that used in the Bowie County study. I disagree with the majority opinion which holds that the exclusion of Exhibit 34 was so harmful that it denied contestants due process of law. Remanding this case to receive and consider Exhibit 34 is nothing more than "a postponement of the inevitable." 1 Cooper, State Administrative Law, at 404 (1965).
The exclusion of Exhibit 34 was not reversible error because witnesses for contestants testified to what Exhibit 34 sought to show. The purpose for introducing Exhibit 34, other than impeachment, was to show that Gregg County was not a good location for an association because the source of savings deposits was small, there was effective participation by existing associations, and the potential for new customers was not great. Contestants' expert, Dr. Vinson, testified to the active participation and competition in the home loan business. The officers of the contestants testified that the source of savings deposits was small due to the number of associations and the competition for these loans. This could be the result sought to be shown by ratio one in Exhibit 34. The officers of the contestants and Dr. Vinson testified to the active participation by existing associations in securing deposits and in making loans. Ratio two in Exhibit 34 reflected this because Gregg County had a high ratio of savings and loan assets per capita. Ratio three of Exhibit 34 sought to show the potential for future customers by comparing the savings and loan assets with the effective buying income of Gregg County. The officers of contestants testified that the competition for customers was fierce and that there was not a great potential for new customers in Gregg County. While none of this evidence was presented in ratio form as it was in Exhibit 34, the things that Exhibit 34 sought to show were testified to and were before the Commissioner.
In Benson v. San Antonio Savings Association, 374 S.W.2d 423
(Tex. 1963), the unsuccessful applicant alleged denial of due process because the trial court refused to allow him access to an investigative report of the Commissioner. This court held that although refusal to allow examination of the report was error, the case did not have to be remanded. The court stated:
 "All of this, however, does not require a reversal and remand of this case. The investigative report, even if admissible in evidence in the trial court by reason of Art. 3731a, § 1, Vernon's Ann.Civ.Stat., is necessarily hearsay and whether favorable or unfavorable to San Antonio Association, could not serve to show that the Commissioner's rejection of the application was not supported by substantial evidence. From the record we must assume it was merely cumulative of the evidence introduced." 374 S.W.2d at 429.
See, Lewis v. Southmore Savings Ass'n, 480 S.W.2d 180, 184 (Tex. 1972); Gerst v. Nixon, 411 S.W.2d 350, 357 (Tex. 1966).
The holding of the majority opinion requires reversal of evidentiary errors made by hearing officers who are not required to be attorneys. The majority opinion states that not all evidentiary errors will require reversal and that the hearing examiner does not have to meet judicial standards in the conduct of a hearing. The standard which these hearing officers must meet is unannounced and the result of this opinion seems to indicate that mistakes by hearing officers will be grounds for reversal just as in a judicial proceeding. The majority's holding will cause appellate courts to review every case in which contested evidence was excluded at the hearing. I think this will result in hearing officers admitting all contested evidence due to fear of reversal. This will cause larger records of charter hearings, which are already voluminous, and raise the problem of placing incompetent evidence before the Savings and Loan Commissioner. The argument could then be asserted that reversal is required because the Commissioner considered incompetent evidence. *Page 18 
I would reverse the court of civil appeals and affirm the order of the Commissioner granting the Savings and Loan Association charter.
GREENHILL, C. J., and DENTON, J., join in this dissent.