Court Opinion

ID: 9627331
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:42:23.408193+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:44.805844
License: Public Domain

LEHMAN, Justice,
concurring.
The dissent asserts an inconsistency of result between this case and U S West Communications, Inc. v. Public Serv. Comm’n, 958 P.2d 371 (Wyo.1998). I feel compelled to defend the majority from th&t assertion.
The petition in this case was. filed and hearings were held before the Wyoming Telecommunications Act of 1995 was passed by the legislature; it was only the decision of the PSC that occurred after the new law went into effect. While the dissent recognizes the issues in the two cases are “substantially identical,” it avoids mention of the intervenor’s issue number 1 which is the dispositive issue in this case, an issue notably absent in case 96-264, 958 P.2d 371.
The petition in 96-264, 958 P.2d 371 was also filed when the old law was in effect, but all further proceedings came after the effective date of the new law. Of more significance, the dispositive issue in this case was waived in 96-264, 958 P.2d 371, and all parties limited their issues and arguments under the new law. The issue, if the old act applied, was never raised by any party and, having been waived, could not be addressed by this court.
The most one can discern from the dissent is that W.S. 8-1-107 (1995) should not apply to administrative proceedings. We, however, recognized its application to administrative proceedings in Wyoming Refining Co. v. Bottjen, 695 P.2d 647 (Wyo.1985) (worker’s compensation); Ballard v. Wyoming Pari-Mutuel Comm’n, 750 P.2d 286 (Wyo.1988) (parimutuel commission); and, notably by the dissenting author, in Meridian Aggregates Co. v. State Bd. of Equalization, 827 P.2d 375 (Wyo.1992). The application of § 8-1-107 to administrative proceedings is
Stare decisis /stériy dssáysas/. Lat. To abide by, or adhere to, decided cases[,]
Black’s Law Dictionary 1406 (6th ed.1990), and unless we were to overturn our previous holdings, would it not be inconsistent to assert otherwise?