Court Opinion

ID: 9710176
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:03:56.252272+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:54.922317
License: Public Domain

ANDERST, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I dissent.
*563In Schmidt, Com. of Rev. v. Phillips & Sons, 86 S.D. 326, 195 N.W.2d 400, this court set some standards for review of administrative decisions:
“We agree with the commissioner’s argument that if the requirements set forth in SDCL 35-4-26 are exclusive and that if one meeting those requirements is automatically entitled to a Class B liquor wholesaler’s license as a matter of lato, then the statutory discretion granted to the commissioner of revenue in SDCL 35-4-31 is meaningless.
“* * * It is for the commissioner, not the circuit court nor this court, to draw such legitimate inferences and conclusions as may be supported by the record as a whole. * * * Because of his intimate knowledge of the day to day operations of the retail and wholesale liquor business within the state, the commissioner is better able than the trial court to note and evaluate nuances in the testimony and documentary evidence.” (emphasis supplied) 86 S.D. at 334, 338-339, 195 N.W.2d at 404.
If we follow these standards as to review of administrative decisions, it is the Highway Commission that has the "intimate knowledge of the day to day operations” and the priorities of various projects in mind as it makes its decisions. Like the commissioner granting a liquor'license, certain discretion must be left with the Highway Commission; if one meeting the statutory requirements is not entitled to a liquor license as a matter of law, then surely one applying for extension of time on a contract by letter does not meet or fail to meet the requirements “as a matter of law.” The legislature never intended to divest the Highway Commission of all discretion in passing on an application for extension of time on a project.
Whether or not the plaintiff complied with the provisions of section 8.6 is a question of fact. We should not substitute our judgment for that of the Commission as to the weight of the evidence on questions of fact. There is substantial evidence to support the findings of the Highway Commission which passed on *564this extension under the provisions of 8.6 and of the trial court that reviewed it.
Further, it is my opinion that the majority decision here is promoting a dangerous and insidious precedent. At an official meeting on November 24, 1970, the Commission made a final decision granting the plaintiff a 23-day extension on completion of the west portion of the project and a 26-day extension on completion of the total project which had been scheduled for completion July 1, 1970. In the meantime, there was a change of administration, and on November 8, 1971, almost one year later, a newly appointed Commission reviewed the final decision of its predecessor and reversed that decision. This type of action opens up a real political “can of worms” that the Administrative Procedures Act was set up to avoid. Upon each change of administration, a new Highway Commission (or any other state commission or agency) will be free to review and reverse all final decisions of its predecessors on some technical requirement as has been set up in this case. The business community deserves a more stable environment in which to deal with state government.
I am authorized to state that Chief Justice DUNN joins in this dissent.