Court Opinion

ID: 9663475
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:39:59.756648+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:50.589952
License: Public Domain

DYKMAN, J.
(concurring). In Hewitt, The Scope of Judicial Review of Administrative Agency Decisions in Wisconsin, 1973 Wis. L. Rev. 554, the author concluded that inconsistent application of several standards of judicial review of administrative agency conclusions had resulted in confusion. Uniform application of the law was therefore difficult for agencies, the bench and the bar. In the fifteen years since this article was published, the problem has continued. We still use varying standards, without explanation as to why a particular standard is used. The majority continues this practice.
A deferential standard of review is appropriate for judicial review of administrative agency conclusions because a board or commission has expertise, and is more likely to be familiar with developments in the area of the law it administers. I would therefore affirm LIRC, not because I agree with its constructions of secs. 108.09(6)(c) and 108.02(26), Stats., but because its conclusions are reasonable. That is the standard we used in Lewandowski v. State, 140 Wis. 2d 405, 409, 411 N.W.2d 146, 148 (Ct. App. 1987), and a better rule.