Court Opinion

ID: 9854134
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:01:43.969739+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:56.715536
License: Public Domain

Justice MULLARKEY
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I agree with the majority that the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) standard of review applies to the Industrial Claim Appeals Panel (panel) when it reviews a hearing officer’s decision in an unemployment compensation matter. I respectfully dissent, however, from the majority’s application of that standard in this case.
Section 24-4-105(15)(b), 10A C.R.S. (1988), provides in relevant part:
The findings of evidentiary fact, as distinguished from ultimate conclusions of fact, made by the administrative law judge or the hearing officer shall not be set aside by the agency on review of the initial decision unless such findings of evidentiary fact are contrary to the weight of the evidence.
The distinction which the statute draws between findings of evidentiary fact and ultimate conclusions of fact often is difficult to apply. See, e.g., Baca v. Helm, 682 P.2d 474 (Colo.1984) (depending on circumstances, causation may be either an ultimate fact or an evidentiary fact). The importance of the statutory classification is that it determines whether the hearing officer or the agency has discretion over the *1274matter to be determined. In this case, the majority affirms the court of appeals’ conclusion .that permanent replacement is a question of evidentiary fact which may not be set aside by the panel unless it finds on review that the decision of the hearing officer is contrary to the weight of the evidence in the record. Maj. op. at 1269. However, I believe that the question of whether the employees were permanently replaced is properly classified as a question of ultimate fact and that therefore the panel acted within its authority in setting aside the determination of the hearing officer. See Raisch v. Industrial Commission, 721 P.2d 693 (Colo.Ct.App.1986) (court finds that hearing officer’s determination that worker’s compensation claimant was entitled to vocational rehabilitation was one of ultimate fact, reviewable by Industrial Commission).
First, in determining the proper scope of the panel’s review in this case, we must consider section 8-73-109, 3B C.R.S. (1986), which provides in relevant part that:
An individual is ineligible for unemployment compensation benefits for any week with respect to which the division finds that his total or partial unemployment is due to a strike or labor dispute ....
Under the statute, then, the ultimate legal issue before the hearing officer and the panel was whether the claimants’ unemployment was “due to a strike or labor dispute.” In Pierce v. Industrial Commission, 38 Colo.App. 85, 553 P.2d 402 (1976), the court held that pursuant to section 8-73-109, unemployment is not “due to a strike or labor dispute” if an employee has been permanently replaced. Under Pierce, once a hearing officer has concluded that an employee has been permanently replaced, it follows that his unemployment is not “due to a strike or labor dispute” and therefore the employee is eligible for benefits.
The majority does not dispute that the question of whether a claimant’s unemployment is “due to a strike or labor dispute” is a question of ultimate fact, but distinguishes that question from the issue of whether the claimants had been permanently replaced on the basis that an ultimate fact is a “general rule phrased in the language of the controlling statute or legal standard.” Maj. op. at 1272. However, I disagree that merely because the question of whether the claimants have been permanently replaced is not specifically phrased by the statute the issue is not one of “ultimate fact.” By deciding the question of whether the claimants have been permanently replaced, the hearing officer resolves the ultimate question of whether the claimant’s unemployment was “due to a strike or labor dispute.” The court of appeals’ decision in Pierce in effect made “permanent replacement” coextensive with the statutory eligibility requirement that a claimant’s unemployment not be “due to a strike or labor dispute.” The majority does not suggest that the hearing officer was free to find that, although the employees had been “permanently replaced,” their unemployment was “due to a strike or labor dispute.” Thus, a finding of permanent replacement determines the employee's eligibility for benefits. It is dispositive.
Second, under the relevant legal standards adopted by this and other courts, the question of whether the claimants were permanently replaced is one of ultimate fact. Evidentiary facts are the detailed factual or historical findings upon which a legal determination rests. Lee v. State Bd. of Dental Examiners, 654 P.2d 839 (Colo.1982). Findings of ultimate fact, as distinguished from raw evidentiary fact, involve a conclusion of law or at least a determination of a mixed question of law and fact and settle the rights of the parties. Id., at 844. Evidentiary facts are based on the evidence presented at the hearing. Ultimate facts are conclusions acquired through reflection and reasoning based upon evidentiary facts and are necessary in order that a determination of the rights of the parties can become a question of law. Baca, 682 P.2d at 479 (Neighbors, J., concurring). See also Woodbury Daily Times Co. v. Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Serv., 616 F.Supp. 502, 505 (D.N.J.1985), aff'd 791 F.2d 924 (3d Cir.1986) (ultimate fact is a mixture of fact and *1275law; fact because it is derived by inference or reasoning from the evidence; law because the derivation is informed by legal principles and policies, producing a fact of independent legal significance).
All parties here agree that (1) a labor dispute existed; (2) that the employer sent a letter to the workers telling them to return to work or be replaced; (3) that the employer has hired replacements; and (4) that although certain positions remain open, there are insufficient positions to hire even a majority of the employees. These are the evidentiary facts. They are the detailed historical findings upon which the legal determination must rest, developed through the evidence presented before the hearing officer. Only a question of ultimate fact remains: whether, under these evidentiary facts, the claimants’ unemployment is “due to a strike or labor dispute” or whether they have been permanently replaced. This question of ultimate fact must be resolved through reflection and reasoning based upon the evidence and “informed by legal principles and policies.” Woodbury Daily Times, 616 F.Supp. at 505. Further, the resolution of this question determines the rights of the parties. See Lee, 654 P.2d at 844. When considered in this light, it becomes clear that the question of “permanent replacement” must be characterized as one of ultimate fact properly subject to review by the panel. Because I believe that the panel properly found that the claimants were permanently replaced, I would reverse the decision of the court of appeals. For the foregoing reasons I respectfully dissent from the majority’s decision upholding the court of appeals’ reversal of the panel.