Court Opinion

ID: 9689289
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:27:02.561249+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:46.706515
License: Public Domain

F. X. O’Brien, J.
(concurring). I agree that 1979 AC, R 37.15 is not ambiguous and that the defendant must suffer the consequences of having incorporated a general court rule which is contrary to the agency’s intention. On this issue, I adopt both *106the rationale and conclusion of the per curiam opinion.
I concur in the conclusion that the order for superintending control must be reversed because another adequate remedy was available to the plaintiff. GCR 1963, 711.2. I disagree with the conclusion that declaratory judgment pursuant to MCL 24.264; MSA 3.560(164) was that remedy.
An original action in circuit court for declaratory judgment to determine the applicability or validity of an administrative rule pursuant to MCL 24.264; MSA 3.560(164) is conditioned upon (1) the plaintiff requesting a declaratory ruling from the agency and (2) the agency denying the request or failing to act expeditiously on it. Assuming that plaintiff’s notice of deposition was equivalent to a request for a declaratory ruling, defendant did not deny the request or otherwise fail to act on it. Defendant specifically found that 1979 AC, R 37.15 did not encompass discovery depositions. The fact that the agency responded precluded satisfaction of the second statutory condition necessary to maintain an action for declaratory judgment pursuant to § 64 of the Administrative Procedures Act. See Greenfield Construction Co, Inc v Dep’t of State Highways, 402 Mich 172, 204, fn 5; 261 NW2d 718 (1978) (separate opinion by Levin, J.), City of Warren v State Construction Code Comm, 66 Mich App 493, 497; 239 NW2d 640 (1976).
To obtain a declaratory judgment pursuant to § 64, the plaintiff must exhaust his administrative remedies by first seeking a declaratory, ruling from the agency. That declaratory ruling was originally devised to provide a means of testing the applicability of a rule before a person became involved in a dispute with an administrative agency, that is, *107apart from a contested case. See 1 Cooper, Administrative Law (1965), p 240. To implement the request for a declaratory ruling, separate rules were mandated and promulgated. MCL 24.263; MSA 3.560(163); 1979 AC, R 37.20. Rule 37.20(2) prohibits the issuance of a declaratory ruling once a complaint has been filed, as in the instant case. Finally, § 63 specifically provides for judicial review of a declaratory ruling in the same manner as an agency’s final decision or order in a contested case.
The purpose and express terms of §§ 63 and 64 convince me that the declaratory judgment provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act were not intended as a means of interlocutory review of the interpretation or application of a rule made by an agency during a contested case. This does not mean that the plaintiff is wholly without recourse to the court until the completion of the case. In those limited instances in which appeal of the agency’s final decision pursuant to MCL 37.2606; MSA 3.548(606) would not provide an adequate remedy, the Administrative Procedures Act affords the means of seeking immediate review.
"A preliminary, procedural or intermediate agency action or ruling is not immediately reviewable, except that the court may grant leave for review of such action if review of the agency’s final decision or order would not provide an adequate remedy.” MCL 24.301; MSA 3.560(201).