Court Opinion

ID: 9733519
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:09:45.039077+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:41.447022
License: Public Domain

FOLEY, Judge
(concurring in part, dissenting in part).
I concur in the result, but also respectfully dissent because I do not believe this court has jurisdiction of this case, and notwithstanding Hennepin County v. Civil Rights Commission of the City of Minneapolis, 355 N.W.2d 458 (Minn.Ct.App.1984), this case should be remanded to the Henne-pin County District Court.
I do agree with that portion of Hennepin County which states:
We agree that by its own terms the APA provides only for review of decisions of agencies with statewide jurisdiction, and does not provide for review of local agency decisions. See Minn.Stat. § 1402, subd. 2 and 3 (1982).
Id. at 460.

Minneapolis Civil Rights Ordinance and Minnesota Administrative Procedure Act

1. The Minneapolis Code of Ordinances provides for judicial review of decisions made by the Civil Rights Commission:
Any person aggrieved by a final decision of a hearing committee or a review committee in a contested case, may seek judicial review in the district court as provided in Chapter 15 of Minnesota Statutes, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the District Court shall review the decision in conformance with the provisions of this Title.
Minneapolis, Minn., Code § 141.60(b) (1976 & Supp. No. 6, 6-82). The Administrative Procedure Act formerly Chapter 15 of the Minnesota Statutes, has been renumbered and is now found at Minn.Stat. §§ 14.-01-70 (1982 & Supp.1983).
In 1982, when the ordinance was promulgated, the APA provided for judicial review in the district court. See Minn.Stat. § 14.-63 (1982). Effective August 1, 1983, however, the APA was amended to take into account this court’s existence, and § 14.63 now provides for an appeal to this court. See 1983 Minn. Laws ch. 247, § 9, at 856 (amending Minn.Stat. § 14.63 (1982)). The statute defining this court’s jurisdiction is consistent with the amended APA and gives this court jurisdiction to hear, inter alia, “the decisions of administrative agencies in contested cases, as provided in sections 14.63 to 14.69.” Minn.Stat. § 480A.06, subd. 4 (Supp.1983).
By its own terms the Administrative Procedure Act does not provide for review of local agency decisions. The APA, both formerly and as amended, provides for review of decisions in “contested cases.” See Minn.Stat. §§ 14.63, 480A.06, subd. 4. A *794“contested case” is defined as a “proceeding before an agency,” § 14.02, subd. 3, and agencies are defined as bodies having “statewide jurisdiction.” Minn.Stat. § 14.-02, subd. 2. Because the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission is an agency of local government rather than an agency with statewide jurisdiction, the decision appealed from was not a decision in a “contested case” as defined by the APA, and thus the combination of § 14.63 and § 480A.06 do not confer jurisdiction on this court to hear the matter.

Minnesota Constitution

The Minnesota Constitution provides that this court shall have “appellate jurisdiction over all courts, except the supreme court, and other appellate jurisdiction as prescribed by law.” Minn.Const., art. VI, § 2. It is well-settled that the words “by law” in the state constitution mean by legislative enactment. In re Clerk of Lyon County Court’s Compensation v. Lyon County Commissioners, 308 Minn. 172, 174, 241 N.W.2d 781, 783 (1976). Therefore, this court does not have appellate jurisdiction to review decisions of bodies other than courts unless that jurisdiction is conferred by statute.
The APA does not provide statutory authority for this court to hear an appeal from a decision of a local agency such as the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission, as determined above, and therefore the propriety of appeal to this court depends on whether any other statute confers the necessary authority.

Chapter 82, 1975 Minnesota Laws, and Chapter 363 of the Minnesota Statutes (The Human Rights Act)

Another possible statutory basis for jurisdiction is constructed by a combined reading of special legislation and the Minneapolis ordinance. A 1975 special law gives the Minneapolis City Council the “power” to:
grant to any Minneapolis human rights, human relations, or civil rights commission, department, or director, any and all powers and duties which are granted by Minnesota Statutes 1974, Chapter 363, to any state human rights, human relations, or civil rights commissioner, department, or state board.
Act of May 2, 1975, ch. 82, § 1, 1975 Minn. Laws 321 (not codified). Chapter 363 (the Human Rights Act) provides:
[A] person aggrieved by a final decision of the department [of human rights] reached after a hearing held pursuant to § 363.071 may seek judicial review in accordance with chapter 14.
Minn.Stat. § 363.072, subd. 1 (Supp.1983).
If we did not apply the general requirement of statewide jurisdiction discussed above, and if a right to obtain judicial review is considered to be a “power,” then the authority that derives from the 1975 special law would arguably give this court jurisdiction “prescribed by law” to hear appeals from decisions of the local agency.
This interpretation fails, however, for several reasons. Minn.Stat. § 363.072 speaks of review of a decision “reached after a hearing held pursuant to § 363.071.” Although the Commission’s hearing is not literally pursuant to § 363.071, a functional equivalent to the statutory requirements should be sufficient.. Section 363.071 incorporates by reference all of the contested case proceeding provisions of the Minnesota APA, Minn.Stat. §§ 14.57-.62 (formerly §§ 15.0418-.0422). The APA provides a complete framework designed to assure a meaningful and fair a hearing for the aggrieved party and a complete record for the appellate court.
Initially, the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission does appear to provide procedures for a sufficient hearing. The ordinance provides for a hearing on civil rights complaints “in accordance with Chapter 15 [now renumbered to §§ 14.01-.70] of Minnesota Statutes, the Administrative Procedure Act.” Minneapolis, Minn., Code § 141.500(1) (1982). After referring to the APA, however, the Minneapolis Code departs from the APA requirements and sets forth a separate hearing procedure that varies materially from the APA hearing *795procedure. For example, a Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission hearing examiner need not fulfill the APA hearing examiner requirements designed to insure a neutral and objective fact-finder (“All hearing examiners shall have demonstrated knowledge of administrative procedures and shall be free of any political or economic association that would impair their ability to function officially in a fair and objective manner.” Minn.Stat. § 14.48). The person presiding at a Commission hearing, in contrast, is picked from the members of the commission, Minneapolis, Minn., Code § 141.50(h), and is required to be “known to favor the principles of equal opportunity, nondiscrimination and the objectives of [the Minneapolis Civil Rights Ordinance],” id., § 141.20.
Because of the different hearing procedures, a hearing before the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission is not the literal or functional equivalent of a “hearing held pursuant to § 363.071,” and therefore Ch. 82, § 1, is not sufficient to confer jurisdiction “prescribed by law” on this court to hear appeals from the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission.

Minnesota Statutes Chapter 606 (Writs of Certiorari) and Minnesota Statutes Section )80A. 60 (Jurisdiction, Court of Appeals)

The argument has also been advanced that Minn.Stat. § 606.04 (Supp.1983) confers jurisdiction on this court in addition to the jurisdiction provided in § 480A.06, this court’s primary source of jurisdiction.
Section 480A.06 confers appellate jurisdiction on this court in the following instances:
Subdivision 1. Final decisions. The court of appeals shall have jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of the trial courts, other than the conciliation courts, of the state of Minnesota, except that it shall not have jurisdiction of criminal appeals in eases in which the defendant has been convicted of murder in the first degree.
Subd. 2. Interlocutory decisions. The court of appeals shall have jurisdiction of interlocutory appeals and other matters as may be prescribed in the rules of appellate procedure.
Subd. 3. Certiorari review. The court of appeals shall have jurisdiction to review decisions of the commissioner of economic security, pursuant to section 268.10.
Subd. 4. Administrative review. The court of appeals shall have jurisdiction to review on the record the validity of administrative rules, as provided in sections 14.44 and 14.45, and the decisions of administrative agencies in contested eases, as provided in sections 14.-63 to 14.69.
Subd. 5. Ancillary jurisdiction. The court of appeals shall have jurisdiction to issue all writs and orders necessary in aid of its jurisdiction with respect to cases pending before it and for the enforcement of its judgments or orders.
Minn.Stat. § 480A.06 (1982).
In 1983 the Minnesota legislature amended Chapter 606 by adding “of appeals” after the word “court.” Section 606.04 now provides that the “court of appeals may award double costs” to a party “prevailing on a writ of certiorari in any proceeding of a civil nature.” Minn.Stat. § 606.04 (Supp.1983). This addition is argued to confer exclusive jurisdiction on the court of appeals for all writs of certiorari. The argument runs that because petitions for certiorari in economic security cases are already specifically dealt with in Minn.Stat. § 268.10 (Supp.1983), then the reference in § 606.04 to the court of appeals awarding of costs in a certiorari proceeding would be redundant and meaningless if it did not refer to some type of certiorari petition other than one in an economic security case. Because “[e]very law shall be construed, if possible, to give effect to all its provisions,” Minn.Stat. § 645.16 (1982), section 606.04, should not be construed in such a way as to render it meaningless or superfluous. A construction that would render § 606.04 not meaningless would be to inter*796pret the section as a broad grant of jurisdiction to this court to hear cases presented by certiorari petitions, such as this appeal from the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission, for which this court has no other source of jurisdiction.
The argument fails, however. Such a broad and strained interpretation is not necessary to render § 606.04 meaningful. A number of cases come to this court by petition for writ of certiorari in addition to the economic security cases for which “cer-tiorari” is specified in § 480A.06, subd. 3 (Supp.1983). For example, all of the appeals pursuant to the APA which are referred to in id,., subd. 4, are now appealed to this court by petition for writ of certiorari. See Minn.Stat. § 14.63 (Supp.1983). The reference in § 606.04 is meaningful in reference to those certiorari petitions.
Additionally, another statute refutes a construction of § 606.04 as an exclusive jurisdiction grant to this court for writs of certiorari, even if jurisdiction could be conferred by such indirect language. The supreme court is given a broad power in Minn.Stat. § 480.04 (1982) to issue writs of certiorari “whether especially provided for by statute or not.” The existence of this statute requires that § 606.04 be given its logical reading of allowing costs in writs of certiorari brought before the court of appeals, rather than requiring all writs of certiorari to be brought here.
This decision does not leave decisions of local agencies such as the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission without review. Appropriate review is provided in the district courts pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 484.01 (1982), which gives the district court original jurisdiction in all “special proceedings not exclusively cognizable by some other court or tribunal.” Writs of certiorari are special proceedings within the meaning of our statutes. State v. Civil Service Commissioner, 278 Minn. 296, 301, 154 N.W.2d 192, 196 (1967).
In dissenting here, I am mindful that the 1985 legislature has amended Section 480A.06, subd. 3, with respect to certiorari review. See Act of May 20, 1985, ch. 165 § 1, 1985 Minn.Sess. Law Serv. 5 (West).
In whatever other instances the newly amended statute might be applicable, the law in force at the time review was taken to this court read differently and the new statute does not apply to this case.