Alabama Department of Industrial Relations v. Frazier

115 So. 3d 175, 2012 WL 6062580, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 332
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedDecember 7, 2012
Docket2110467
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 115 So. 3d 175 (Alabama Department of Industrial Relations v. Frazier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alabama Department of Industrial Relations v. Frazier, 115 So. 3d 175, 2012 WL 6062580, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 332 (Ala. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

PITTMAN, Judge.

The Alabama Department of Industrial Relations (“the Department”) appeals from a judgment of the Mobile Circuit Court (“the trial court”) insofar as it sets aside the Department’s order requiring Tonya Frazier to reimburse the Department for an overpayment of employment compensation. We reverse and remand.

Frazier sought unemployment compensation after voluntarily leaving her job at a fast-food restaurant. Before the Department issued a final ruling on the matter, Frazier received $2,421 in unemployment compensation. The Department initially denied Frazier’s request for unemployment compensation. Frazier appealed from that decision, and, eventually, the Department issued a final administrative ruling denying Frazier’s request for unemployment compensation and ordering Frazier to reimburse the $2,421 previously paid to her. Having exhausted her administrative remedies, Frazier thereafter appealed to the trial court. In October 2011, following a trial on the merits of the case, the trial court entered a judgment affirming the Department’s decision denying Frazier’s request for unemployment compensation, but it ruled that the $2,421 in payments previously made was not due to be repaid to the Department. In November 2011, the Department filed a post-judgment motion to amend the trial court’s judgment to the extent that it had not required Frazier to repay the $2,421 in unemployment compensation she had already received. Following the trial court’s denial of that motion in January 2012, the Department appealed.

The facts of the case are undisputed, and the sole issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in declining to require Frazier to repay the $2,421 in unemployment compensation paid to her. We, therefore, “ ‘must determine if the trial court misapplied the law to the undisputed facts’ thus, “ ‘the standard of review is de novo,’ ” and we afford the trial court’s judgment no presumption of correctness. Alabama Dep’t of Revenue v. Jim Beam Brands Co., 11 So.3d 858, 859-60 (Ala.Civ.App.2008) (quoting Bean Dredging, L.L.C. v. Alabama Dep’t of Revenue, 855 So.2d 513 (Ala.2003)); see also State Dep’t of Revenue v. Garner, 812 So.2d 380, 382 (Ala.Civ.App.2001), and Ex parte Graham, 702 So.2d 1215 (Ala.1997).

The Department argues that the trial court lacked the statutory authority to set aside that portion of the Department’s order requiring repayment. In support of that argument, the Department argues that the trial court’s action was contrary to Ala.Code 1975, § 25-4-145(c), which provides:

“(1) Any individual who has received any sum as benefits or payments under this chapter while any conditions for the [177]*177receipt of benefits or payment imposed by this chapter were not fulfilled by such person, or while he was disqualified from receipt of benefits; or by reason of nondisclosure or misrepresentation by him or another of a material fact (irrespective of whether such nondisclosure was known or fraudulent) or for any other reason causing him to receive benefits to which he was not entitled, shall be required to repay such sum in cash or by offset against any future benefits if payable or a combination of both.
“(2) Such person shall be promptly notified of the determination of overpayment and the reasons therefor. Unless such person, within 15 calendar days immediately following the date such notification was mailed to his last known address, files an appeal from such determination, such determination shall be final. Any appeal therefrom pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be limited solely to the overpayment issue.
“(3) If the indebtedness is not paid by such person within 30 calendar days after the determination has become final, the director shall proceed to effect collection of the overpayment and shall have available to him all civil actions available to him under the laws of this state to collect the overpayment as well as those provisions contained in subsection (b) of Section 25-4-134 applying to the collection of contributions.”

On the other hand, Frazier contends that the trial court, although not expressly authorized to set aside an administrative order requiring reimbursement to the Department for overpayments under Ala. Code 1975, § 25-4-145(c), is not expressly prohibited from doing so; Frazier asserts that the trial court properly exercised its general authority under Ala.Code 1975, § 12-11-31(1), which provides that the trial court’s equitable jurisdiction extends to “civil actions in which a plain and adequate remedy is not provided in the other judicial tribunals.” Frazier further asserts that, in exercising that authority, the trial court properly reached its determination to set aside the order requiring her to reimburse the Department for the overpayment because that determination was consistent with the guidelines under which the director of the Department may exercise discretion to waive the requirement to repay overpayments set forth in Ala. Admin. Code, r. 480-4-4-.07 (Dep’t of Indus. Relations). We are, therefore, presented with the issue whether the trial court had the authority to apply an equitable remedy while reviewing the final decision of the Department, which, in turn, raises the broader question whether a trial court exercises equitable jurisdiction when reviewing administrative determinations.

In this case, the trial court concluded that Frazier was disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation, just as the Department had concluded. The trial court then went a step further, however, and addressed the equity of the requirement that Frazier pay back the compensation she had already received, electing to set aside that requirement. We must determine whether the trial court, in doing so, acted in a manner not contemplated by Ala.Code 1975, § 25-4-145(c), governing the Department’s review of an application for unemployment compensation.

Under Ala.Code 1975, § 25-4-145(c)(l), a payee of unemployment compensation who is later determined to be disqualified from receiving such compensation “shall” reimburse the Department the amount he or she received. Section 25-4-145(c)(2) provides the disqualified party an avenue through which he or she may be relieved from the repayment requirement; that [178]*178subsection sets forth instructions for appealing from the Department’s order to reimburse it. The subsection further provides that a disqualified party appealing from the Department’s order with respect to the repayment requirement must seek review of the order as to that issue in a manner separate from that of the Department’s denial of his or her application for unemployment compensation; however, under Ala.Code 1975, § 25-4-145(c)(2), any appeal of a Department order compelling repayment is limited solely to whether the overpayment was demonstrated. Thus, the Department’s denial of an application for unemployment compensation and the Department’s requirement to repay an overpayment are subject to separate review.

We note that § 25-^4 — 145(d)(1) vests the director of the Department with the authority to waive the requirement that a disqualified party repay compensation he or she has received.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Alabama Department of Labor v. Davis
160 So. 3d 335 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
115 So. 3d 175, 2012 WL 6062580, 2012 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 332, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alabama-department-of-industrial-relations-v-frazier-alacivapp-2012.