Campbell v. Maynard

482 N.E.2d 990, 19 Ohio App. 3d 41, 19 Ohio B. 107, 1984 Ohio App. LEXIS 11465
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 6, 1984
Docket83AP-789
StatusPublished

This text of 482 N.E.2d 990 (Campbell v. Maynard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Campbell v. Maynard, 482 N.E.2d 990, 19 Ohio App. 3d 41, 19 Ohio B. 107, 1984 Ohio App. LEXIS 11465 (Ohio Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

Moyer, J.

This matter is before us on the appeal of William L. Campbell from a final order of the Environmental Board of Review (board) affirming a final action of the Director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (director) for the reason that the board had no jurisdiction to entertain Campbell’s appeal from the director’s final action.

On February 28, 1983, the director, Robert H. Maynard, issued a proposed denial of Campbell’s application for a solid waste disposal license to operate a township sanitary landfill in Medina County. The proposed denial was based upon the director’s findings that Campbell had not operated the landfill in substantial compliance with the applicable Ohio law under his previous license.

On the same day, the director sent Campbell, by certified mail, a copy of the proposed action, together with a cover letter advising Campbell of his right to request an adjudication hearing and that, if he failed to request such a hearing within thirty days, the proposed order would become final and effective on April 14,1983. Campbell received the certified mail on March 1, 1983.

On March 17, 1983, Campbell filed with the board a notice of appeal of the director’s proposed action, which appeal was dismissed by the board on the ground that it lacked jurisdiction to hear an appeal from a proposed action of the director.

Having received no request from Campbell for an adjudication hearing within the required time, the director entered the proposed action as a final action and mailed a copy of the journalized final action on April 21 to Campbell. On May 9,1983, a notice of appeal was filed by Campbell to the board from the director’s journalized final action.

The newspaper publication of the director’s proposed action, which is required by R.C. 3745.07, appeared in the local newspaper for one week beginning May 6, 1983. No one requested an adjudication hearing within thirty days of *42 the newspaper notification of the director’s proposed findings and order.

The board concluded that the director did not cause notification of his proposed denial of Campbell’s license application to appear in a newspaper pursuant to the requirements of R.C. 3745.07; that such newspaper notification is not mandatory and that a failure to give such notice within the time required by R.C. 3745.07 does not invalidate a final action of the director in the absence of a showing that someone relied upon the failure to his substantial detriment; that Campbell had actual notice of the proposed final action; that he failed to request an adjudication hearing within the required time; and that such failure constituted his consent to the director’s proposed action and a waiver of all rights to a hearing and all rights to further contest the director’s action. The board further concluded that it therefore had no jurisdiction to consider Campbell’s appeal.

Campbell asserts the following three assignments of error in support of his appeal:

“1. The EBR erred in holding that it did not have jurisdiction to hear appellant’s appeal from the OEPA director’s final action because the jurisdiction of the EBR cannot be waived based solely upon a failure to request an adjudicatory hearing.
“2. The EBR erred in overruling the appellant’s motion for reconsideration and for summary judgment when the uncontroverted facts submitted by the OEPA establish, as a matter of law, that the final action of the director was unlawful.
“3. The EBR erred in overruling the appellant’s motion for a stay where it was clear that appellant had met the four prerequisites to granting said motion.”

The jurisdiction of the Environmental Board of Review is set forth in R.C. 3745.01 and provides that any person who was a party to a proceeding before the director may participate in an appeal to the Environmental Board of Review for an order vacating or modifying the action of the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency. As Campbell accurately observes, the General Assembly has not required that a party wishing to appeal an action of the director must first request an adjudicatory hearing before the director. See R.C. 3745.05 and 3745.07.

The board relies upon Ohio Adm. Code 3745-47-13(E) to deny jurisdiction to a person in Campbell’s position. That code section provides that, if a person does not request an adjudicatory hearing within the time required, such person shall be deemed to have waived all rights to a hearing and all rights to contest the director’s action and shall be further deemed to have consented to the proposed action. The board also relied upon Roberts v. Williams (Aug. 17, 1978), Franklin App. No. 78AP-214, unreported. However, our opinion in that case did not consider the precise question presented in this appeal. In Roberts, we held that it was not unreasonable for the director to deny a request for an adjudication hearing where the applicants requesting the hearing affixed insufficient postage to the envelope containing their objections and therefore did not make a timely request. While we observed that Ohio Adm. Code 3745-47-13(E) is not facially unreasonable in view of R.C. 3745.07, we were not called upon to decide whether the board could dismiss, for lack of jurisdiction, the appeal of a party who did not request an adjudicatory hearing on the ground that said party had consented to the final order of the director.

The board’s exclusive power to hear appeals from the director is designated in R.C. 3745.05 and 3745.07. As both parties to this appeal agree, an administrative agency may not adopt rules *43 that expand or delete the jurisdiction granted to it by the General Assembly. The. board’s rule-making authority is limited to adopting “regulations governing procedure to be followed for hearings before it.” R.C. 3745.03. The rule-making authority does not include the adoption of a rule that deems a failure to request an adjudication hearing to be a waiver to challenge the director’s final action in an appeal of applying said action to the board.

We conclude that Ohio Adm. Code 3745-47-13(E), to the extent that it declares that a person who does not request an adjudication hearing thereby consents to a proposed action of the director becoming a final action, is invalid. As in many civil proceedings, a party may wish to forego the opportunity of a hearing. See General Motors Corp. v. McAvoy (1980), 63 Ohio St. 2d 232, 237 [17 O.O.3d 143]. While the case before us would not seem to be the best example, there could be a proposed action that is based upon a question of law or an undisputed set of facts which require no adjudicatory hearing. To require every applicant or statutory party to incur the expense and expenditure of resources that are required in most adjudicatory hearings before an agency such as the Environmental Protection Agency, as an element of the board’s jurisdiction to review a final order of the agency, is to change, by administrative rule, a statutory grant of authority.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
482 N.E.2d 990, 19 Ohio App. 3d 41, 19 Ohio B. 107, 1984 Ohio App. LEXIS 11465, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campbell-v-maynard-ohioctapp-1984.