Molnar Ex Rel. Residents of Public Service Commission v. Montana Public Service Commission

2008 MT 49, 177 P.3d 1048, 341 Mont. 420, 2008 Mont. LEXIS 50
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 13, 2008
DocketDA 06-0682
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2008 MT 49 (Molnar Ex Rel. Residents of Public Service Commission v. Montana Public Service Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Molnar Ex Rel. Residents of Public Service Commission v. Montana Public Service Commission, 2008 MT 49, 177 P.3d 1048, 341 Mont. 420, 2008 Mont. LEXIS 50 (Mo. 2008).

Opinions

JUSTICE RICE

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 Appellant Public Service Commissioner Brad Molnar (Molnar) appeals from the order of the First Judicial District Court, Lewis and Clark County, dismissing his complaint for lack of jurisdiction. We affirm.

¶2 We address the following issue on appeal:

¶3 Did the District Court err in dismissing the complaint for lack of jurisdiction as untimely filed?

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶4 On May 24, 2006, Molnar filed a complaint alleging that the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) violated federal and state law by its May 25, 1999, order entered in Docket No. D99.4.82 (1999 Order) granting exempt wholesale generator, or EWG, status to Pennsylvania Power and Light of Montana (PPLM). Molnar’s complaint alleged that the PSC was without authority to grant EWG status and requested the District Court to set aside the 1999 Order. However, the District Court determined that because both §§ 69-3-402(1) and 2-4-702(2)(a), MCA, required a petition for judicial review of an agency’s decision to be filed within thirty days of the decision, it lacked jurisdiction to review Molnar’s complaint. Accordingly, on September 6, 2006, the court granted the motion to dismiss the complaint filed by Appellees PSC and PPLM, pursuant to M. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Molnar appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶5 We review de novo a district corut’s ruling on a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim pursuant to M. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Meagher v. Butte-Silver Bow City-County, 2007 MT 129, ¶ 13, 337 Mont. 339, ¶ 13, 160 P.3d 552, ¶ 13. Amotion to dismiss under M. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) has the effect of admitting all well-pleaded allegations in the [422]*422complaint. Meagher, ¶ 13. The complaint is construed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and all allegations of fact contained therein are taken as true. Meagher, ¶ 13. The determination whether a complaint states a claim is a conclusion of law. Plouffe v. State, 2003 MT 62, ¶ 8, 314 Mont. 413, ¶ 8, 66 P.3d 316, ¶ 8. A district court’s conclusions of law are reviewed to determine if interpretation of the law was correct. Plouffe, ¶ 8.

DISCUSSION

Did the District Court err in dismissing the complaint for lack of jurisdiction as untimely filed?

¶6 Molnar argues that the District Court erred in dismissing his complaint because the thirty-day statutes of limitation either did not apply or were tolled. PSC and PPLM reply that the District Court correctly applied the statutory thirty-day time limitation on appeals from agency decisions and that this Court need not reach the merits of Molnar’s claim.

¶7 We have held that only the Legislature may validly provide for judicial review of agency decisions. Nye v. Dept. of Livestock, 196 Mont. 222, 226, 639 P.2d 498, 500 (1982). As such, a court’s authority to review administrative rulings is constrained by statute. In re McGurran, 1999 MT 192, ¶ 12, 295 Mont. 357, ¶ 12, 983 P.2d 968, ¶ 12. This includes the applicable statutes of limitation governing the time for review. McGurran, ¶ 12. Accordingly, we have determined that “filing deadlines for petitions for judicial review are jurisdictional in nature, and the failure to seek judicial review of an administrative ruling within the time prescribed by statute makes such an ‘appeal’ ineffective for any purpose.” McGurran, ¶ 12. We faced this same issue involving the same agency in MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. PSC and explained that:

The district court’s jurisdiction is controlled by the period of time prescribed by the legislature and is limited to the time provided by the applicable statute. The right to an appeal of an administrative agency’s ruling is created by statute and is limited by the provisions of the statute as to the time within which the right must be asserted.

260 Mont. 175, 178, 858 P.2d 364, 366 (1993). See also Hilands Golf Club v. Ashmore, 2002 MT 8, ¶ 18, 308 Mont. 111, ¶ 18, 39 P.3d 697, ¶ 18 (“a court’s jurisdiction to review administrative decisions is statutorily created and limited.”).

¶8 Here, two statutes governing judicial review of agency decisions [423]*423may apply. First, the Legislature provided that PSC decisions are reviewable pursuant to § 69-3-402(1), MCA, which states:

Any party in interest being dissatisfied with an order of the commission fixing any rate, fare, charge, classification, or joint rate or any order fixing any regulation, practice, or service may, within 30 days, commence an action in the district court ... to vacate and set aside any such order ....

Second, more generally, the Montana Administrative Procedure Act provides that “proceedings for review must be instituted by filing a petition in district court within 30 days after service of the final written decision of the agency....” Section 2-4-702(2)(a), MCA. Review under § 2-4-702, MCA, is reserved for “contested cases.” See Nye, 196 Mont. at 226, 639 P.2d at 500-01 (stating that “[a] person who has exhausted all administrative remedies available within the agency and who is aggrieved by a final decision in a contested case is entitled to judicial review” under § 2-4-702, MCA). However, because application of either § 2-4-702 or § 69-3-402(1), MCA, containing identical thirty-day limitation periods, yields the same result under the facts alleged, we need not analyze whether the 1999 Order constituted a “contested case” to decide this matter.

¶9 The time for seeking judicial review of the PSC’s 1999 Order ran for thirty days following issuance of the order in May 1999. The complaint was filed in May of2006, nearly seven years after the period for judicial review ended. Because the thirty-day time limit to seek review of agency decisions had expired when the complaint was filed, the District Court was without jurisdiction under either statute to entertain the request for judicial review of the 1999 Order. Of course, the District Court possessed general subject matter jurisdiction to review the agency decision, but did not have authority “jurisdictional in nature,” McGurran, ¶ 12, from the Legislature to entertain a petition for review filed beyond the time limit provided in the governing statutes.

¶10 However, Molnar argues that the statutes of limitation were either inapplicable or were tolled, raising five arguments: (1) the public hearing conducted prior to issuance of the 1999 Order was not properly noticed, thereby resulting in an illegal action by the PSC which may be reviewed without any time restraints; (2) the statutes governing the PSC provide “absolutely nothing of precision” which would authorize the action it took and thus, the doctrine of expressio unium est exclusio alterius applies and leaves the PSC with “no jurisdiction to grant exempt wholesale generator status” to PPLM; (3) the PSC has a [424]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2008 MT 49, 177 P.3d 1048, 341 Mont. 420, 2008 Mont. LEXIS 50, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/molnar-ex-rel-residents-of-public-service-commission-v-montana-public-mont-2008.