Peta v. Inst. Animal Care & Use Com.

794 P.2d 1224
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJune 27, 1990
Docket88C-11844 CA A60341
StatusPublished

This text of 794 P.2d 1224 (Peta v. Inst. Animal Care & Use Com.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peta v. Inst. Animal Care & Use Com., 794 P.2d 1224 (Or. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

794 P.2d 1224 (1990)
102 Or.App. 276

PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS, Appellant,
v.
INSTITUTIONAL ANIMAL CARE AND USE COMMITTEE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, Respondents.

88C-11844; CA A60341.

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted January 8, 1990.
Decided June 27, 1990.

Allen L. Johnson, Eugene, argued the cause for appellant. With him on the briefs was Johnson & Kloos, Eugene.

*1225 Rives Kistler, Asst. Atty. Gen., Salem, argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Dave Frohnmayer, Atty. Gen., and Virginia L. Linder, Sol. Gen., Salem.

Before BUTTLER, P.J., JOSEPH, C.J., and ROSSMAN, J.

JOSEPH, Chief Judge.

Appellant, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), is a non-profit animal protection organization with an Oregon membership of about 3,000. Respondents are the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, a committee of the University of Oregon created pursuant to federal law, and the university. The committee reviews all proposals for use of vertebrate animals for research at the university. In September, 1988, in order to determine whether they complied with university assurances to the federal government,[1] it reviewed a professor's grant proposals to study the auditory system of barn owls.

PETA representatives attended that meeting. The committee first met in executive session and then, in an open meeting, approved the proposals. PETA was not allowed to participate in the discussion. Afterwards, PETA's attorney contacted the committee chairperson by letter to register objections to the proceedings, and the letter was made part of the meeting's minutes.[2] PETA then sent a second letter, threatening litigation. After a response by the university, PETA filed this petition for judicial review of an order in other than a contested case. ORS 183.484. The circuit court dismissed the petition on the ground that PETA lacks standing.

PETA argues that it has standing as an "aggrieved" person[3] under ORS 183.480(1), which provides, in part:

"Any person adversely affected or aggrieved by an order or any party to an agency proceeding is entitled to judicial review of a final order, whether such order is affirmative or negative in form."[4]

PETA first contends that the interpretation of "aggrieved" applicable in land use proceedings should be applied under ORS 183.480(1). ORS 197.830 formerly provided that any person aggrieved by a land use decision could petition the Land Use Board of Appeals for review. PETA contends that, because the Supreme Court has ruled that provisions providing for appellate review for substantial evidence should be interpreted the same under the land use statutes in ORS chapter 197 as they are under the Administrative Procedures Act, see former ORS 197.835(8)(a)(C); Younger v. City of Portland, 305 Or. 346, 752 P.2d 262 (1988), "aggrieved" should be given the same interpretation under the APA as it is in land use cases:

"A person whose interest in the decision has been recognized by the body making a quasijudicial decision and who has appeared and asserted a position on the merits as an interested person, rather than only as a source of information or expertise, can be `aggrieved' by an adverse decision within the meaning of [former ORS 197.830]. As in Marbet [v. Portland Gen. Elect., 277 Or. 447, 561 P.2d 154 (1977)], to be `aggrieved' a person must be more than abstractly dissatisfied with the outcome after the fact. The decision must be contrary to the request or other position that the person espoused during the proceeding." Benton *1226 County v. Friends of Benton County, 294 Or. 79, 89, 653 P.2d 1249 (1982).

PETA argues that, under that language, it clearly has standing, because it participated, advocated its position and lost.

Even if PETA's letter or letters to the committee can be said to constitute "participation," we do not agree that that participation necessarily confers standing under ORS 183.480(1). An identical meaning for substantial evidence in the land use context as under the APA does not compel the conclusion that standing as an aggrieved person be the same in both schemes. Standing cannot be resolved by reference to general statements derived from one kind of proceeding and applied in a different statutory context and has to be determined by reference to the statute authorizing review and the statutory claims being asserted. See Benton County v. Friends of Benton County, supra, 294 Or. at 82, 653 P.2d 1249; Marbet v. Portland Gen. Elect., supra, 277 Or. at 457, 561 P.2d 154; see also NW Medical Lab. v. Good Samaritan Hospital, 309 Or. 262, 786 P.2d 718 (1990).

The Supreme Court's analysis of standing under ORS 183.480(1) in Marbet is instructive on how the determination is to be made here. The petitioner had been granted intervenor status in a proceeding before the Energy Facility Siting Council. On judicial review, the defendants challenged the petitioner's standing. The court upheld the petitioner's right to represent a "public interest," because substantive provisions of the siting statutes that allowed intervention, ORS 469.380, showed a legislative intent that decisions of the Council not be made by considering only private interests. The statutes also called for attention to the public interest by requiring consideration of consequences to population growth, environmental effects and possible dangers in the transportation of toxic materials. In that light, the Supreme Court stated that, under ORS 183.480(1),

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Related

Multnomah County v. Talbot
657 P.2d 684 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1983)
Benton County v. Friends of Benton County
653 P.2d 1249 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1982)
Multnomah County v. Talbot
641 P.2d 617 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1982)
Younger v. City of Portland
752 P.2d 262 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1988)
Harris v. Nordquist
771 P.2d 637 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1989)
Application of Portland General Elec. Co.
561 P.2d 154 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1977)

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