Scientific Academy of Hair Design, Inc. v. Bowen

738 P.2d 242, 59 Utah Adv. Rep. 48, 1987 Utah App. LEXIS 476
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedJune 8, 1987
DocketNo. 860035-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 738 P.2d 242 (Scientific Academy of Hair Design, Inc. v. Bowen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scientific Academy of Hair Design, Inc. v. Bowen, 738 P.2d 242, 59 Utah Adv. Rep. 48, 1987 Utah App. LEXIS 476 (Utah Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

BILLINGS, Judge:

Scientific Academy of Hair Design, Inc., doing business as Mediterranean Hair Academy (“Mediterranean”), appeals from the district court’s order affirming an administrative suspension of its license to operate a cosmetology/barbering school for three years. We affirm.

On December 15, 1983, Gay Trello, an investigator for the Division of Registration (“the Division”), filed a petition with the Division charging Mediterranean with several instances of “unprofessional conduct” as defined by Utah Code Ann. § 58-11-9 (1981). On February 6, 1984, an administrative hearing was held before an administrative law judge and six members of the Board of Cosmetology/Barbering (“the Board”) to ascertain the validity of the allegations. The Board concluded that Mediterranean had (1) willfully falsified a document upon which the Board relied;1 (2) issued false advertisements; and, (3) failed to comply with a previous order of the Board. Consequently, the Board recommended that Mediterranean’s license to operate a cosmetology/barbering school be suspended for three years pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 58-1-25 (1974).

The Board’s written Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and recommended order were submitted to Robert Bowen, the director of the Division of Registration. Bowen adopted the Board’s recommendations and ordered Mediterranean to cease operations within thirty days of the order. Mediterranean then filed a complaint in district court seeking review of the Division’s order pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 58-1-36 (1974). The district court, primarily relying on the certified record of the administrative proceedings, upheld the Division’s order suspending Mediterranean’s license finding it was not “arbitrary and capricious.”

Three issues are presented on appeal. First, the Division contends this Court does not have jurisdiction to review the District Court’s ruling. Second, Mediterranean claims that the district court applied an improper standard in reviewing the order of the Division. Third, Mediterranean argues that under any standard of review there is insufficient evidence to find that Mediterranean failed to comply with a previous order of the Division; distributed advertisements that deceived the public; and, willfully made false statements in documents upon which the Board relied.

I.

The Division argues that this Court does not have jurisdiction to hear this appeal. Section 78-2a-3 (1986) provides that [244]*244the Court of Appeals has appellate jurisdiction over the final orders and decrees of state and local agencies or appeals from the district court review of them notwithstanding any other provision of law. Utah Code Ann. § 78-2a-3 (1986). This right of appeal was previously provided in article VIII, section 9 of the Utah Constitution2 which provided a right of appeal to the Utah Supreme Court from all final judgments of the district courts. Moreover, Rule 4A of the Rules of the Utah Court of Appeals provides that the supreme court may transfer, at any time before a case has been set for oral argument, any case to the Court of Appeals except those cases within the exclusive jurisdiction of the supreme court. This case was transferred pursuant to this Rule.

In light of the foregoing legal principles, we find the Division’s claim that the district court’s judgment is final and not subject to further review is without merit. The Utah Supreme Court has routinely reviewed similar cases. Withers v. Golding, 100 Utah 179, 111 P.2d 560 (1941) (interpreting predecessor to Utah Code Ann. § 58-1-36 (1974)).

II.

Mediterranean argues that the district court erred in using an “arbitrary and capricious” standard in reviewing the administrative action of the Division. Mediterranean claims that the proper standard of review is whether the findings of the Board and the Division’s resulting order were contrary to a clear preponderance of the evidence.

At the time of the administrative hearing and subsequent review by the district court Utah law provided:

Any applicant for or holder of a license, certificate, permit, student, or apprentice card or any person directly affected and aggrieved by any ruling of the [division] of registration, may within thirty days after notice of such ruling institute an action in the district court of the county at the seat of government, or in the county of the aggrieved person’s residence, against the director in his official capacity setting out his grievance and his right to complain. In his answer the director may set out any matter in justification; and the court shall determine the issues on both questions of law and fact and may affirm, set aside or modify the ruling complained of.

Utah Code Ann. § 58-1-36 (1974). The Utah Supreme Court defined the standard of review to be applied by the district court under section 58-1-36 in Withers v. Golding, 100 Utah 179, 111 P.2d 550 (1941):

[W]e are of the opinion that the [district] court should determine as on an appeal in equity whether the findings of the [Board of Cosmetology/Barbering] are contrary to the clear preponderance of the evidence adduced before it....

Id. at 189, 111 P.2d at 554. (interpreting predecessor to Utah Code Ann. § 58-1-36 (1974)). This construction of section 58-1-36 was implicitly affirmed in Vance v. Fordham, 671 P.2d 124 (Utah 1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1025, 104 S.Ct. 1280, 79 L.Ed.2d 684 (1984) (intimating that had the district court treated the Vance case as an original action under section 58-1-36, rather than an appeal under section 58-12-35.1, the medical practice act, then the district court should have reviewed the administrative proceeding by applying a “clear preponderance of the evidence” standard).

Subsequent to the review of this case by the district court but before this appeal was heard, the Utah Legislature repealed Utah Code Ann. § 58-1-36 (1974) and effectively replaced it with Utah Code Ann. § 58-1-19 (1985). Section 58-1-19 provides:

The director, with the support of the appropriate board, and any licensee or [245]*245license applicant, may appeal any order of the director or of the administrative law judge or hearing officer in the district court if the order was arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, or contrary to law....

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Bluebook (online)
738 P.2d 242, 59 Utah Adv. Rep. 48, 1987 Utah App. LEXIS 476, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scientific-academy-of-hair-design-inc-v-bowen-utahctapp-1987.