Weldon v. Board of Licensed Professional Counselors & Therapists

293 P.3d 1023, 353 Or. 85, 2012 WL 6628103, 2012 Ore. LEXIS 840
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 20, 2012
DocketBLPCT 2009026; CA A151028; SC S060483
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 293 P.3d 1023 (Weldon v. Board of Licensed Professional Counselors & Therapists) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weldon v. Board of Licensed Professional Counselors & Therapists, 293 P.3d 1023, 353 Or. 85, 2012 WL 6628103, 2012 Ore. LEXIS 840 (Or. 2012).

Opinion

*86 WALTERS, J.

In this case, we decide that ORS 676.210 does not preclude the Court of Appeals from issuing a stay of an agency’s order suspending a health care professional’s occupational license. We reverse the contrary decision of the Court of Appeals and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

On January 25, 2012, the Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists (board) issued a final order suspending petitioner’s license for two years and assessing costs against her in the amount of $24,301.91. Petitioner asked the board to stay enforcement of that order pending judicial review. On March 28,2012, the board issued an amended final order of suspension. Concluding that petitioner had not demonstrated irreparable harm and had failed to show a colorable claim of error, and that substantial public harm would result if it entered a stay, the board also entered a final order denying petitioner’s request for a stay. Petitioner sought review by the Court of Appeals. Petitioner filed both a petition for judicial review of the board’s order of suspension, pursuant to ORS 183.482(1), and a motion seeking review of the board’s order denying her request for stay, pursuant to ORAP 4.30 and ORS 183.482(3). 1 In her motion, petitioner also asked the Court of Appeals to enter an emergency stay to permit her to continue to practice until appellate court proceedings were complete.

The Appellate Commissioner granted petitioner a temporary stay pending the board’s response to petitioner’s motion. In its response, the board asserted that ORS 676.210 precluded the Court of Appeals from entering a stay. ORS 676.210 provides:

“No person whose license has been revoked or suspended by any board authorized by the statutes of the State of Oregon to issue licenses to practice a health care profession shall continue the practice of this profession after the order or decision of the board suspending or revoking the license of the person has been made. The license shall *87 remain suspended or revoked until a final determination of an appeal from the decision or order of the board has been made by the court.”

The Appellate Commissioner did not analyze that statute to determine whether it prohibited the Court of Appeals from issuing a stay of the board’s order suspending petitioner’s license. The commissioner accepted the board’s understanding of ORS 676.210 but, sua sponte, decided that, by precluding the exercise of the court’s inherent authority to grant a stay, the statute violated the separation of powers provision of Article III, section 1, of the Oregon Constitution. 2 Then, turning to the merits of petitioner’s request, the commissioner determined that, although petitioner had made a showing of irreparable injury, she had not demonstrated a colorable claim of error. The commissioner denied petitioner’s motion for stay, but granted her alternative request to expedite judicial review and permitted her to file a supersedeas undertaking with respect to the board’s assessment of costs.

The board sought reconsideration of the part of the commissioner’s order that declared that ORS 676.210 violates the state constitution, but also took the position that the constitutional analysis was unnecessary because the board’s order was correct under either ORS 676.210 or ORS 183.482(3). For her part, petitioner sought reconsideration *88 of the commissioner’s conclusion that she had not demonstrated a colorable claim of error. The commissioner solicited memoranda on the separation of powers issue and referred the matter to the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals granted reconsideration and determined that petitioner had demonstrated a colorable claim of error. The court stated that, “if the court has author ity to grant a stay, the court would * * * grant petitioner’s motion for stay ***.” However, the court agreed with the board that, under the court’s existing case law, the legislature constitutionally could restrict the powers of the Court of Appeals, citing State v. Moen, 86 Or App 87, 91, 738 P2d 228 (1987) (legislature may limit powers of statutorily created courts). Accordingly, the court denied petitioner’s motion for a stay and vacated that part of the Appellate Commissioner’s order that had permitted petitioner to file a supersedeas undertaking to stay the board’s monetary assessments.

Petitioner turned to this court. She filed a petition for a peremptory writ of mandamus and request for stay of agency enforcement, together with an emergency motion for a stay of the board’s order. Petitioner asked this court either to direct the Court of Appeals to issue a stay (as that court indicated it would have done but for Moen) or to exercise its own inherent judicial power as a constitutionally created court to grant a stay. We treated petitioner’s mandamus petition as a petition for review under Oregon Rule of Appellate Procedure (ORAP) 9.05 of the Court of Appeals order denying her request for stay and entered a stay of the board’s order suspending petitioner’s license during the pendency of our review.

The parties present the issue of whether the Court of Appeals has authority to grant a stay as one of constitutional magnitude. The parties apparently agree that, in enacting ORS 676.210, the legislature carved out a discrete area — the regulation of health care professionals — in which a court has no power to enter a stay of a board’s order. The parties assume that, because ORS 676.210 prohibits a health care professional whose license has been suspended from continuing to practice pending judicial review, 3 it also *89 necessarily precludes a court from issuing a stay permitting that prohibited conduct. The parties differ over whether that perceived legislative prohibition violates the separation of powers provision of Article III, section 1, of the Oregon Constitution.

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

Related

In re Clark
374 Or. 683 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2025)
State Of Washington v. Anthony Cook
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2020
State v. Bales
410 P.3d 1088 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2017)
Doe v. Silverman
401 P.3d 793 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2017)
Wyers v. American Medical Response Northwest, Inc.
377 P.3d 570 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2016)
Montara Owners Assn. v. La Noue Development, LLC
353 P.3d 563 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2015)
Espinoza v. Evergreen Helicopters, Inc.
337 P.3d 169 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)
State v. Ziska / Garza
334 P.3d 964 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2014)
State v. Gonzalez-Valenzuela
308 P.3d 1096 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
293 P.3d 1023, 353 Or. 85, 2012 WL 6628103, 2012 Ore. LEXIS 840, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weldon-v-board-of-licensed-professional-counselors-therapists-or-2012.