The North Carolina Bar Association Administrative Law Division is proud to have had Judge Fred G. Morrison, Jr. as a member since 1966. Judge Morrison has been a stalwart of service to the state of North Carolina for fifty years. He has been recognized by Governor Roy Cooper and, most recently by Chief Justice Cheri Beasley for his five decades of civil service to our state. During that time, Judge Morrison has served our state as a board attorney with the City of Thomasville, legal counsel to the governor of North Carolina, and as an Administrative Law Judge, to name a few positions. He has been instrumental in not only helping to bring about positive change to prisons in North Carolina but also through his work with the Jaycees. Judge Morrison has had exceptional personal support from his wife, Carolyn, and is a proud Wake Forest School of Law Alumnus.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Administrativehttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngAdministrative2020-03-16 11:25:282020-03-16 16:09:35Recognition of Judge Fred Morrison’s Fifty Years of Service to North Carolina
Members of the Administrative Law section found the following recent third party articles to be of potential interest to the section. Feel free to reach out to the section communications committee if you would like to submit either personally written pieces or other third party articles that would be of interest to the section’s members.
This NC Appellate Practice blog article includes discussion of the societal ethical issues underlying the facts in the recent Court of Appeals decision in the Wetherington case.
This Carolina Public Press article reports on the first meeting of a new House Select Committee on Residential Planning and Permitting that is looking at further reduction in local governments’ authority.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Administrativehttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngAdministrative2020-03-05 19:05:262020-03-09 10:22:09Administrative Law Related Articles of Interest
Court website description: prayer for judgment continued; conviction under N.C.G.S. 58-2-69; adjudication of guilt
NCDOI received an anonymous complaint that its licensee (plaintiff) had been convicted of assault. Plaintiff was found guilty of simple assault in a district court bench trial, followed by entry of a prayer for judgment continued upon payment of court costs. He did not make a mandatory report to DOI regarding the conviction. His attorney advised him that he need not report to DOI because “the district court had entered a PJC,” and “there had been no adjudication of guilt, plea of guilty, or plea of no contest.” A DOI hearing officer considered Petitioner’s reliance on advice of counsel. The hearing officer imposed a $100 civil rather than suspending or revoking Petitioner’s license.
On appeal by plaintiff, a Superior Court judge affirmed the hearing officer’s order. The Court of Appeals noted that the DOI statute specified that “conviction” “includes an adjudication of guilt, a plea of guilty, or a plea of nolo contendere.” The Court’s opinion cites to administrative law cases in its thorough discussion of “adjudication of guilt” in the context of whether a PJC with cost payment is an adjudication of guilt or entry of judgment. The Court affirms the trial court’s order.
The Section’s Council wants to ensure that administrative law practitioners are aware of pro bono opportunities available to them. The Section Council has worked with the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) over the years on pro bono opportunities. One goal of the Section’s pro bono committee this year is to compile a list of attorneys across the state who have an interest in handling OAH cases on a pro bono basis. An updated list will be an invaluable tool to help connect our Section’s great attorneys with persons in need of pro bono services before OAH. You can specify a particular type of case that you are willing to handle pro bono in OAH.
If you would like to be included on the pro bono list we are compiling, you can respond directly to me. I can be reached at Ott Cone & Redpath, P.A., 336-373-1300, [email protected].
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Nahale Kalfas and Johnny Loper recently attended and participated in the Federation of Associations of Regulatory Boards’ (FARB) annual regulatory law seminar in St. Louis, Missouri. Kalfas is NCBA Administrative Law Section Secretary, General Counsel for the NC Board of Examiners for Speech and Language Pathologists and Audiologists, and legal counsel to the Council of State Governments. Loper is a partner with Womble Bond Dickinson. FARB is a not-for-profit corporation formed in 1974 to promote public protection and provide a forum for information exchange for associations of regulatory boards and their affiliate stakeholders.
Kalfas and Loper, along with Arizona Assistant Attorney General Mona Baskin, participated in a panel presentation on “Probation: Sanction Options & Consequences.”
GSA is seeking public comments on modernizing its eRulemaking and will hold public hearings on the topic on January 30 and March 25, 2020. If you have ever commented on a federal rule or been frustrated by the eRulemaking process, this is your chance to make the system better.
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Recent Cases from the Court of Appeals That May be Of Interest
On Tuesday, January 7, 2020, the Court of Appeals issued a large number of opinions, including several that may be of interest to administrative law practitioners. Opinions discussing the Rules of Civil Procedure and Rules of Evidence are included because of their potential usefulness in OAH cases. Myers v. Myers, although a family law case, will be of interest on several issues. Summaries are taken directly from the Court’s website, with a few notes added (they’re in complete sentences).
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Administrativehttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngAdministrative2020-01-08 14:56:572020-01-09 09:30:46Recent Cases from the Court of Appeals That May be Of Interest
North Carolina was recently the site of a national conference that, it is hoped, will improve the managerial efficiency of Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) central panel operations across the country. The State Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) Central Panel Directors National Conference (CPDC) was hosted by Julian Mann, III, co-chair of the National Conference, as well as Director and Chief Judge of North Carolina’s own central panel, the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH).
Issues common to central panels have either already arisen in North Carolina, or may yet arise here. Such issues may be appropriate for discussion by the Administrative Law Section as we look to the future of administrative law in North Carolina.
“Central panels are panels of [ALJs] who, instead of being attached to a single administrative agency, are assigned to a “central,” “independent” panel that supplies [ALJs] to conduct contested case hearings for a variety of agencies.” Hon. W. Michael Gillette, “ALJ Central Panels: How is it Going Out There?”, The NJC Experience (September 17, 2015), https://www.judges.org/alj-central-panels-how-is-it-going-out-there/. The alternative to a central panel is a system such as that of the federal government, in which ALJs are employees of the agencies whose cases they adjudicate.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Administrativehttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngAdministrative2019-12-19 18:33:532020-01-03 10:25:39NC Hosts 2019 State Administrative Law Judge Central Panel Directors National Conference
By Ann B. Wall Members of the Administrative Law Section found the following recent third party articles to be interesting. Remember – if it says subscription required, check your legal research provider, as many of them include law reviews, journals and other publications. So, you may not subscribe directly to the publisher’s materials but may have access anyway through other means.
“The Future of Administrative Deference”, Andrew Hessick, 41 Campbell L. Rev. 421, Spring, 2019. Although written before the US Supreme Court ruled in the deference case before it last year, this article provides a useful overview of the issues and why they may matter to NC practitioners.
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By Ann B. Wall ALJ Augustus B. (Butch) Elkins II officially retired from the Office of Administrative Hearings on September 30, 2019. This article, based on an interview before his retirement, will offer answers to some interesting questions.
What kinds of legal experience did Judge Elkins have that qualified him to serve as an ALJ?
Judge Elkins’ legal career began in the military, where he served from 1979 to 2001, first in the U.S. Air Force, ultimately retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel from the Air Force Reserve. In the course of his military career, he handled a variety of administrative law related matters, including employment, environmental, health and mental health law, as well as serving as legal advisor on investigations. He gained extensive hearing officer experience while conducting Article 32 investigations and hearings, including ruling on motions and submitting findings and recommendations regarding possible courts martial.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Administrativehttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngAdministrative2019-11-14 14:28:462019-11-14 14:29:39Looking Back, Learning from a Recently Retired Administrative Law Judge
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