OAH Docket No. 4-0800-11806-2

 

 

STATE OF MINNESOTA

OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

FOR THE MINNESOTA GAMBLING CONTROL BOARD

 

 

In the Matter of the Lawful Gambling License of Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds, Inc. License No. 03510	FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

 

            Assistant Chief Administrative Law Judge Bruce H. Johnson conducted a hearing in this contested case proceeding beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, August 10, 1998, at the offices of the Minnesota Gambling Control Board, Rosewood Plaza South, Third Floor, 1711 W. County Road B, Roseville, Minnesota.

           

            E. Joseph Newton, Assistant Attorney General, Suite 1200 NCL Tower, 445 Minnesota Street, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101-2130, represented the Board.  No one represented Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds, Inc., which did not appear at the hearing.  The record closed on August 11, 1998, when the Administrative Law Judge received the Affidavit of E. Joseph Newton.

 

 

NOTICE

 

            This Report is a recommendation, not a final decision.  The Minnesota Gambling Control Board will make the final decision after reviewing the hearing record.  The Board may adopt, reject or modify these Findings of Fact, Conclusions, and Recommendations.  Under Minnesota Law,[1] the Board may not make its final decision until after the parties have had access to this Report for at least ten days.  During that time, the Board must give each party adversely affected by this Report an opportunity to file objections to the report and to present argument.  Parties should contact the offices of the Minnesota Gambling Control Board, Rosewood Plaza South, Third Floor, 1711 W. County Road B, Roseville, Minnesota  55113, to find out how to file objections or present argument.

 

 

STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE

 

            Whether the Board should take disciplinary action against the lawful gambling license of Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds, Inc. for its failure to file a required gambling tax return for the month of February 1998.

 

            Based upon the record in this matter, the Administrative Law Judge makes the following:

 

 

FINDINGS OF FACT

 

1.                  On July 20, 1998, the Board began this contested case proceeding by serving Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds with a Summary Suspension Order and Notice of and Order for Hearing (collectively, the Notice of Hearing), together with a Statement of Charges by certified U. S. Mail directed to the address that Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds had most recently provided to the Board.  That address was: Kenneth Halverson, Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds, Inc., 950 County Road 5 NW, Isanti, Minnesota 55040.

2.                  On July 24, 1998, the Board’s counsel received a return receipt signed by Kenneth Halverson on behalf of Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds.

3.                  The Notice of Hearing scheduled a hearing in this contested case proceeding beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, August 10, 1998.[2] 

4.                  The Notice of Hearing contained the following statements:

Failure to appear at the hearing may result in the allegations contained in the Statement of Charges being taken as true, or the issues set out being proved, and the Board may take disciplinary action against Respondent’s lawful gambling license without further proof pursuant to Minn. R. 1400.6000.

 

Pursuant to Minn. R. 1400.5700, the enclosed Notice of Appearance must be served on all parties, and must be filed with the Administrative Law Judge by or on behalf of Respondent within twenty (20) days of the date of service of this Notice of and Order for Hearing.  Because this hearing is on an expedited schedule, the Notice of Appearance may be filed with the Administrative Law Judge at the hearing on August 10, 1998.

5.                  Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds has filed a plan to terminate its lawful gambling and has stopped its lawful gambling activities.[3]

6.                  On several occasions during the week prior to the hearing, the Board’s counsel attempted unsuccessfully to contact Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds’ named representative by telephone.[4]

7.                  No one appeared on behalf of Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds at the August 10, 1998, hearing, nor did anyone acting on Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds’ behalf request the Administrative Law Judge to allow it to be excused from appearing at the hearing or to have the hearing rescheduled for a later date.

8.                  Because of the Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds violations of this Office’s rules, particularly because it failed to appear at the hearing, the facts alleged in the Notice of Hearing and accompanying Statement of Charges are taken as true, and the Administrative Law Judge incorporates those facts into these Findings by reference.

9.                  The Administrative Law Judge adopts as Findings any Conclusions that are more appropriately described as Findings.

 

            Based upon these Findings of Fact, the Administrative Law Judge makes the following:

 

CONCLUSIONS

 

            1.         Minnesota law[5] gives the Administrative Law Judge and the Board authority to conduct this proceeding, to consider the issues raised here, and to make findings, conclusions, and orders.

 

            2.         The Board has complied with all of Minnesota law’s substantive and procedural requirements.

 

            3.         The Board gave the Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds proper and timely notice of the scheduled hearing in this matter.

 

            4.         Under the Office of Administrative Hearings’ rules,[6] Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds is in default because it failed to appear at the hearing without being excused by the Administrative Law Judge.

 

            5.         Under those rules, when a party defaults, an administrative law judge may take the facts alleged in the Notice of Hearing and accompanying Statement of Charges as true and no longer in dispute.

 

6.                  Based upon the facts alleged in the Notice of and Order for Hearing and accompanying Statement of Charges, which the Administrative Law Judge has taken as true, Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds has violated Minnesota law by being more than three months late in filing gambling tax returns for the month of February 1998.[7]

7.                  The Administrative Law Judge adopts as Conclusions any Findings which are more appropriately described as Conclusions.

 

 

            Based upon these Conclusions, the Administrative Law Judge makes the following:

 

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

            The Administrative Law Judge recommends that the Board take such disciplinary action against Cambridge-Isanti Redbirds, Inc., as it may consider just and proper under the circumstances.

 

 

Dated this

11th

day of

August

1998.

 

 

BRUCE H. JOHNSON

Assistant Chief Administrative Law Judge

 

 

 

NOTICE

 

            Under Minnesota law,[8] the Commissioner must serve his final decision upon each party and the Administrative Law Judge by first-class mail.