May 26, 2010

 

 

Eugene Sherayzen

Attorney at Law

220 South Sixth St., Suite 2000

Minneapolis, MN  55402

Michael J. Tostengard

Assistant Attorney General

445 Minnesota Street, Suite 1200

St. Paul, MN  55101-2130

 

Re:      In the Matter of International Business Group, LLC, Inc;

OAH Docket No. 11-1003-21214-2

 

Dear Counsel:

 

This letter will confirm the discussions we had during yesterday’s telephone conference call, and constitutes the Second Prehearing Order in this contested case proceeding. 

 

1.               The motion of International Business Group (IBG) for a more definite statement is granted.  By Friday, May 28, 2010, the Department, by letter from its counsel, shall clarify the grounds for the Department’s decision in late 2009 or early 2010 to deny IBG’s application for renewal of its money transmitter license.  The clarification shall:

 

(a)    describe the IBG holdings that the Department refused to consider as assets or believed should be reduced in value;

 

(b)    indicate on what accounting principles or other bases the Department relied in making this determination; and

 

(c)       state what the Department considered to be the true value of the contested assets and the accurate net worth of IBG.

 

2.               The Department shall respond to IBG’s outstanding discovery requests by Friday, June 4, 2010.

 

3.               A telephone conference call to discuss the status of this matter shall be held on June 9, 2010, at 9:30 a.m.  The Administrative Law Judge will initiate the call.


Letter to E. Sherayzen and M. Tostengard

May 26, 2010

Page Two

 

 

 

4.               By Wednesday, June 16, 2010, the parties shall exchange and file proposed exhibit and witness lists relating to this case.  The witness lists shall include a brief summary of the expected testimony of each witness.  If any documents identified as exhibits have not yet been exchanged, copies shall be provided with the exhibit lists.  Exhibits shall be premarked by the parties using numbers rather than letters. 

 

5.               The hearing previously scheduled to be held in this matter on June 9, 2010, shall be continued to Wednesday, June 30, 2010, commencing at 9:30 a.m. in the courtrooms of the Office of Administrative Hearings, 600 North Robert Street, First Floor, St. Paul, Minnesota. 

 

6.               The hearing shall be digitally recorded unless the parties notify the Administrative Law Judge by June 23, 2010, that they will require the services of a court reporter. 

 

During the telephone conference call, there was some discussion of which party bears the burden of proof in this proceeding.  I remarked during our conversation that, unless otherwise specified in statute, the burden is generally placed on an applicant for initial licensure to show by a preponderance of the evidence that it meets the requirements for licensure and should be granted a license.  Upon reviewing the Notice of Hearing more carefully, however, it appears that IBG already had a prior license and the Department denied its application for renewal of that license.  Under those circumstances, it is arguable that the Department should bear the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the renewal should be denied.[1]  If they wish, the parties may address this issue further in prehearing motions or in post-hearing briefs.

 

                                                                        Sincerely,

 

                                                                        s/Barbara L. Neilson

 

 

                                                                        BARBARA L. NEILSON

                                                                        Administrative Law Judge

                                                                        Tel. No.:  651-361-7845

 

cc:  Docket Coordinator

 



[1] See, e.g., Findings of Fact, Conclusions and Recommendation in In the Matter of River Birch Residence, Inc., OAH Docket No. 44-0900-19821-2 (2009); G. Beck et al., Minnesota Administrative Procedure § 10.3.1 (2d ed. 1998).