Preface

This pamphlet explains how the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) conducts its administrative contested case proceedings. It is a general guide to many of the legal requirements that apply to those hearings. But there are many other requirements of the law that apply to individual cases. Employees of OAH may not provide legal advice to agencies, organizations, or people involved in its hearings. This guide should not be considered a substitute for having a lawyer. The decision about whether you want a lawyer to represent you in an administrative contested case proceeding is extremely important and must always be made carefully.

Table of Contents

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About the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH)

Why Did the Legislature Create the Office of Administrative Hearings?
From time to time government proposes or takes actions that people believe adversely affect them. When that happens, state law and local ordinances often require that the people who are affected have the opportunity to tell their side of the story at a hearing. A legal term that is often used to describe those kinds of hearings is administrative contested case proceedings.

Before 1975 hearings held by state agencies were conducted by agency employees. After listening to the evidence, those employees would make recommendations to the heads of their agencies about what to do. Many felt that it was unfair to have agency employees conduct those hearings. So, in 1975 the legislature created the Office of Administrative Hearings (or OAH), an independent agency to conduct hearings for state agencies.

What Kind of Work Does OAH Do?
Administrative law judges employed by OAH preside over three kinds of administrative proceedings:

1. Hearings for state agencies that are required by law to provide hearings when proposing or taking actions that adversely affect people;
2. The process that state agencies use for adopting rules. This insures that members of the public have a meaningful opportunity to participate in state rule making; and
3. Hearings for local units of government on a variety of issues.

Workers' compensation judges employed by OAH preside over two other kinds of administrative proceedings:

1. Hearings to establish workers' compensation benefits; and
2. Workers' compensation settlement conferences.

Each year, OAH's administrative law judges and workers' compensation judge preside over several thousand hearings throughout the State of Minnesota. OAH has offices located in St. Paul, Duluth, and Detroit Lakes. Also, administrative law judges and workers' compensation judges travel to conduct hearings in many other communities throughout the state.

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Contested Case Hearings: The Preliminary Steps

Notice of Hearing
A state or local government agency begins an administrative contested case proceeding by issuing a Notice of Hearing. The Notice of Hearing includes a description of what is in dispute, the names of the parties to the dispute, and some information about the rules that will govern how the hearing will be conducted. The Notice of Hearing names the administrative law judge and sets the time, date, and place of the hearing or prehearing conference. Once you receive the Notice of Hearing, you are a party to the case. The agency that sent the Notice of Hearing is usually also a party.

Prehearing Conference
In some cases the administrative law judge may hold a prehearing conference before the hearing. The reasons for having a prehearing conference are: (1) to set a schedule of things that may have to happen before the hearing; (2) to help parties narrow the issues that are in dispute; and (3) to give parties a chance to discuss settling differences without a hearing, either informally or through mediation.

If there is going to be a prehearing conference before the hearing, the Notice of Hearing will include the time and place, or the administrative law judge will send you an order or letter notifying you of the time and place of any prehearing conferences.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Read through the Notice of Hearing and any of the other documents that you received from the agency very carefully. Those documents not only tell you what the agency believes the contested issues to be, they also give you important information about deadlines and about what rights you have.

Notice of Appearance
Along with the Notice of Hearing you may also have received a form with some blanks, called a Notice of Appearance. Fill in the blanks on that form and send it to OAH and the other party as soon as possible. The Notice of Appearance lets the Administrative Law Judge know that you will be attending the hearing and whether you will handle the contested case proceeding yourself or whether you will have a lawyer represent you.

What If I Can't Be at the Hearing or a Prehearing Conference On the Scheduled Date?
You must have a good reason to change a hearing or prehearing conference date that is specified in the Notice of Hearing or in some other order. If you do have a good reason, you must contact the administrative law judge immediately and obtain his or her agreement to reschedule the hearing or the prehearing conference. The legal terminology for this is requesting a continuance, and you must make your request for a continuance well before the hearing is scheduled to take place.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: If a party fails to show up at a scheduled prehearing conference or hearing without the administrative law judge's prior consent, that party can be found to be "in default," which means that the issues in the case will be decided against that party without any further hearing

Do I Have to Hire a Lawyer to Represent Me in an Administrative Contested Case Proceeding?
Usually the state or local government agency has a lawyer. You must decide whether you also want to have a lawyer representing you in the proceeding. It is your choice. If you do not know how to find a lawyer, the Minnesota State Bar Association maintains a Lawyer Referral Service that you can contact at the following numbers:

Hennepin County     (612) 752-6666
Ramsey County      (651) 224-1775
Dakota County  (612) 431-3200
Other Counties  1-800-292-4152
Volunteer Lawyers Network  (612) 752-6677

Low-income Minnesotans may qualify for assistance from Legal Aid offices. You can obtain further information about that at the following numbers:

Hennepin County   (612) 334-5970, or (612) 752-6677
Ramsey County    (651) 222-4731
Other Counties Contact the Minnesota State Bar
  Association at (612) 333-1183

Are There Rules or Other Requirements for How Administrative Contested Case Proceedings Are Conducted?
Administrative law judges must conduct their proceedings according to the Minnesota Administrative Procedure Act, found in Minnesota Statutes. Sections 14.57 through 14.62 of Minnesota Statutes deal with the legislature's requirements for contested case proceedings. Most public libraries throughout the state have copies of the current Minnesota Statutes. The state's Revisor of Statutes also makes Minnesota Statutes available on the Internet at www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us.

OAH also has rules for administrative contested case proceedings. The administrative law judge who will preside over your hearing will explain some of those rules at the beginning of the hearing. But many rules are about things that happen before the hearing. The OAH rules for contested case proceedings can be found in Minnesota Rules, parts 1400.5100 through 1400.8401 (or 1400.8505 through 1400.8612 for expedited cases). These rules can be found in many public libraries. The rules can also be found on the Internet at the OAH website (www.oah.state.mn.us, which links to the Revisor's Office website).

A copy of the rules and statutes pertaining to contested administrative hearings can also be purchased for $15.00 (Stock No. 3-14) through the State's bookstore located at:

117 University Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55155
Telephone Numbers:
Metro (651) 297-3000
Metro TTY for Hearing impaired  (651) 282-5077
Toll Free  1-800-657-3757
Toll Free TTY for Hearing impaired  1-800 657-3706

IMPORTANT REMINDER: The administrative law judge may tell the parties what some statutes and rules say or mean while conducting the hearing or when making a ruling in your proceeding, but the judge cannot give you advice about what statutes or rules might apply in your case. Parties to the proceeding have the responsibility for presenting their own arguments about how the statutes and rules should be interpreted.

Can I Ask the Administrative Law Judge For Help With My Case?
It is very important that administrative law judges remain completely neutral and impartial. Administrative law judges cannot discuss your case with you or the other party unless all parties or their lawyers are present to hear what is being said. A limited exception is that the administrative law judge may discuss hearing dates and deadlines with you. If you are in doubt about whether it is proper to call the administrative law judge, you may call OAH at (651) 361-7900 and ask to talk to a staff attorney.

If you must talk to the administrative law judge before or after the hearing, please arrange for a conference telephone call so that the other parties or their attorneys know what is being talked about and can tell their side of the story, if necessary. Also any time you write to the administrative law judge, you must send a copy to the other parties.

Can I Talk to the State or Local Government Agency About My Case Before the Hearing?
Yes. You can contact the agency to ask for additional information about your case or to try to settle it without having a hearing. If you have an attorney, your attorney can contact the agency's attorney or the agency representative listed in the Notice of Hearing.

What Does the Term "Discovery" Mean and How Is Discovery Handled?
The legal term discovery refers to how parties can obtain important information from other parties before the hearing starts. Discovery can be informal, such as providing each other with copies of documents that the parties intend to introduce as evidence. Or it can be formal and proceed according to the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure. The administrative law judge generally has the authority to decide which exchanges of information to allow, how much information must be given to the other parties, and when and how the information must be given.

If you want some information about your case from another party before the hearing begins, you should simply ask the party's attorney for that information. OAH encourages voluntary exchange of information. If there is a dispute about whether you are entitled to the information that you are requesting, first try to resolve the dispute through a telephone conference with the other party and the administrative law judge. If you cannot work things out informally, you may ask the administrative law judge to make a decision on how to resolve the dispute. If you want an administrative law judge to make a decision on something, you must make a "motion."

What Does the Term "Motion" Mean and How Are Motions Handled?
The Term motion means a written request by a party for the administrative law judge to take action or to resolve a dispute between the parties. Common examples are making a motion for a continuance - that is, to reschedule a hearing for a later date - or for an extension - that is, to postpone a deadline that the administrative law judge has set. Other motions might ask the administrative law judge to settle disputes between the parties - for example, disputes over what kinds of information the parties are giving to each another before the hearing. When making a motion, explain to the administrative law judge what you want and the reasons for your request. You must send a copy of your motion to the other parties.

During the hearing itself, motions can be made orally unless the administrative law judge directs a party to make it in writing. But if made before or after the hearing, motions must be made in writing, with copies sent to the other parties. Under OAH rules, the other party has ten days to submit a written response to a written motion unless the administrative law judge specifically shortens or lengthens the time for responding.

There is yet another kind of motion that can result in ending the whole proceeding without holding a hearing. That kind of motion is called a "motion for summary disposition."

What Are "Motions for Summary Disposition"?
Under OAH rules, a party may make what is called a motion for summary disposition when there is no real dispute about the facts, and the party believes that applying the law to the undisputed facts will result in a favorable decision. If the administrative law judge grants the motion for summary disposition, the contested case proceeding is over, and the administrative law judge issues a final order or recommends action to the agency. On the other hand, if important facts are in dispute, the administrative law judge must hold a hearing, receive each party's evidence about the facts, and make findings that establish what the important facts are.

The party making a motion for summary disposition must show that there is no genuine dispute about "material facts" - that is, important facts that will affect the outcome of the case. A party making a motion for summary disposition needs to provide documents that support the factual statements in the motion. Such documents often include sworn statements, called affidavits.

In addition to showing that there no genuine dispute exists about the important facts, a party making a motion for summary disposition must show that Minnesota law supports and favors its position. If the agency makes a motion for summary disposition in your case, there are two basic defenses. First, you can present evidence (either documents or sworn statements) establishing that there are still important facts in dispute. But disputes about important facts must be "genuine" ones - that is, you must be prepared to offer some persuasive evidence establishing that the facts are different from what the other party is claiming. Second, even if there is no real dispute about the facts, you may submit your views about the law to convince the administrative law judge that the agency's view of Minnesota law is wrong.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: If you do receive a motion for summary disposition in your case, it is important that you act promptly to either respond to the motion or to request more time to respond. OAH rules allow only ten (10) working days to provide the administrative law judge with your response to the motion. If you do not respond to the motion, the administrative law judge will make a decision based only on what the other party has submitted. Be sure to send a copy of your response to the other parties.

Can I Settle My Case Without a Hearing?
OAH encourages parties to settle their disputes without a formal hearing. It is entirely appropriate for parties to discuss settling their differences at any time. If you would like to discuss the possibility of a settlement, you should contact the agency's representative before the hearing. That person's name, address, and telephone can normally be found on the Notice of Hearing that you received. You may tell the administrative law judge that you are discussing settlement, but neither party should describe what kinds of settlements are being talked about. If your attempts at settlement are unsuccessful, nothing said during your settlement discussions can be placed into evidence at your hearing.

Sometimes when parties are having trouble settling their disputes, a neutral mediator can help. The Chief Administrative Law Judge may appoint a different administrative law judge - that is, someone other than the administrative law judge who will be conducting your hearing - to help the parties resolve their differences. But both parties must want a mediator to be appointed. So, if you are interested in mediation, you should discuss it with the agency's representative. If the agency agrees to mediation, the agency attorney will request the Chief Administrative Law Judge to appoint a mediator.

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Preparing for the Contested Case Hearing

Will My Hearing Be Like a Trial?
Your hearing will be similar to a court trial but without a jury. The administrative law judge will make a decision or recommendation based only on evidence that is formally presented by the parties at the hearing. That evidence will normally include witnesses who will give testimony under oath, and documents containing information that pertains to the case.

How Should I Prepare for the Hearing?
In most cases, you should be prepared to give your own testimony to the administrative law judge after being placed under oath. You should bring anything with you that you will need to help you remember details while giving testimony, such as personal calendars, bills, receipts, notes, etc. If you testify at the hearing, the other party's lawyer has the right to cross-examine you - that is, to ask you questions under oath.

If there are other people who have knowledge of important facts, you should arrange for them to be at the hearing so that they can appear as witnesses. As a party, you also can compel witnesses to come and testify at the hearing by serving them with subpoenas. If you need to obtain subpoenas, you should contact the receptionist at OAH (651/361-7900) and ask to speak to your administrative law judge's secretary. The secretary will help you arrange for subpoenas. You will be asked to provide the names and addresses of the persons you want to subpoena and briefly describe what information each person can provide. There is a $5.00 charge for each subpoena. Although OAH issues subpoenas, this Office cannot help you serve them on the witnesses. Subpoenas must be served in the same way as they are in state district court. You must arrange for someone else to serve the subpoenas, and you may have to pay a fee to have that done. And you will have to pay for the witnesses' mileage and any attendance fees.

You should also bring to the hearing any documents (letters, business records, etc.), photographs, or other materials that you want the administrative law judge to consider as evidence. If there are documents or other materials in someone else's possession that you want considered as evidence, you can also obtain subpoenas to make that person, company, or agency produce those materials at the hearing. This is called a subpoena duces tecum. You should request a subpoena duces tecum in the same way that you would request a subpoena for a witness to testify. (See above.)

When the other party's witnesses testify, you have the right to cross-examine those witnesses. So, in preparing for the hearing, you should think about the questions you want to ask your witnesses and the other party's witnesses and write down those questions for use at the hearing.

After the hearing is over, the administrative law judge will keep all of the materials that have been received as evidence in the hearing record. Additionally, the administrative law judge will usually ask you to provide the other parties with copies of any documents that you place in evidence. So please come to the hearing with at least two (2) copies of any documents that you intend to offer as evidence.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: The hearing will be your chance to tell the administrative law judge your side of the story. Bring to the hearing any witnesses, documents, or other materials that support your case.

Do I Have to Make Any Special Arrangements If I Have a Disability?
All hearing rooms are accessible to persons whose mobility is limited or who use wheelchairs. If you have a disability that requires some other kind of accommodation in order for you or one of your witnesses to participate in the hearing, you should call the OAH receptionist (651/361-7900, TDD 651/361-7878) and ask to be placed in contact with a staff member who can arrange for that accommodation.

Do I Have to Make Any Special Arrangements If I Need an Interpreter?
If you or one of your witnesses need a sign language or foreign language interpreter, you should call the OAH receptionist (651/361-7900) and ask to talk with a staff member who can arrange for an interpreter.

What Happens If I Do Not Attend the Hearing?
You must appear at the time and place scheduled unless you have contacted the administrative law judge ahead of time and have arranged for a new hearing time. If you do not show up for the hearing, the agency can ask the administrative law judge to find you in default. If that happens, the administrative law judge will assume that everything that the agency has claimed in the Notice of Hearing is true. The administrative law judge will then make a decision or recommendation that is based solely on what the agency claimed happened.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: If an emergency happens that will make you late for your hearing, you should call the administrative law judge immediately to explain what the problem is. If you cannot reach the administrative law judge, you should call the OAH receptionist (651/361-7900).

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How Contested Case Hearings Proceed

Will There Be a Record Of What Happens at the Hearing?
The record of your hearing will consist of the documents and other materials that the administrative law judge receives as evidence, the sworn testimony of witnesses, the arguments that the parties make to the administrative law judge, and the various rulings that he or she makes. The entire hearing will be recorded, either digitally or by a court reporter. CD-ROM copies of the hearing recording are available from OAH at a cost of $10 per disk. Where the proceeding uses a court reporter, the transcript must be obtained from the court reporter, and transcript preparation fees will apply.

When a party has requested that the record of the hearing be made by a court reporter, the court reporter will take stenographic notes of everything that is said and later make a word-for-word transcript of the hearing from those notes. That kind of a written transcript can be very expensive, and the party who requests the transcript must pay the cost. (Sometimes parties agree to share the cost.) Arrangements for a court reporter must be made through OAH. Parties are not allowed to arrange for their own court reporter to be at the hearing.

Occasionally during the hearing the administrative law judge may interrupt whoever is talking in order to ask them to spell a word or a name or to ask participants not to speak at the same time. If that happens, you should not take that as criticism, because the administrative law judge is only making certain that there will be a completely accurate record of what is being said. IMPORTANT REMINDER: Sometimes hearings can be very emotional, and OAH judges and staff will make every effort to treat each party respectfully and fairly. In return, we ask each party to be polite, to treat other parties and witnesses with respect, and to cooperate to make the hearing go as smoothly as possible.

How Will the Hearing Begin?
The administrative law judge may wish to discuss some preliminary matters, such as exchanging copies of documents, with the parties before the actual hearing begins. Often those discussions are off the record - that is, they are not taped or court reported. The administrative law judge will tell the parties when they are on the record and the hearing is actually in progress.

Frequently, the administrative law judge will ask the parties to make opening statements before they begin putting on their evidence. An opening statement is simply a brief summary of the facts that you believe that the evidence will establish - a sort of "road map" for the administrative law judge.

What Is "Burden of Proof"?
In every administrative contested case proceeding, there are certain facts that need to be established in order for the administrative law judge to apply the law properly. If there is no evidence of those essential facts, the administrative law judge must find that they have not been proven. Burden of proof refers to the responsibility that one party or the other has to produce evidence that establishes essential facts. The party proposing that some kind of action be taken usually has the burden of proving the facts that are essential to the claim. If you are uncertain about your responsibility for producing evidence of essential facts, you should ask the administrative law judge about that responsibility.

The burden of proof also means that the party responsible for producing evidence of an essential fact must establish that fact by a preponderance of the evidence. The term "preponderance" simply means the greater weight of the evidence. The administrative law judge must be satisfied that it is more likely than not that something happened in a certain way. In deciding the greater weight of the evidence, the administrative law judge considers not only how much evidence each party has introduced but also the quality and believability of the evidence.

What Kinds of Evidence Can I Present at the Hearing?
Under OAH rules you have the right to present "evidence, rebuttal testimony, and argument" relating to the issues that your hearing involves. You also have "the right to cross-examine witnesses." Among other things, this means that you may give your own statement under oath to the administrative law judge. And you also may call other people to testify for you.

Testimony is traditionally presented in a question-and-answer format. Generally speaking, lawyers may only ask questions and not give testimony. And witnesses give testimony but they may not ask questions. When you yourself testify, you will be under oath, and what you say will be evidence that the administrative law judge will consider in making his or her decision or recommendation. When you are asking other witnesses questions, you will not be under oath, and any statements you make during the questioning of witnesses will not be considered as evidence. The evidence will be the witnesses' answers to your questions.

When you are asking questions of a person testifying on your side of the case, it is called direct examination. When you are finished with your testimony or asking questions of your witnesses, the attorney for the agency may ask you and your other witnesses questions. That is called cross-examination. You also have the right to cross-examine the agency's witnesses.

To help you feel organized and confident, you may want to write down your questions for witnesses ahead of time. You can add to your list as you listen to the testimony at the hearing.

From time to time, there may be objections to the questions asked. An objection is a request that the administrative law judge exclude evidence that is being offered and not consider it in reaching a decision or recommendation. Objections must be based on the various legal rules that specify what kind of evidence the administrative law judge may consider. If the administrative law judge sustains the objection, that means that the witness cannot answer the question that has been asked or that a document or other exhibit will not be received as part of the hearing record. If the administrative law judge overrules the objection, that means that the witness can proceed to answer the question or that a document or other exhibit will be received as part of the hearing record.

What Kinds of Evidence Will Be Excluded or Disregarded?
The administrative law judge will only consider evidence that is relevant. Relevant evidence tends to prove or disprove a fact that is important to how the case will turn out. The administrative law judge will exclude or not consider evidence that is irrelevant - that is, evidence that is not important to how the case turns out. For example, evidence that someone signed an agreement on a certain day may be important to how a case will turn out, but evidence that it was raining on that day may not be important.

The administrative law judge will also exclude or not consider evidence that is privileged. Legal rules establish certain kinds of information that are considered privileged, for example, because the law considers it important to maintain the privacy of certain kinds of discussions. An example of privileged evidence is conversations a party has with his or her lawyer about the case. Evidence that is incompetent will also be excluded or given no weight by the administrative law judge. Incompetent evidence means evidence given by a witness whom the law considers to be unreliable for various reasons. An example of incompetent evidence is an opinion given by a person who does not have the personal knowledge or professional credentials to back it up, such as an engineer testifying about medical matters.

Finally, if the parties have already introduced a lot of evidence about something, the administrative law judge may stop them from introducing evidence that merely repeats evidence already in the record.

What Is "Closing Argument"?
OAH rules give parties the right to present argument. Argument is another technical legal term meaning an opportunity to explain to the administrative law judge why you believe the facts and the law favor your position. Unless the administrative law judge indicates otherwise, it is inappropriate to present your argument to him or her while evidence is still being presented. After all of the evidence has been presented, the administrative law judge will give the parties the opportunity to present closing argument. This will be your opportunity to summarize for the administrative law judge the facts you believe the evidence has established, what principles of law you believe the administrative law judge should consider, and how the law should be applied to the facts to produce the outcome that you would like to see.

Sometimes, instead of listening to the parties' arguments, the administrative law judge ask the parties to present their argument in writing. If that happens, the administrative law judge will give you a deadline to submit it. Send a copy of your closing argument to the other parties.

After closing arguments, the record of the case is "closed." The parties cannot give the administrative law judge anything else to consider unless the judge specifically asks for it.

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What Happens After the Hearing Ends?

When Can I Expect a Decision in My Case?
Administrative law judges must put their decisions or recommendations in writing. So on the day of the hearing the administrative law judge will not tell you the decision or recommendation. OAH will send you a copy of the written decision or recommendation as soon as it is ready. OAH's policy is that administrative law judges issue decisions or recommendations within 30 days after the hearing record closes, unless they have the Chief Administrative Law Judge's special permission to take longer. The hearing record closes when the hearing ends or, if the administrative law judge requests the parties to make written submissions, when OAH receives the last written submission.

What is Included in the Administrative Law Judge's Decision or Recommendation?
There will normally be four parts to the administrative law judge's final report on your case. First, there will be findings of fact. There, the administrative law judge will spell out all of the facts established in your case. Second, the administrative law judge will describe the various legal conclusions that he or she has reached and how the law applies to the facts of your case. The conclusions will be followed by an order or recommendations. Finally, most reports of administrative law judges end with a memorandum that explains some of the reasoning behind the decision or recommendation.

The administrative law judge's report will contain an order if the administrative law judge has the legal authority to make a final decision in your type of case. However, the report will contain recommendations if the law requires the agency head to make the final decision in your type of case. If the agency head has the authority to make the final decision, the administrative law judge's recommendations are not binding, and the agency head may reject or modify them. The Notice of Hearing normally indicates whether the administrative law judge or the agency will make the final decision.

What Rights Will I Have to Appeal a Decision That I Believe Is Unfavorable?
If the administrative law judge has the authority to make a final decision in your case, you may appeal the decision to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals has its own rules that establish a number of important deadlines and other requirements that must be met in order for your appeal to be heard. You will be required to follow all of those rules even if you do not have a lawyer, and OAH cannot assist you in pursuing an appeal. Most people seek the advice and services of a lawyer when pursuing an appeal in the Court of Appeals. But that is your decision to make.

If the administrative law judge only has the authority to make recommendations to an agency head in your case, you may file formal objections with the agency person named in the report. Normally you will have at least ten days in which to do this, but the notice in the report will tell you about any deadlines that you will have to meet. After considering any objections, the agency head will make the final decision. You may appeal that decision to the Minnesota Court of Appeals unless a specific statute provides for some other type of appeal.

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Conclusion

This brochure is an introduction to how administrative contested case proceedings are conducted at OAH. Although contested case proceedings are not as formal as court trials, there are still a number of statutes and rules that parties must observe when involved in administrative hearings, including many that this brochure does not specifically discuss. Those statutes and rules apply to all parties whether they have lawyers or are handling their cases themselves. You can obtain copies at the places indicated in this brochure. Your particular case also involves other laws and rules that prompted the government agency to start this contested case proceeding. So you may wish to consider having a lawyer represent you at your hearing.

Last updated - July 1, 2008