2000 Articles

Administrative agency is without jurisdiction to determine the constitutionality of a statute July 2000 A recent opinion of the First District Illinois Appellate Court, Board of Education of Rich Township High School District No. 227 v. Brown, 724 N.E.2d 956 (Ill. App. Ct., 1st Dist., Feb. 29, 2000), involves numerous interesting legal issues. Some are explored at length in the court's opinion, and others are barely mentioned.

Administrative law judges and the ARDC April 2000 ISBA Administrative Law Section Council member Ros Kaplan, an attorney with the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee, spoke recently to the CBA Administrative Law Judges Committee about the ARDC and its impact on ALJs.

Administrative law on the Net 2000 By Jean M. Wegner October 2000 This article highlights a selection of free, web-based resources for the administrative law practitioner.

Administrative Law Section home page February 2000 Every Administrative Law Section member receives the section newsletter, written by leading practitioners. Beginning with 1999 issues, you can read and search the full text online.

An annual survey of administrative law of 1999 By Terry Shafer March 2000 "Administrative law" concerns the policy making, rate making, decision making, rulemaking, licensing and other requirements and procedures of administrative bodies, units of local government, and other public bodies.

Applicability of Fourth Amendment to administrative hearing evidence April 2000 On October 28, 1999, Judge Robert Boharik of the Circuit Court of Cook County issued a written memorandum order in Isa Bros., Inc. v. City of Chicago, No. 98 CH 17389.

The A, B, and C of an ALJ decision: Gilchrist v. Human Rights Commission, No.1-99-1054, decided March 27, 2000 By J.A. Sebastian July 2000 In Gilchrist v. Human Rights Commission, the First District Appellate Court held, sua sponte, that the Illinois Human Rights Commission (the "Commission") exceeded its statutory authority when it (1) entered an order that allowed an administrative law judge ("ALJ") to issue a written decision on a matter that the ALJ had not personally presided over, and (2) accepted, in its entirety, the "recommended order and decision" of that ALJ.

Case law developments By William A. Price March 2000 Note: Material summarized also includes information from case summaries prepared for the ISBA Illinois Courts Bulletin by Helen Gunnarson, from ISBA Administrative Law newsletter articles prepared by Julie Ann Sebastian and Terry Shafer, and uploads to the ISBA Administrative Law Section Council website by Edward Schoenbaum.

Citizens Organizing Project v. Department of Natural Resources: Supremes define reasonable litigation expense when administrative rule is invalidated By Robert T. Lawley July 2000 In the recently decided case of Citizens Organizing Project v. Department of Natural Resources, 189 Ill. 2d 593, __N.E. 2d __, __ Ill. Dec. __, 2000 WL 46033 (Jan. 21, 2000) (No. 86878), rehearing denied (Apr. 3, 2000), the Illinois Supreme Court broadly interpreted section 10-55(c) of the Administrative Procedure Act, ruling that a party who causes an administrative rule to be invalidated by a court is entitled to all of the party's reasonable litigation expenses incurred throughout the action.

Courts must liberally construe statutes granting a right to appeal May 2000 Less than six months after Carver, a four to three supreme court held that an administrative review proceeding could not be dismissed merely because of a technical error in seeking the issuance of summons.

Demographics of the Administrative Law Section August 2000 The section is composed of a geographically diverse group of attorneys. There were 482 section members as of May 2000, a 15% increase since the first of the year.

Editor’s note By John L. Conlon April 2000 In the last newsletter I noted the apparent demise of antitrust considerations in mega-mergers with the green light given to the Exxon-Mobil merger.

Ethics and professionalism for government attorneys and the administrative judiciary August 2000 On June 1, 2000, the Government Bar Association and the Illinois Association of Administrative Law Judges sponsored a program with the above title. Co-sponsors were the Illinois Chapter of the American Judicature Society, the Administrative Law and Administrative Law Judges Committees of the Chicago Bar Association, the ISBA Administrative Law Section, and the ISBA Committee on Government Lawyers.

Exceptions to the 35-day limit for issuance of administrative review summons May 2000 Last July, the Illinois Supreme Court issued an important decision regarding administrative review.

False denial of guilt in an administrative hearing may be considered as a factor in determining the sanction upon a finding against the respondent By Bernard Z. Paul February 2000 An administrative agency is entitled in determining a sanction to consider lack of truthfulness by the respondent, not only in testimony before the agency during a hearing, but also during the course of an agency's investigation.

Federal court review of state administrative agency decisions August 2000 In August 1999, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri issued a lengthy opinion in AT&T Communications of the Southwest, Inc. v. Southwestern Bell Tel. Co., 86 F. Supp. 932.

The good faith exception to the requirement of timely issuance of summons May 2000 Brazas v. Property Tax Appeal Board, 722 N.E.2d 1193 (Ill. App., 2d Dist., 1999), is a case also concerned with the timely issuance of summons. There, the petitioner challenged the real estate tax assessment of certain residential property.

Inside July 2000 This issue commences with Bob Lawley's interesting article concerning a recent Illinois Supreme Court case which liberalizes the rules applicable to a petition for reimbursement of litigation expenses filed by a private party whose lawsuit results in invalidation of an administrative rule.

Inside April 2000 This issue of the newsletter features articles on the applicability to administrative hearings of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

ISBA Administrative Law Section Internet offerings By Hon. Edward J. Schoenbaum February 2000 This article is to assist members of our section to maximize the benefits of being a member of the Administrative Law Section and the Illinois State Bar Association.

ISBA home page items February 2000 It's here! The 1999 Legislation Checklist summarizes the '99 session laws--many of which take effect this January--and organizes them by topic so you can quickly see how they affect your practice.

Meeting of the section council on February 18, 2000 August 2000 Former section council member Stephen Rotello, an Assistant Illinois Attorney General, discussed with the council the results of an AG survey addressing compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.

Paperless Illinois administrative code no more March 2000 Beginning in January 1997, the Secretary of State ceased publication of all paper copies of the Illinois Administrative Code and converted exclusively to publishing the IAC on CD ROM. For the first few years, the CD ROM mirrored the WEST Group CD ROM.

Pollution control board proposes new procedural rules By Claire A. Manning July 2000 The Illinois Pollution Control Board (Board) adjudicates environmental cases and adopts environmental standards and regulations for the State of Illinois.

Recent cases By Terry Shafer May 2000 The Department denied plaintiffs' applications for private detective licenses for failure to meet statutory qualifications.

Recent cases By Terry Shafer April 2000 In a published opinion, the Second District reversed the circuit court and remanded for further proceedings Christopher Brazas' appeal from a Property Tax Appeal Board decision (PTAB).

Recent decisions By Meghan Hubbard August 2000 An agency's unpublished interpretive opinions do not require notice and comment; an agency's erroneous decision in four cases does not estop the agency from making a different decision in a substantially similar fifth case.

Recent decision—an appeal or not an appeal: that is the question By Amy M. Watroba October 2000 The last issue of this newsletter included a discussion of AT & T Communications of the Southwest, Inc. v. Southwestern Bell Tel. Co., 86 F. Supp. 932 (W.D. Mo. 1999), where a Federal District court reviewed de novo a state administrative agency decision.

Recent Law Review article April 2000 The federal government owns in excess of two trillion dollars in assets. The public lands constitutes the largest portion of such assets, with the federal government owning approximately fifty percent of the land in eleven Western states, including almost ninety percent of Nevada and Alaska.

Recent section council activities October 2000 Administrative rules recodification legislation passed but has been put on hold. The section council approved a motion to establish a committee to effectuate Web publication by 2002 or sooner after problems are solved.