Ali v. Greater Ft. Wayne Chamber of Commerce, 02A03-8604-CV-116

• Docket Nº: No. 02A03-8604-CV-116
• Citation: 505 N.E.2d 141
• Case Date: March 24, 1987
• Court: Court of Appeals of Indiana

Page 141

505 N.E.2d 141 54 Fair Empl.Prac.Cas. (BNA) 1843 Abraham Abate ALI and Fort Wayne Metropolitan Human
Relations Commission, Appellants,
v.
GREATER FORT WAYNE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, Appellee. No. 02A03-8604-CV-116. Court of Appeals of Indiana,
Third District. March 24, 1987.

Steven L. Jackson, Fort Wayne, for appellants.

J. Timothy McCaulay, Helmke, Beams, Boyer & Wagner, Fort Wayne, for appellee.

Page 142

STATON, Judge.

Abraham Abate Ali (Ali) alleged that the termination of his employment with the Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) was the result of discrimination based on national origin. The Fort Wayne, Indiana, Metropolitan Human Relations Commission (MHRC) determined that Ali was the victim of discrimination, and awarded him $7,200.96. That order was reviewed by the trial court and denied. Ali has appealed the trial court's judgment, and presents the following issue for review:

Whether the trial court employed an improper standard of review when it denied the recommended order of the administrative agency.

Affirmed.

Judicial review of an administrative order or decision is limited to consideration of whether the agency possessed jurisdiction over the matter decided and whether the order was made in conformity with proper legal procedure. A reviewing court will also determine whether the administrative decision was based on substantial evidence and whether the decision violates any statutory or legal principal. Bolerjack v. Forsythe (1984), Ind.App., 461 N.E.2d 1126, 1130, trans. den. In the instant case, the trial court's explanation of why it denied the MHRC's order was as follows:

The Court finds that although substantial evidence is present in the record to support the basic facts found in paragraphs numbered 9 through 20 of the Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law and Recommended Order of the Metropolitan Human Relations Commission, there is not substantial, reliable and provative [sic] evidence that the Commission's ultimate finding, decision and determination is so supported. Therefore, the Court cannot reasonably find from this record that the ultimate fact, i.e. termination of employment because of discrimination of national origin is supported by substantial evidence.

R. 583.

Ali's allegation of error is that by accepting the basic facts found by the MHRC but rejecting its ultimate conclusion, the trial court improperly reweighed evidence and substituted its judgment for that of the administrative agency. Johnson v. Moritz (1981), Ind.App., 426 N.E.2d 448, 450.

The "proper procedure" for administrative decision making was set down as follows:

The process necessarily includes at least four parts: (1) evidence must be taken and weighed, both as to its accuracy and credibility; (2) from attentive consideration of this evidence a determination of facts of a basic or underlying nature must be reached; (3) from these basic facts the ultimate facts, usually in the language of the statute, are to be inferred, or not, as the case may be; (4) from this finding the decision will follow by the application of the statutory criterion.

State ex rel. Newton v. Board of School Trustees (1984), Ind.App., 460 N.E.2d 533, 545, trans. den. (citations omitted).

In the instant case, the basic facts found by MHRC are that Ali, who is not a United States citizen, is of Ethiopian origin. He was employed by the Chamber as a maintenance worker, and that there was more animosity between Ali and John Porter, the Chamber's head of...