Black v. University of Iowa, 83-1267

• Decision Date: 13 February 1985
• Docket Number: No. 83-1267,83-1267
• Citation: 362 N.W.2d 459
• Parties: 23 Ed. Law Rep. 264 Asa BLACK, Appellee, v. UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, State of Iowa, Board of Regents James O. Freedman, President of the University of Iowa, in his official and individual capacities, John Eckstein, Dean of the College of Medicine of the University of Iowa, in his official and individual capacities, and Terence Williams, Head of the Department of Anatomy of the College of Medicine of the University of Iowa, in his official and individual capacities, Appellants.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 459

362 N.W.2d 459

23 Ed. Law Rep. 264

Asa BLACK, Appellee, v. UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, State of Iowa, Board of Regents James O. Freedman, President of the University of Iowa, in his official and individual capacities, John Eckstein, Dean of the College of Medicine of the University of Iowa, in his official and individual capacities, and Terence Williams, Head of the Department of Anatomy of the College of Medicine of the University of Iowa, in his official and individual capacities, Appellants.

No. 83-1267.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Feb. 13, 1985.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., and Merle Wilna Fleming, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellants.

Clara Oleson, Iowa City, for appellee.

Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and McGIVERIN, LARSON, SCHULTZ, and WOLLE, JJ.

WOLLE, Justice.

This interlocutory appeal from the district court's denial of a motion to dismiss raises fundamental issues concerning the nature of a petition for judicial review of administrative action and the doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies. Petitioner Asa Black, an assistant professor at the University of Iowa, was denied academic tenure by decisions of university officials, affirmed on administrative review by the Iowa Board of Regents. In his petition for judicial review of that agency action, filed pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 17A (1981), petitioner alleged four separate bases for relief in four separate counts. The first count of his petition prayed for reversal of the action of the university officials and board of regents, while the second, third and fourth counts prayed for money damages and requested trial by jury. The district court denied the respondents' several-pronged motion to dismiss, finding joinder of the counts proper and exhaustion requirements satisfied. We reverse the first part of that ruling, because we hold that counts II, III and IV were improperly joined with count I and should have been dismissed. We agree, however, with the district court's refusal to dismiss count I, finding that petitioner satisfactorily exhausted administrative remedies before seeking judicial review of the denial of academic tenure. Accordingly, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings on the first count of the petition.

Petitioner was hired by the university as an assistant professor of anatomy in 1975. In 1980 he requested but was denied promotion to associate professor with tenure. The university maintains an operations manual which is a compendium of policies and regulations governing faculty members. Availing himself of faculty dispute procedures set forth in that manual, petitioner filed a grievance with a faculty hearing panel. The panel recommended that petitioner be promoted with tenure. The university president reviewed that decision and issued a detailed ruling which partially approved and partially disapproved the decision of the faculty hearing panel. The president found that petitioner had failed to satisfy his burden to prove by a clear and convincing preponderance of the evidence that his departmental faculty peers had acted unreasonably in denying him tenure in December of 1980. The president did agree with the panel's finding that the tenure decision was tainted with procedural error, and he also found that unfair impediments had inhibited petitioner from developing an adequate academic record to achieve tenure. He directed the department of anatomy to consider anew the petitioner's request for tenure, but he let stand the departmental decision denying him tenure on the basis of his academic record as of December 1980. The president further stated that if the request were again denied, petitioner's appointment as a faculty member should be extended for two additional years to enable him to qualify for tenure free of any unfair impediments. The board of regents reviewed and accepted the university president's ruling.

Although he continued to pursue the intra-university procedures left open to him by the president's ruling, petitioner also filed in the district court the several-count petition which is the subject of this appeal. He named as respondents the University of Iowa, the board of regents, the university president, the dean of the college of medicine, and the head of the university's anatomy department. The petition combined a request for judicial review of a portion of the agency tenure decision with multiple claims for damages and other affirmative relief.

Respondents initially filed special appearances challenging the jurisdiction of the district court, but the special appearances were overruled. Thereafter the respondents attacked the petition by lengthy and detailed motions to dismiss, to recast, and to strike. In the rulings which we address in this interlocutory appeal, the district court held: (1) petitioner was not precluded from joining causes of action for damages with his petition for judicial review of agency action; and (2) petitioner satisfactorily exhausted all adequate administrative remedies, rendering the administrative action of the university officials and board of regents ripe for judicial review. We first address the question whether petitioner's actions for damages were properly made part of his petition for judicial review, then the question of exhaustion of administrative remedies.

I. Joinder of Actions for Damages with Petition for Judicial Review.

In count I of his petition, petitioner detailed the background of this tenure dispute and alleged, in essence, that respondents' actions denying him tenure were illegal and violated his substantial rights. All of those allegations were also incorporated within counts II, III and IV, including the specific paragraph stating:

That this is not an appeal from a contested case proceeding, but from agency action as defined in [Iowa Code] chapter 17A, section 17A.2(9) (1981).

With those specific references to chapter 17A (the Iowa administrative procedure act), and to section 17A.2(9) (which defines the type of administrative action being challenged), petitioner clearly indicated that the primary purpose of his petition was to obtain judicial review and reversal of the agency action which had denied him tenure.

Count I expressly prayed for judicial review, reversal of the agency action, and granting of tenure with all accompanying benefits. Counts II, III and IV, in contrast, were not only based on different legal theories but prayed for an entirely different type of relief--compensatory, exemplary and punitive damages. Count II alleged that petitioner had been damaged by respondents' violation of his civil rights; count III, that he had been damaged by respondents' intentional infliction of emotional distress; and count IV, that he had been damaged by respondents' breach of implied covenants of good faith and fair dealing in the employment contract. Although each count's prayer for damages ended with a sweeping request for all fair and just relief, it is clear that the first count requesting judicial review is categorically different from the second, third and fourth counts whose primary thrust is the recovery of damages for injuries allegedly sustained by the petitioner.

In overruling respondents' motion to dismiss counts II, III and IV the district court rejected respondents' contention that judicial review of agency action ought not be joined with multiple requests for relief properly cognizable as original actions. The court reasoned that Iowa's procedural rules liberally permit joinder of claims and that chapter 17A does not explicitly proscribe joinder. See Iowa R.Civ.P. 22 ("A single plaintiff may join in the same petition as many causes of action, legal or equitable, independent or alternative, as he may have against a single defendant."); cf. Iowa R.Civ.P. 186 (giving a trial court broad discretion to combine or separate claims and issues for trial). The district court also noted that joinder was appropriate here because "[t]he claims ... involve the same parties, arise out of common events and contain common factual and legal questions."

We disagree with that part of the district court's ruling because our joinder rules neither expressly nor by implication permit the bringing together in one lawsuit of a judicial review proceeding and an original law or equity action. Judicial review proceedings are fundamentally different from original actions commenced in the district court. Judicial review proceedings have a different jurisdictional base, proceed in a different manner toward disposition, and provide only those types of relief to the successful petitioner which chapter 17A specifically prescribes.

Iowa Code section 17A.19 provides in pertinent part:

Except as expressly provided otherwise by another statute referring to this chapter by name, the judicial review provisions of this chapter shall be the exclusive means by which a person or party who is aggrieved or adversely affected by agency action may seek judicial review of such agency action.

Absent a statute providing otherwise, that provision vests a district court with limited jurisdiction to review agency action. Review is permitted only if the challenge to that action meets the criteria of section 17A.19. See Allegre v. Iowa State Board of Regents, 319 N.W.2d 206, 209 (Iowa 1982); Iowa Public Service Co. v. Iowa State Commerce Commission, 263 N.W.2d 766, 768 (Iowa 1978). Fundamentally, in judicial review proceedings the district court exercises only appellate jurisdiction and has "no original authority to declare the rights of parties or the applicability of any statute or rule." Public Employment Relations Board v. Stohr, 279 N.W.2d 286, 290 (Iowa 1979) (emphasis in original); see Iowans for Tax Relief v. Campaign Finance Disclosure Commission, 331 N.W.2d 862, 863 (Iowa 1983); Young Plumbing and Heating Co. v. Iowa Natural Resources Council, 276 N.W.2d 377, 381 (Iowa 1979).

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