State ex rel. Potts v. Comm. on Continuing Legal Edn., 01-483.
| Decision Date | 17 October 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-483.,01-483. |
| Citation | 93 Ohio St.3d 452,755 NE 2d 886 |
| Parties | THE STATE EX REL. POTTS v. COMMISSION ON CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
James D. Caruso, for relator.
Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General, and Elise Porter, Assistant Attorney General, for respondent.
Relator, John F. Potts of Toledo, Ohio, Attorney Registration No. 0033846, is an attorney admitted to practice law in Ohio. Respondent, Supreme Court Commission on Continuing Legal Education ("CLE Commission"), was created by the Supreme Court of Ohio to administer its continuing legal education ("CLE") requirements and to establish procedures for awarding CLE credits under Gov.Bar R. X (for lawyers) and under Gov.Jud.R. IV (for state judges). Gov.Bar R. X(2)(A)(1) and (B)(1). Pursuant to Gov.Bar R. X(3), Potts was required to complete and report at least twenty-four credit hours of continuing legal education1 for the 1997-1998 reporting period by January 31, 1999. In July 1998, the CLE Commission mailed to Potts an interim progress report for the 1997-1998 period showing the number of CLE credit hours reported to the CLE Commission for that period as of June 30, 1998. In December 1998, the CLE Commission mailed to Potts a final reporting transcript, which showed the number of CLE credit hours reported to the CLE Commission for the 1997-1998 reporting period as of November 30, 1998. Potts responded to neither the interim nor the final report.
In March 1999, the CLE Commission notified Potts by letter that he had failed to comply with Gov.Bar R. X because he had not filed his 1997-1998 CLE report by the January 31, 1999 deadline and he had completed only eighteen of the required twenty-four CLE credit hours for the period. Potts failed to respond to the letter, and in October 1999, the CLE Commission recommended that the following sanctions be imposed on Potts: $90 fine for his failure to complete the minimum CLE credit hours required and $150 fine for his failure to file a timely report for 1997-1998. In November 1999, we issued an order for Potts to show cause why the sanctions recommended by the CLE Commission should not be adopted. In December 1999, Potts filed a timely response to the show-cause order in which he submitted evidence establishing that he had completed an additional 22.75 CLE credit hours for the 1997-1998 reporting period that had not been reported to the CLE Commission. Potts claimed that he had not previously reported the additional CLE credit hours because no CLE activity codes had been given to him by the seminar sponsor, the American Bar Association, until several months after the seminars had been completed. The CLE Commission then modified its recommendation to eliminate the $90 fine for failure to complete the minimum CLE credit hours for the period but retained its previous recommendation to fine Potts $150 because he had failed to file a timely report for the 1997-1998 reporting period.
On March 31, 2000, this court issued an order imposing the recommended $150 fine. In re Report of Comm. on Continuing Legal Edn. (2000), 88 Ohio St.3d 1458, 726 N.E.2d 501. Potts paid the fine.
In December 2000, Potts requested that twelve of his 40.75 CLE credit hours for the 1997-1998 reporting period be carried over to the 1999-2000 reporting period. After the CLE Commission refused Potts's request, he sought review of the refusal. On February 9, 2001, the CLE Commission heard argument concerning Potts's appeal of the denial of his request to carry over excess CLE credits. The CLE Commission denied Potts's appeal by an eleven-to-three vote. No sworn testimony was introduced at the hearing.
In March 2001, Potts filed this action for extraordinary relief. He requests a writ of mandamus to compel the CLE Commission to apply the maximum permissible twelve excess CLE credit hours he earned during the 1997-1998 reporting period to the 1999-2000 reporting period, as provided in Gov.Bar R. X(3)(B)(2). Potts also seeks a writ of prohibition to prevent the CLE Commission from disallowing the carryover of the excess CLE credit hours. After the CLE Commission filed an answer, we granted an alternative writ and set a schedule for the presentation of evidence and briefs.
This cause is now before the court for our consideration of the merits and Potts's motion for oral argument.
Potts requests oral argument pursuant to S.Ct.Prac.R. IX(2). S.Ct.Prac.R. IX(2), however, does not require oral argument in this original action. Potts has neither established nor asserted any of the usual factors that might warrant oral argument, and the parties' briefs are sufficient to resolve the issues raised. See State ex rel. Woods v. Oak Hill Community Med. Ctr. (2001), 91 Ohio St.3d 459, 460, 746 N.E.2d 1108, 1111.
Based on the foregoing, we deny Potts's request for oral argument.
Potts requests writs of prohibition and mandamus. In order to be entitled to a writ of prohibition, Potts must establish that (1) the CLE Commission is about to exercise judicial or quasi-judicial power, (2) the exercise of that power is unauthorized by law, and (3) denial of the writ will cause injury for which no other adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law exists. State ex rel. Henry v. McMonagle (2000), 87 Ohio St.3d 543, 544, 721 N.E.2d 1051, 1052.2
In order to establish his entitlement to the writ, Potts must initially prove that the CLE Commission exercised quasi-judicial authority in denying Potts's request for carryover of excess CLE credit hours. As the CLE Commission cogently asserts, Potts failed to establish this requirement. "Quasi-judicial authority is the power to hear and determine controversies between the public and individuals that require a hearing resembling a judicial trial." (Emphasis added.) State ex rel. Wright v. Ohio Bur. of Motor Vehicles (1999), 87 Ohio St.3d 184, 186, 718 N.E.2d 908, 910. Although Gov.Bar R. X(6)(E) permits the CLE Commission "to issue subpoenas and cause testimony to be taken under oath before the Commission or a hearing examiner appointed by the Commission," it does not require sworn testimony for CLE Commission hearings. And, in fact, no sworn testimony was introduced at the CLE Commission hearing on Potts's request to apply excess CLE credit hours from the 1997-1998 period to the 1999-2000 period. Because the CLE Commission hearing was more in the nature of an appellate argument than an evidentiary hearing usually associated with a typical judicial trial, the CLE Commission did not exercise quasi-judicial authority in denying Potts's request, and prohibition will not lie. State ex rel. Baldzicki v. Cuyahoga Cty. Bd. of Elections (2000), 90 Ohio St.3d 238, 241-242, 736 N.E.2d 893, 896-897.
Therefore, we deny Potts's request for a writ of prohibition.
Potts requests extraordinary relief in mandamus to order the CLE Commission to apply twelve excess CLE credit hours earned by Potts during the 1997-1998. reporting period to the 1999-2000 reporting period. In order to be entitled to the requested writ of mandamus, Potts must establish a clear legal right to have his twelve excess credit hours applied to the 1999-2000 reporting period, a corresponding clear legal duty on the part of the CLE Commission to apply the credits, and the absence of a plain and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law. State ex rel. Sekermestrovich v. Akron (2001), 90 Ohio St.3d 536, 537, 740 N.E.2d 252, 254.
Gov.Bar R. X(3)(B)(2) provides, "An attorney who completes more than the required number of credit hours in a reporting period may apply a maximum of twelve credit hours to the next reporting period." The parties stipulated that Potts completed 40.75 CLE credit hours for the 1997-1998 reporting period. Under Gov.Bar R. X(3)(B)(2), Potts was consequently entitled to apply twelve CLE credit hours to the 1999-2000 reporting period.
The CLE Commission asserts that Gov.Bar R. X(3)(B)(2) confers a privilege rather than a right and that when read in pari materia with the remaining provisions of Gov.Bar R. X, Potts's failure to timely file a 1997-1998 CLE report precludes him from carrying over the excess CLE credits to the next reporting period. The commission further contends that we must accord deference to its interpretation of Gov.Bar R. X.
The CLE Commission's claims lack merit. We may resort to rules of construction to interpret Gov.Bar R. X(3)(B)(2) only if the terms of the rule are ambiguous or in doubt. See State ex rel. Herman v. Klopfleisch (1995), 72 Ohio St.3d 581, 585, 651 N.E.2d 995, 998 (); see, also, Thomas v. Freeman (1997), 79 Ohio St.3d 221, 224, 680 N.E.2d 997, 1000, where we applied principles of statutory construction in analyzing Rules of Civil Procedure. If the only doubt about a rule's meaning is created by application of the rule of construction, we need not defer to an agency's interpretation. State ex rel. Burrows v. Indus....
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