Western Intern. v. Kirkpatrick
| Decision Date | 12 November 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 86-1061,86-1061 |
| Citation | 396 N.W.2d 359 |
| Parties | WESTERN INTERNATIONAL and National Union Fire Insurance Co., Appellants, v. Elizabeth E. KIRKPATRICK, Appellee. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Sara Sersland of Nyemaster, Goode, McLaughlin, Emery & O'Brien, P.C., Des Moines, for appellants.
Harry W. Dahl III, Des Moines, for appellee.
Ray Sullins, Des Moines, for amicus curiae Iowa Small Business Employers, Workers' Compensation Group.
Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., and Elizabeth M. Osenbaugh, Deputy Atty. Gen., for amicus curiae Attorney General of Iowa.
Arthur C. Hedburg, Jr., Des Moines, for amicus curiae Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.
Dan L. Dudley of Murray, Davoren & Dudley, Des Moines, and Ann M. Ver Heul, Des Moines, for amicus curiae Donald Avenson, Speaker of the Iowa House, C.W. (Bill) Hutchins, Senate Majority Leader, and Calvin O. Hultman, Senate Minority Leader of the 71st General Assembly.
James E. Thorn, Council Bluffs, and Dennis L. Eaton, Des Moines, for amicus curiae Iowa Workers' Compensation Advisory Committee.
Considered en banc.
Does recently enacted legislation providing for appeal in workers' compensation cases from the industrial commissioner's decision directly to this court violate certain provisions of the Iowa Constitution? We conclude that it does.
The issue necessarily was raised by a motion filed in this court by petitioners Western International and National Union Fire Insurance Co. The motion requested that we rule whether petitioners' appeal and petition for judicial review of the agency decision by the Iowa industrial commissioner in this workers' compensation case was properly before this court or whether the district court on judicial review would be the proper forum for review of the commissioner's decision. The answer depends on the constitutional validity of recent amendments to Iowa Code sections 86.24 and 86.26 (1985).
We set petitioners' motion for hearing and invited the parties and all other interested persons to submit briefs as to the constitutionality of the amending legislation. Respondent-claimant Elizabeth E. Kirkpatrick contends the legislation violates our constitution in several respects. Petitioners take no position, while amici curiae divide on both sides of the issues. The matter has been duly submitted.
I. Background facts and procedures. Effective on July 1, 1986, the legislature enacted, and the governor approved, House File 2066. 1986 Iowa Legis.Serv. 7-126 (West). Sections 46 through 49 of that legislation purported to amend Iowa Code sections 86.24 and 86.26. The thrust of the amendments is to provide review by a direct appeal to this court from agency decisions in workers' compensation cases rather than by judicial review petition to district court as provided by the Iowa Administrative Procedure Act, Iowa Code chapter 17A.
Iowa Code section 86.26 (1985) provides:
Judicial review of decisions or orders of the industrial commissioner may be sought in accordance with the terms of chapter 17A. Notwithstanding the terms of chapter 17A, petitions for judicial review may be filed in the district court of the county in which the hearing under section 86.17 was held. Such a review proceeding shall be accorded priority over other matters pending before the district court.
Section 46 of House File 2066, the 1986 legislation, would amend Iowa Code section 86.24, concerning decisions by the industrial commissioner, by adding a new subsection as follows:
5. The decision of the industrial commissioner is final agency action and an appeal of the decision shall be made directly to the supreme court.
Section 47 of House File 2066 would amend Iowa Code section 86.26 to provide as follows:
Judicial review of decisions or orders of the industrial commissioner shall not be to the district court but shall be made directly to the supreme court, notwithstanding chapter 17A, the Iowa administrative procedure act. Petitions for judicial review shall be filed with the clerk of the supreme court as are other actions for appeal or review. The supreme court may transfer the action to the court of appeals.
Sections 46 through 49 were a package of provisions concerning workers' compensation appeals and costs. The package contained several substantive and procedural changes to prior statutes. The sections were a portion of a sixty-one section "code corrections" act, House File 2066, that was entitled:
An act relating to code corrections which adjust and correct earlier omissions and inaccuracies, remove inconsistencies, and reflect or alter current practices, and providing penalties.
In considering the constitutionality of sections 46 through 49 of House File 2066, we address the following questions:
1. Does the legislation violate the appellate role of the supreme court designated in article V, section 4 of the Iowa Constitution?
2. Does the legislation violate the single subject and title provisions of article III, section 29 of the Iowa Constitution?
II. Appellate role of the supreme court. The jurisdiction of the supreme court is set out in article V, section 4 of the Iowa Constitution, which provides:
The supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction only in cases in chancery, and shall constitute a court for the correction of errors at law, under such restrictions as the general assembly may, by law, prescribe; and shall have power to issue all writs and process necessary to secure justice to parties, and shall exercise a supervisory and administrative control over all inferior judicial tribunals throughout the state.
This constitutional provision specifies the original and appellate jurisdiction of this court.
A. Original jurisdiction. We have previously noted that the original jurisdiction of this court is limited to the supervision of inferior judicial tribunals. 1 Iowa Civil Liberties Union v. Critelli, 244 N.W.2d 564, 566 (Iowa 1976). The supervisory power should only be exercised as (a) "a check on jurisdiction" and (b) "a guaranty of a means of review when without it substantial justice could not be had." Hohl v. Board of Education, 250 Iowa 502, 508, 94 N.W.2d 787, 791 (1959).
Respondent-claimant Kirkpatrick asserts that section 47 of House File 2066, providing for direct appeal of industrial commissioner contested case decisions, would result in an unconstitutional exercise of the court's original jurisdiction. She argues the industrial commissioner in deciding cases is performing a quasi-judicial function; however, the agency is not, in fact, an inferior judicial tribunal.
We have addressed the issue of whether an administrative agency is to be regarded as an inferior judicial tribunal a number of times. In Independent School District v. Samuelson, 220 Iowa 170, 262 N.W. 169 (1935), the petitioner for a writ of certiorari wanted the supreme court to determine whether the state superintendent of public instruction was required to review a school board's cancellation of a teacher's contract. In response to this question, we stated:
This court exercises no supervisory control over those officers [state superintendent of public instruction and county superintendent of the school district]. They are not inferior judicial tribunals. They are executive officers of the state and belong to the executive department of the state government.
....
... This court is without jurisdiction to issue a writ of certiorari except to inferior judicial tribunals. Its power to require that proceedings be certified to this court for review is limited to judicial tribunals over which it exercises appellate and supervisory jurisdiction. The petitioner has misconceived his remedy. He should have applied to the district court for the writ. If the decision of the district court on the return of the writ is unsatisfactory, he may have it reviewed by this court on appeal.
Id. at 172, 262 N.W. at 170. We thereby determined that this court cannot constitutionally exercise its supervisory power over an administrative agency.
Three 1959 cases decided by this court further support the proposition that the supreme court cannot exercise original jurisdiction over the appeal from an agency decision. In Hohl, individuals sought to appeal a decision of the department of public instruction, fixing the boundaries of a proposed school district. 250 Iowa at 503, 94 N.W.2d at 788. The individuals successfully petitioned the district court for a writ of certiorari. The department appealed to this court from the grant of the writ. We acknowledged jurisdiction of the matter. Id. at 505, 94 N.W.2d at 789. The jurisdiction exercised in Hohl was clearly appellate, reviewing the action of the district court granting the writ of certiorari, rather than supervisory or original on our part. This decision squares with Samuelson in that the initial review of the agency decision should occur in the district court with an appeal to the supreme court to correct errors at law.
The school district in the case of In re Proposed Community School District of Malvern, 250 Iowa 1240, 1246, 98 N.W.2d 737, 741 (1959), argued that the action of the county school board was quasi-judicial; thus the district court could substitute its judgment for that of the board without violating the constitutional provision requiring the separation of powers. Iowa Const. art. III, § 1. We stated, "That the action of the board might be termed quasi-judicial would not remove it from the legislative category or make it, in fact, judicial." 250 Iowa at 1246, 98 N.W.2d at 741. Therefore, we distinguished between the judiciary and the quasi-judicial functions of an administrative agency.
We set this distinction out more clearly in the case of In re Proposed Community School District of Farragut, 250 Iowa 1324, 98 N.W.2d 888 (1959). We stated:
[W]e think the ordinary appeal from a decision of an administrative tribunal to the courts is not to be regarded as a real judicial...
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