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Friday, February 24, 2006
Ind. Decisions - Court of Appeals issues one today
In Indiana State Board of Education v. Brownsburg Community School Corporation, a 12-page opinion, Judge Vaidik writes:
The Indiana State Board of Education (“ISBE”) appeals the trial court’s denial of its Motion to Correct Errors and Vacate. Specifically, the ISBE contends that because it was unaware that the “preliminary hearing” in the matter would be its one and only chance to argue its case on the merits, the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to vacate its final order. Finding that the ISBE was not afforded the due process guarantees of notice and an opportunity to be heard, we reverse. * * *What we had here were two (or three) ships passing in the night. The trial court addressed both the stay and the merits of Brownsburg’s Petition. To some extent, Brownsburg may have done the same thing. At the very least, however, it appears that Brownsburg expected there to be additional hearings. For its part, the ISBE clearly believed that the subject of the February 15 hearing was the stay. As we found above, this belief was reasonable. This court has recognized that a party should be given an opportunity to meet the issues that the court is considering. * * * This is not being hyper-technical; this is being fair.
Because the ISBE was not put on notice of the finality of the February 15 hearing, it was not afforded a full and fair opportunity to be heard. As such, the requirements of due process have not been satisfied. Therefore, we reverse the trial court’s denial of the ISBE’s Motion to Correct Errors and Vacate and remand this matter with instructions to the trial court to conduct a judicial review proceeding in which the parties are given an opportunity to submit relevant documents and make substantive arguments on the merits of Brownsburg’s Petition.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 24, 2006 09:39 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions