Section 1 Overview

• Library: Administrative Law 2011

Chapter 536, RSMo, Administrative Procedure and Review, provides: “Reasonable opportunity shall be given for the preparation and presentation of evidence bearing on any issue raised or decided or relief sought or granted [in any contested case].” Section 536.063(3), RSMo 2000.

The rules of evidence for administrative proceedings are set forth in large measure in § 536.070, RSMo 2000. Section 536.070 establishes the rules of evidence for any “contested case” (as defined in § 536.010(4), RSMo Supp. 2010) before an “agency” (as defined in § 536.010(2)). See §6.15, infra. Although § 536.070 relaxes the rules of evidence that would ordinarily govern civil actions, counsel should not ignore fundamental rules of evidence. The Supreme Court of Missouri has noted the importance of evidentiary rules in administrative proceedings:

Cases brought before administrative agencies generally are less formal and structured than are civil proceedings in the circuit courts. That does not mean that evidentiary rules developed in civil cases have no application to administrative actions, however. To the contrary, the legislature has specifically...