Section 15 Contested Case Determination

• Library: Administrative Law 2011

The rules of evidence set out in § 536.070, RSMo 2000, apply only in contested cases. A “[c]ontested case” is defined in § 536.010(4), RSMo Supp. 2010, as “a proceeding before an agency in which legal rights, duties or privileges of specific parties are required by law to be determined after hearing[.]” The key to the classification of a case as contested or noncontested is the requirement of a hearing. City of Valley Park v. Armstrong, 273 S.W.3d 504, 506–07 (Mo. banc 2009). A contested case is distinguished from a noncontested case, in which a decision is made without a hearing, and rulemaking, in which matters of general policy of broad effect are decided. See § 536.010(6); Dep’t of Soc. Servs., Div. of Med. Servs. v. Little Hills Healthcare, L.L.C., 236 S.W.3d 637, 643
(Mo. banc 2007). The Supreme Court of Missouri has held that a contested case does not mean every case in which there may be a contest about “rights, duties or privileges.” Hagely v. Bd. of Educ. of Webster Groves Sch....