Section 26 Judicial Deference to Agency Fact-Finding

• Library: Administrative Law 2011

While Hampton v. Big Boy Steel Erection, 121 S.W.3d 220 (Mo. banc 2003), eliminated the presumption that the competent and substantial evidence standard requires a reviewing court to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the agency decision, it did not alter the principle that a reviewing court will defer to agency fact-findings in a contested decision if the evidence before the agency permits either of two opposing findings on appeal from the agency. Coffer v. Wasson-Hunt, 281 S.W.3d 308, 310 (Mo. banc 2009). If the evidence contains conflicting factual inferences, a reviewing court defers to the agency’s findings unless those findings are contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Vickers v. Mo. Dep’t of Pub. Safety, 283 S.W.3d 287, 295 (Mo. App. W.D. 2009). Unlike questions of law, agency...