Section 99 Fair Hearing

• Library: Administrative Law 2011

Missouri courts have long construed state and federal constitutional due process to require that an administrative hearing must afford the parties a fair hearing that contains rudimentary elements of fair play. Greater Garden Ave. Area Ass’n v. City of Webster Groves, 655 S.W.2d 760, 764 (Mo. App. E.D. 1983); Jones v. State Dep’t of Pub. Health & Welfare, 354 S.W.2d 37, 39–40 (Mo. App. W.D. 1962). This requires that a party in a contested case administrative proceeding must be given an opportunity to be heard at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner. State ex rel. Fischer v. Pub. Serv. Comm’n of Mo., 645 S.W.2d 39, 43 (Mo. App. W.D. 1982) (extending due process fair hearing requirement to the Office of Public Counsel as statutory representative of the public in PSC (Public Service Commission) rate proceedings and ruling that PSC had unfairly limited consideration of rate design proposal to that contained in stipulation and agreement signed by other parties).

Procedural due process also requires that administrative decision-makers acting in an adjudicative capacity must be impartial to afford a fair hearing to parties to the hearing. Stonecipher v. Poplar Bluff R1 Sch. Dist., 205 S.W.3d 326, 329 (Mo. App. S.D. 2006). But...