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Lack of a clear explanation of the administrative procedure requires the granting an administrative hearing

Lack of a clear explanation of the administrative procedure requires the granting an administrative hearing
Meadow* v NYC Dept. of Fin., Motor Vehicles, 61 AD3d 551

The notice on the back of a New York City issued parking ticket indicated three ways "TO PLEAD NOT GUILTY' AND REQUEST A HEARING":

1. adjudication by mail,

2. on-line adjudication, or

3. an in-person hearing at any hearing center without an appointment.

Claire Meadow was issued a notice of violation for allegedly illegally parking within five feet of a fire hydrant. She mailed the ticket back to the New York City Parking Violations Bureau (PVB), entering a plea of not guilty. Although she expected to receive a notice indicating the date of her hearing, she, instead, received a "notice of determination" by an administrative law judge finding her guilty of the charged violation and imposing a fine of $115.

Meadow?s husband then wrote to the PVB stating that his wife had expected an opportunity to present evidence at a hearing and requesting that the determination be vacated and either set down for a hearing or, in the alternative, the matter be adjudicated on the basis of a statement attached to the letter setting out their defense to the citation. The PVB denied the request by letter, stating that "only one hearing is granted per summons," and the PVB Appeals Board subsequently denied Meadow's appeal, finding no error of fact or law.

Supreme Court, New York County, sustained the Appeals Board?s determination, only to have that ruling vacated by the Appellate Division. The Appellate Division granted the petition filed by Meadows and remanded the matter of a hearing.

The court said that the PVB had abused its discretion in denying the request to vacate the initial determination because Meadow ?had demonstrated that she had inadvertently invoked the adjudication-by-mail procedure without intending to waive her right to a hearing." Thus, said the Appellate Division, the administrative determination was reached in violation of lawful procedure.

The traffic citation, said the court, did not clearly state that by mailing the ticket back with a not-guilty plea, the person charged "thereby consented to adjudication solely on the basis of the summons and any documents submitted by mail," without an opportunity to have the "hearing" provided for in New York City?s Administrative Code §19-206 and 19 RCNY 39-08.

The Appellate Division accepted ?the credible assertion that [Meadow] misunderstood the procedure for entering a not-guilty plea as described on the ticket,? ruling that this resulted in her being deprived of an opportunity to be heard and Appeals Board should have granted the requested hearing under the circumstances.

* Meadow represented herself in these court actions.

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on February 05, 2010 (boomark / email).