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Color Country Management v. Labor Commission12/6/2001
ithout a pre-termination hearing. In doing so, the Court identified three factors for analyzing procedural due process challenges: first, the private interest affected by the official action; second, "the risk of erroneous deprivation" of the interest by the procedures used and the probable value of additional or substitute procedural protections; and third, the governmental interest, "including the function involved and the fiscal and administrative burdens" of additional or substitute procedures. Id. at 335, 96 S. Ct. at 903; see also In re S.A., 2001 UT App 307, , 432 Utah Adv. Rep. 21.
In addressing each of these factors in the context of the SSDI benefits at issue in Mathews, the Court noted that due process is not a "'technical conception with a fixed content unrelated to time, place and circumstances.'" Id. at 334, 96 S. Ct. at 902 (quoting Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, 367 U.S. 886, 895, 81 S. Ct. 1743, 1748 (1961)). The Court pointed out that due process is flexible and calls for such procedures as are demanded by a particular situation. See id.
We adopted the reasoning and the factors from Mathews in Lander v. Industrial Commission, 894 P.2d 552, 555-57 (Utah Ct. App. 1995), where we rejected a due process challenge to a provision of the Workers' Compensation Act brought by an employee. In Lander, we compared the employee's interest to that in Mathews and concluded that the interest in Lander "[fell] short of a vested right to benefits" because Lander was not entitled to benefits yet, he was only entitled to apply for them. Id. at 555. Unlike the employee in Lander, the employer/insurer here, Color Country, has an interest more akin to the SSDI recipient in Mathews; that is, it has a vested right in property it already holds, not merely an expectation of being able to receive something in the future.
The second Mathews factor, however, weighs in favor of the Commission. In addition to multiple hearings on the issue of disability under the Act, the Commission also has the ability to reconsider prior rulings due to its continuing jurisdiction over claims. See Spencer v. Indus. Comm'n, 733 P.2d 158, 161 (Utah 1987) (holding that the Commission has continuing jurisdiction to modify awards when there are significant changes or new developments in a claimant's condition). Moreover, the procedures contained in UAPA are available to ensure accurate decision making by the Commission. These include: a requirement that the Commission afford parties the opportunity to present evidence, argue, respond, conduct cross-examination, submit rebuttal evidence, and that testimony be under oath and recorded under section 63-46b-8; an opportunity for discovery under section 63-46b-7; written orders with findings of fact, conclusions of law, and the reasoning relied upon under section 63-46b-10; agency review under section 63-46b-12; agency reconsideration under section 63-46b-13; appellate judicial review under 63-46b-16; and the right to seek a stay of orders under 63-46b-18. These procedures closely approximate the full panoply of rights found in a full blown civil trial.
The Mathews Court pointed out that "the decision whether to [award] disability benefits will turn, in most cases, upon 'routine, standard, and unbiased medical reports by physician specialists.'" Mathews, 424 U.S. at 344, 96 S. Ct. at 907 (quoting Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 404, 91 S. Ct. 1420, 1428 (1971)). The Mathews Court concluded that due to the nature of such decisions, the risk of error was low enough so that there was no need for a hearing before an employee's benefits were terminated, so long as there were procedures in place for a challenge to be brought following termination of benef
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