Yempabou Palo v. Iowa Board of Regents

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 14-1540
Filed July 9, 2015
YEMPABOU PALO,
Petitioner-Appellee,
vs.
IOWA BOARD OF REGENTS,
Respondent-Appellant.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Steven J. Oeth,
Judge.
The Board of Regents appeals the district court’s decision reversing a final
decision of the Board. APPEAL DISMISSED.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Jeffrey S. Thompson, Solicitor
General, and Diane M. Stahle, Special Assistant Attorney General, for appellant.
Matthew M. Boles and Adam C. Witosky of Parrish, Kruidenier, Dunn,
Boles, Gribble, Gentry, Brown & Bergmann, L.L.P., Des Moines, for appellee.
Joseph M. Barron of Peddicord, Wharton, Spencer, Hook, Barron, &
Wegman, L.L.P, West Des Moines, for amicus curiae.
Heard by Tabor, P.J., McDonald, J., and Mahan S.J.*
*Senior judge assigned by order pursuant to Iowa Code section 602.9206 (2015).
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MAHAN, S.J.
The Board of Regents (the Board) appeals the district court’s decision
reversing a final decision of the Board finding Iowa State University (ISU)
student, Yempabou Palo, had violated section 4.2.5 of the ISU Student
Disciplinary Regulations. The Board claims its decision was based on
substantial evidence and was not irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable. We
find the Board’s claims in the present action are moot because Palo has since
graduated from ISU, and a decision in this case does not fit any of the exceptions
to the mootness doctrine. Therefore, we dismiss this appeal.
I. BACKGROUND FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
On September 10, 2012, the Iowa State University Office of Judicial
Affairs charged Palo with violating two provisions of the ISU Student Disciplinary
Regulations: section 4.2.5 (prohibiting sexual misconduct, sexual assault, and
sexual harassment) and section 4.2.27 (prohibiting violations of local, state, or
federal law). The charges stemmed from a report by a female ISU student, H.B,
of unwelcome sexual encounters with Palo and Spencer Cruise (who was not an
ISU student) on May 18, 2012. As a result of the incident, Palo was criminally
charged with sexual abuse in the second degree. After an investigation, the
Story County Attorney dropped the criminal charge on January 14, 2013.1 As a
result, the section 4.2.27 charge was also dropped .
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Following the dismissal of Palo’s criminal charges, ISU reinstated Palo to the
basketball team. He went on to play seventeen games for ISU to finish the 2012-13
season. In June 2013, after taking into account Palo’s situation and compliance with the
Student Disciplinary Regulations, ISU renewed his athletic scholarship. Following
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Palo exercised his option to have the disciplinary case heard by an
administrative law judge (ALJ), appointed through the Department of Inspections
and Appeals, rather than by the All University Judiciary at ISU. The ISU Office of
Judicial Affairs prosecuted the case, and H.B. also participated in the hearing.
The hearing was held on April 24 and 25, 2013. The ALJ issued his decision on
May 22, and found the charge against Palo was unfounded.
In June the Office of Judicial Affairs and H.B. separately appealed to ISU
President Steven Leath. In its appeal, the Office of Judicial Affairs took
exception to some of the ALJ’s factual findings and also claimed the ALJ
improperly applied ISU’s sexual misconduct policy. Neither party made a request
for additional evidence or for an oral argument. President Leath considered the
case upon the record developed before the ALJ, and issued a decision on
August 30. He adopted the majority of the fact findings made by the ALJ, took
exception to three of the ALJ’s findings, and made additional findings and
credibility determinations. President Leath relied upon the consent standard
established in the Student Disciplinary Regulations and found Palo had violated
the disciplinary regulation prohibiting sexual misconduct. Given Palo’s academic
success at ISU, President Leath declined to suspend Palo, but imposed the
following sanctions: 1) indefinite deferred suspension, 2) prohibition from
participating in or representing ISU in intercollegiate athletics, 3) required
participation in sexual assault and harassment awareness training, and 4)
participation in alcohol awareness training.
President Leath’s decision in August 2013, Palo was suspended from the basketball
team.
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On September 6, 2013, Palo appealed the President’s decision to the
Board of Regents. He also requested the Board to issue a stay on his prohibition
on participation in intercollegiate athletics. The Board affirmed and wholly
adopted the President’s decision on December 5. The Board also denied Palo’s
request for a stay.
On December 10, Palo petitioned for judicial review of the Board’s
decision. He also sought a stay of the sanctions imposed by the Board’s
decision. On January 16, 2014, the district court issued a ruling granting Palo’s
stay on a temporary basis. In its ruling, the district court noted President Leath
issued his decision five days after the deadline that would have allowed Palo to
transfer to a different school to take advantage of his remaining year of athletic
eligibility. The court found “irreparable injury” would occur if Palo was not
allowed to return to the team for his final year of eligibility. The court also found,
since H.B. had graduated and left the State of Iowa, granting the stay would not
interfere with ISU’s ability to protect H.B.
The district court issued its ruling on Palo’s petition for judicial review on
August 21, 2014. The court found there was not substantial evidence to support
the Board’s conclusion Palo violated the sexual misconduct policy. The Board
now appeals.
II. SCOPE AND STANDARD OF REVIEW
Our standard of review for judicial review of an agency action is governed
by Iowa Code chapter 17A (2013). Mike Brooks, Inc. v. House, 843 N.W.2d 885,
888 (Iowa 2014). The district court acts in an appellate capacity when it reviews
the agency’s decisions. Watson v. Iowa Dep’t of Transp. Motor Vehicle Div., 829
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N.W.2d 566, 568 (Iowa 2013). “On appeal, we apply the standards of chapter
17A to determine whether we reach the same conclusions as the district court. If
we reach the same conclusions, we affirm; otherwise we may reverse.” Id.Courts are required to give “appropriate deference” to the findings of an
agency when discretion is “vested by a provision of law.” Iowa Code § 17A.19.
Agencies vested with the power to make findings of facts are vested with the
power to apply the law to those facts. Mycogen Seeds v .Sands, 686 N.W.2d
457, 465 (Iowa 2004). Our review of final agency action is “severely
circumscribed.” See Greenwood Manor v. Iowa Dep’t of Pub. Health, 641
N.W.2d 823, 839 (Iowa 2002); Sellers v. Emp’t Appeal Bd., 531 N.W.2d 645, 646
(Iowa Ct. App. 1995). Nearly all disputes are won or lost at the agency level; the
cardinal rule of administrative law is that judgment calls are within the province of
the administrative tribunal, not the courts. See id.To disturb the agency’s findings of fact, those findings must not be
supported by substantial evidence in the record. Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)(f);
Burton v. Hilltop Care Ctr., 813 N.W.2d 250, 255–57 (Iowa 2012). Substantial
evidence is a “quantity and quality of evidence that would be deemed sufficient
by a neutral, detached, and reasonable person, to establish the fact at issue.”
Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)(f)(1). Evidence may be substantial even if it would have
supported a contrary inference or an inconsistent conclusion. Ludtke v. Dep’t of
Transp., 646 N.W.2d 62, 66 (Iowa 2002).
To disturb the agency’s application of law to fact, the applications must be
irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable. Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)(m); Burton,
813 N.W.2d at 256. Those terms should be read with their plain language
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meaning. The Sherwin-Williams Co. v. Iowa Dep’t of Revenue, 789 N.W.2d 417,
432 (Iowa 2010). The review of the agency’s application of law to fact is with
“some degree of discretion . . . but not the breadth of discretion given to the
findings of fact.” Meyer v. IBP, Inc., 710 N.W.2d 213, 219 (Iowa 2006).
There is error at law if the Board did not have a “quantity and quality of
evidence that would be deemed sufficient by a neutral . . . person, to establish
the fact at issue.” Iowa Code § 17A.19(10)(f)(1). There is error at law if the
Board applied the law to the facts in a way that was “based upon an irrational,
illogical, or wholly unjustifiable application of law to fact.” Id. § 17A.19(10)(m).
We thoroughly examine the record on which the Board based its decision to
determine if there was substantial evidence. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 657 N.W.2d
at 499. If those findings of fact are binding, we use them to examine the Board’s
application of law to fact. We give appropriate deference to the Board when they
have vested authority to apply fact to the law. Mycogen Seeds, 686 N.W.2d at
466.
III. MOOTNESS
A principle of judicial restraint is that courts do not decide issues when the
underlying controversy is moot. Rhiner v. State, 703 N.W.2d 174, 176 (Iowa
2005). “For this reason, a court will generally decline to hear a case when,
because of changed circumstances, the court’s decision will no longer matter.”
Homan v. Branstad, No. 14-0178, ___ N.W.2d ___, at *12 (Iowa May 29, 2015).
“A live dispute must ordinarily exist before a court will engage in an interpretation
of the law.” Lalla v. Gilroy, 369 N.W.2d 431, 434 (Iowa 1985). “A case is moot if
it no longer presents a justiciable controversy because the issues involved are
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academic or nonexistent.” Iowa Bankers Ass’n v. Iowa Credit Union Dep’t, 335
N.W.2d 439, 442 (Iowa 1983). Nevertheless, we have the discretion to decide a
moot issue on appeal under certain circumstances. Grinnell Coll. v. Osborn, 751
N.W.2d 396, 399 (Iowa 2008). In making this determination, we consider four
factors: “(1) the private or public nature of the issue, (2) the desirability of an
authoritative adjudication to guide public officials in their future conduct, (3) the
likelihood of the recurrence of the issue, and (4) the likelihood the issue will recur
yet evade appellate review.” Id.Here, in late 2013, the Board found Palo had violated Regulation 4.2.5
(Sexual Misconduct, Sexual Assault, and Sexual Harassment) and provided the
following sanctions: indefinite deferred suspension from Iowa State if Palo was
found in violation of the student code of conduct or other law, prohibition from
participating in or representing Iowa State in intercollegiate athletics, participation
in sexual assault and harassment awareness training, and participation in alcohol
awareness training. In January 2014, the district court issued a stay on Palo’s
prohibition from playing basketball for Iowa State. Palo was a fifth-year senior at
this time and was set to graduate following the spring 2014 term. Palo’s eligibility
to participate in intercollegiate athletics expired at the end of the 2014 basketball
season. The district court issued its ruling on Palo’s petition for judicial review in
August 2014, and overturned the sanctions imposed by ISU against Palo.
On appeal, the Board asks us to overturn the district court’s ruling and
affirm its decision. However, the circumstances surrounding the underlying
controversy have changed since the Board issued its opinion. The Board issued
multiple sanctions against Palo, but the only sanctions with long-term
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implications were the prohibition on playing for the ISU basketball team and the
deferred suspension from ISU. The basketball prohibition was stayed by the
district court, and Palo was allowed to return to the ISU basketball team for his
final season of eligibility. Additionally, the Board could not point us to any place
in the record showing that deferred suspension would remain a justiciable issue
after Palo’s scheduled graduation date Therefore, since our decision in this
controversy would “no longer matter” and be “merely academic,” we find this
issue to be moot and decline to reach the merits of this case. We also decline to
find that an exception to the mootness doctrine applies in this case.
IV. CONCLUSION
We find that this action is moot, and dismiss the appeal.
APPEAL DISMISSED.