Montoya v. DoH

----ooOoo----

Marion Montoya,
Petitioner,

v.

Utah Department of Health,
Division of Health Care Financing,
Respondent.

MEMORANDUM DECISION
(Not For Official Publication)

Case No. 990657-CA

F I L E D
December 14, 2000 2000 UT App 361 -----

Original Proceeding in this Court

Attorneys:
David Grindstaff, Salt Lake City, for Petitioner
Jan Graham, Jean P. Hendrickson, and Carlyle Odendahl, Salt Lake City, for Respondent

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Before Judges Greenwood, Jackson, and Thorne.

JACKSON, Associate Presiding Judge:

Montoya first argues that hearing evidence of both charges at the same hearing was improperly prejudicial. However, Montoya cites no authority to support this proposition and provides no reasoned legal analysis to support her contention. Thus, we decline to address this argument. See Utah R. App. P. 24(a)(9); Smith v. Smith, 1999 UT App 370,¶8, 995 P.2d 14, cert. denied, 4 P.3d 1289 (Utah 2000). Moreover, because Montoya failed to object at the hearing, we could not address this argument even if it had been properly briefed. See Barney v. Utah Dep't of Commerce, 885 P.2d 809, 809 (Utah Ct. App. 1994).

Montoya next argues that the evidence presented was insufficient to support the Administrative Law Judge's ruling. A party challenging an administrative agency's factual findings must marshal the evidence supporting those findings and then show why that evidence is legally insufficient to support the agency's ruling. See Whitear v. Labor Comm'n, 973 P.2d 982, 984 (Utah Ct. App. 1998). Montoya has failed to carry her burden of marshaling the evidence, and thus we will not address the substance of her challenge. See id. at 985 ("When a party fails to marshal the evidence, we assume the record supports the . . . findings. We have shown no reluctance to affirm when the petitioner has failed to meet its marshaling burden."). In addition, Montoya has cited no authority to support her argument; she has simply made the bald assertion that the evidence is insufficient to support the findings that she physically and mentally abused the residents at issue. See Utah R. App. P. 24(a)(9) (stating brief must "contain the contentions and reasons of the appellant with respect to the issues presented . . . with citations to the authorities, statutes, and parts of the record relied on").

In sum, because Montoya's counsel failed to present this court with a case that could properly be considered, the Department of Health's Final Agency Order is affirmed.
 
 
 

______________________________
Norman H. Jackson,
Associate Presiding Judge -----

WE CONCUR:
 
 
 

______________________________
Pamela T. Greenwood,
Presiding Judge
 
 
 

______________________________
William A. Thorne, Jr., Judge