SER Hoover v. Berger
Annotate this Case
September 1996 Term
_________
No. 23737
_________
STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA EX REL.
KATHERINE ANNE HOOVER, M.D.,
Petitioner
V.
HONORABLE IRENE C. BERGER,
JUDGE OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF KANAWHA COUNTY,
WEST VIRGINIA BOARD OF MEDICINE,
AND
ANNE WERUM LAMBRIGHT,
Respondents
_______________________________________________________________
PETITION FOR WRIT OF PROHIBITION
WRIT GRANTED.
_______________________________________________________________
Submitted: October 29, 1996
Filed: November 15, 1996
Susan Yurko
Furbee, Amos, Webb & Critchfield
Fairmont, West Virginia
Attorney for Petitioner
Deborah Lewis Rodecker
Charleston, West Virginia
Attorney for Respondent, W. Va. Board of Medicine
JUSTICE CLECKLEY delivered the Opinion of the Court.
JUDGE RECHT sitting by temporary assignment.
SYLLABUS BY THE COURT
1. In order to obtain judicial backing for the enforcement of an
administrative subpoena, the agency must prove that (1) the subpoena is issued for a
legislatively authorized purpose, (2) the information sought is relevant to the authorized
purpose, (3) the information sought is not already within the agency's possession, (4) the
information sought is adequately described, and (5) proper procedures have been employed
in issuing the subpoena. If these requirements are satisfied, the subpoena is presumably
valid and the burden shifts to those opposing the subpoena to demonstrate its invalidity. The
party seeking to quash the subpoena must disprove through facts and evidence the presumed
relevance and purpose of the subpoena.
2. The legal duty of an unofficial, privately retained certified court reporter
who had been hired by a private medical physician to transcribe an informal administrative
meeting for use by the physician in connection with a disciplinary action is governed by
contract law, and absent a specifically enforceable contract, the reporter is not obligated to
perform the work involved in preparing the transcript.
3. "Prohibition lies only to restrain inferior courts from proceedings in
causes over which they have no jurisdiction, they are exceeding their legitimate powers and may not be used as a substitute for [a petition for appeal] or certiorari." Syl. Pt. 1, Crawford
v. Taylor, 138 W. Va. 207, 75 S.E.2d 370 (1953).
4. In determining whether to entertain and issue the writ of prohibition for
cases not involving an absence of jurisdiction but only where it is claimed that the lower
tribunal exceeded its legitimate powers, this Court will examine five factors: (1) whether the
party seeking the writ has no other adequate means, such as direct appeal, to obtain the
desired relief; (2) whether the petitioner will be damaged or prejudiced in a way that is not
correctable on appeal; (3) whether the lower tribunal's order is clearly erroneous as a matter
of law; (4) whether the lower tribunal's order is an oft repeated error or manifests persistent
disregard for either procedural or substantive law; and (5) whether the lower tribunal's order
raises new and important problems or issues of law of first impression. These factors are
general guidelines that serve as a useful starting point for determining whether a
discretionary writ of prohibition should issue. Although all five factors need not be satisfied,
it is clear that the third factor, the existence of clear error as a matter of law, should be given
substantial weight.
Cleckley, Justice:
This caseSee footnote 1 is before the Court on a petition for a writ of prohibition against the
Honorable Irene C. Berger, Judge of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, by the petitioner,
Katherine Anne Hoover, M.D. The West Virginia Board of Medicine (the Board) and Anne
Werum Lambright, Hearing Examiner for the Board, are also named as respondents. The
Board is investigating a complaint against the petitioner. The petitioner seeks relief from a
July 12, 1996 order in which the respondent Judge ordered that Karen R. Meyers, certified
court reporter, comply with a subpoena duces tecum issued by the Board on May 13, 1996.
The subpoena ordered Ms. Meyers to provide the Board with a copy of a transcript of the
Board's April 28, 1996 Complaint Committee meeting at which the petitioner appeared. The
petitioner employed Ms. Meyers to record and prepare a transcript of the proceedings. The
petitioner argues that the Board is not entitled to a copy of the transcript because the meeting
was closed, and the petitioner had the transcript prepared for her own personal use.
I.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
The facts surrounding this petition arise out of a complaint questionnaire
completed by Karen VanHorn on October 31, 1995, and forwarded to the Board of
Medicine. The questionnaire alleged that during an office visit, the petitioner asked Ms.
VanHorn's 17-year-old daughter if she had friends who would visit the petitioner's home to
have sex with the petitioner's teenage son.
By letters dated March 29, 1996, and April 8, 1996, the Board's executive
director, Ronald D. Walton, requested the petitioner to appear before the Board's Complaint
Committee on April 28, 1996, to address the allegations contained in Ms. VanHorn's
complaint. Mr. Walton advised the petitioner in both letters that she could be accompanied
by legal counsel if she so wished, and that the meeting, though important, would not be a
formal hearing. In the second letter, Mr. Walton stated that a formal hearing could be
scheduled, based on information obtained in the meeting with the Complaint Committee.
The petitioner attended the meeting on April 28, 1996, without counsel, but
accompanied by court reporter Karen Meyers. Prior to the beginning of the meeting, the
petitioner was informed by counsel for the Board that the presence of the court reporter
would turn the meeting into a public hearing.See footnote 2 On April 29, 1996, counsel for the Board sent a letter to Ms. Meyers requesting a copy of the transcript, which request was refused. On
May 13, 1996, the Board issued a subpoena duces tecum seeking to compel the court reporter
to provide the Board with a copy of the transcript. On May 16, 1996, the petitioner delivered
a "Request for Squelching Subpoena to Produce Transcript" to the Board, which the Board
forwarded to Hearing Examiner Anne Werum Lambright. Hearings by telephone conference were held between the petitioner, counsel for the Board, and Hearing Examiner Lambright
on May 29, 1996 and June 6, 1996. Following these hearings, Hearing Examiner Lambright
issued an order dated June 6, 1996, denying the petitioner's motion, stating that "[a]s [the
petitioner] has admitted that she requested that the Complaint Committee meeting be public,
although she now wishes to change that election, the Complaint Committee meeting was
public at her request and there are no legal bases provided to this hearing officer which
support a subsequent change to make the meeting a closed session."
On June 11, 1996, the Board filed a petition with the Circuit Court of Kanawha
County, seeking to enforce the subpoena. Following a hearing on June 26, 1996, the circuit
court ordered Ms. Meyers to deliver a copy of the transcript for an in camera inspection. The
circuit court issued an order dated July 12, 1996, requiring that Ms. Meyers comply with the
subpoena duces tecum issued by the Board. The circuit court supported its order with
findings, upon review of the transcript, that there were no questions by the petitioner to
indicate any lack of understanding; there was no mention by the petitioner that she had the
court reporter at the meeting just to take notes for the petitioner's own private use; and the
statement by the petitioner that she very much wanted the proceeding to be public constituted
a request that the proceeding be held in public session. The petitioner asks this Court to
prohibit the circuit court from enforcing its order.
II.
DISCUSSION
We are asked in this original action of prohibition to halt a circuit court's order
permitting the enforcement of a subpoena duces tecum. It is now a familiar and well-
rehearsed part of West Virginia jurisprudence that questions of law are entirely within this
Court's own purview to decide. To the extent that our decision rests on a conclusion of law,
even in this original action, we review the circuit court's subpoena determination whether to
order the enforcement of a subpoena duces tecum against a private court reporter under a
plenary standard, but under a clearly erroneous standard as to any predicate or subsidiary
findings of fact.
An administrative agency is but a creature of statute, and has no greater
authority than conferred under the governing statutes. See Syl. Pt. 3, Appalachian Regional
Health Care, Inc. v. W. Va. Human Rights Comm'n., 180 W. Va. 303, 376 S.E.2d 317
(1988); A. Neely, Administrative Law in West Virginia § 3.04, pg. 60 (1982). Proceedings
before the Board of Medicine are governed by the State Administrative Procedure ActSee footnote 3 and, by virtue of W.Va.Code, 29A-5-1(b) (1986), the circuit court has jurisdiction to review the
subpoena in this case. Ordinarily, a circuit court is authorized to quash or modify a
subpoena if it is "unreasonable or oppressive." W.Va.R.Civ.P. 45(b)(1). See West Virginia
Advocates for the Developmentally Abled v. Casey, 178 W. Va. 682, 685, 364 S.E.2d 8, 11
(1987) ("[W.Va.Code §] 29A-5-1 of the Act gives circuit courts jurisdiction to quash or
modify a subpoena duces tecum issued by an administrative tribunal based on the standard
set out in the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 45(b)(1) of those rules
authorizes a court to quash a subpoena if it is 'unreasonable and oppressive.'"). The court has
broad discretion in determining whether a subpoena is unreasonable, and a decision of the
circuit court will be reversed only if it is clearly unreasonable, arbitrary or fanciful. See
Blankenship v. Mingo County E.O.C., 187 W.Va. 157, 162, 416 S.E.2d 471, 476 (1992).
But, a circuit court by definition abuses its discretion when it makes an error of law.
III.
ANALYSIS
Although the parties, especially the Board of Medicine, expend a great deal of
energy debating the admissibility of the document sought, this exegesis is largely beyond the
point. Excusing for the moment the issue of the propriety of a writ of prohibition, which will
be discussed below, the principal question before this Court is much more mundane: Did
the Board of Medicine have the authority to issue a subpoena to compel the production of a transcript taken and transcribed by a private court reporter? We hold that under the
circumstances of this case, it did not.
At this juncture, we temporarily shift our focus to the statutory scheme. The
statute that empowers the Board of Medicine to issue subpoenas places few restrictions on
that power. W. Va. Code, 30-3-7(a)(2), provides that "(i)n carrying out the functions, the
board may . . . (2) Hold hearings and conduct investigations, subpoena witnesses and
documents and administer oaths. . . ." Therefore, any limitations imposed on the Board's
sweeping power to issue subpoenas emanate from the requirements and standards that courts
previously have established to protect constitutional, statutory and common law rights and
privileges.
An administrative subpoena duces tecum is not self-executing, but is a
direction to produce documents subject to judicial review and enforcement. See Oklahoma
Press Pub. Co. v. Walling, 327 U.S. 186, 195, 66 S. Ct. 494, 498, 90 L. Ed. 614 (1946).
Thus, the subject or target of an administrative subpoena duces tecum has an opportunity to
challenge the subpoena before yielding that information. See W. Va. Code, 29A-5-1(b);
Ebbert v. Bouchelle, 123 W. Va. 265, 268, 14 S.E.2d 614, 616 (1941) ("it is perfectly clear
that the question of complying with [a subpoena duces tecum] commands, if not the
resistance of its issuance, may properly be raised in a preliminary procedure"). In the course
of that resistance, privileges, privacy rights and the unreasonableness of an administrative subpoena are available defenses against enforcement of the subpoena. See Donovan v. Lane
Steer, Inc., 464 U.S. 408, 415, 104 S. Ct. 769, 773, 78 L. Ed. 2d 567 (1984).
The requirements for the enforcement of an administrative subpoena are tightly
drawn, but are not onerous. Generally, in order to obtain judicial backing, the agency must
prove that (1) the subpoena is issued for a legislatively authorized purpose, (2) the
information sought is relevant to the authorized purpose, (3) the information sought is not
already within the agency's possession, (4) the information sought is adequately described,
and (5) proper procedures have been employed in issuing the subpoena. See United States
v. Powell, 379 U.S. 48, 57-58, 85 S. Ct. 248, 254-55, 13 L. Ed. 2d 112 (1964); United States
v. Morton Salt Co., 338 U.S. 632, 652, 70 S. Ct. 357, 368-69, 94 L. Ed. 401 (1950);
Oklahoma Press, 338 U.S. at 208, 66 S. Ct. at 505; West Virginia Human Rights Com'n v.
Moore, 186 W.Va. at 187, 411 S.E.2d at 706 (adopting the federal standards to determine
the enforceability of a subpoena); State v. Harman, 165 W.Va. 494, 505, 270 S.E.2d 146,
153 (1980) ("There must be ... [t]he fact that the proof is not otherwise practically
available"). We hold that these standards apply to the Board of Medicine in exactly the same
way that they apply to subpoenas issued by other agencies. If these concerns are satisfied,
the subpoena is presumably valid and the burden shifts to those opposing the subpoena. The
party seeking to quash the subpoena must disprove through facts and evidence the presumed
relevance and purpose of the subpoena.
The petitioner's central thesis boils down to this: the subpoena should not be
enforced because the Board of Medicine issued the subpoena for a purpose or scheme that
did not derive from the Board's statutory authority, and that the Board has no legal
entitlement to the privately transcribed document. The petitioner claims that the circuit court
abnegated its "gatekeeper" function by denying the petitioner's motion to quash an abusive
administrative subpoena without making critical findings. As an appellate court, we are
particularly sensitive to claims of administrative subpoena "abuse," and when that issue is
raised, we give the case and the subpoena duces tecum that issued careful scrutiny.
At the outset, we observed that this subpoena is directed to a person who is not
the subject of the Board's investigation. In this regard, the United States Supreme Court
recognized in Morton Salt, supra, that the Constitution's reasonableness standard generally
affords more protection from administrative subpoenas to individuals who are not targets of
the impending investigation. This does not, of course, exempt a person who is not the
subject of the investigation from the command of a subpoena. See Harman, 165 W. Va. at
505, 270 S.E.2d at 153 ("...a subpoena duces tecum [is] available against third parties in both
civil and criminal cases..."). It does mean that the justification for issuing the subpoena to
such a person must be clear, and that it must be shown that the information sought must be
consistent with the statutory mission and purpose of the agency.
Given this set of rules, the Board's argument cannot withstand scrutiny because
in this case, neither statutory criterion was met. Significantly, the Board does not assert as
its authority for the instant subpoena its power "to hold hearings and conduct investigations"
of possible violations of the statute, and/or to assist it in proving its case at an administrative
hearing. Before this court, we are told simply that it wanted the transcript to guarantee the
accuracy of its minutes so that the Board and its members would not be criminally liable.See footnote 4
In the absence of a more compelling justification for the intrusion of a subpoena duces tecum
to be served on a privately retained court reporter, we conclude the Board has not
demonstrated a proper statutory purpose for the issuance of the instant subpoena. It is by
now apodictic that the test of reasonableness is decided by a balancing of one party's need
for the requested information, and the other party's right to be free from unjustifiable
governmental intrusion. See Fleming James, Jr., Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr. & John Leubsdorf,
Civil Procedure § 5.14, pg. 269 (4th ed. 1992). Absent countervailing considerations, this
standard is to be applied to administrative subpoenas duces tecum in West Virginia. Not
only is the purpose for the subpoena decus tecum beyond the Board's statutory authority, the
information sought is already known by the Board. After all, it was the Board's own
informal meeting that was allegedly transcribed, and its members and employees were
present to hear and take notes which we are told they did. The short of it is that, without some meritorious justification, an administrative subpoena duces tecum is not some talisman
that dissolves all rights and privileges of the citizens of this State. We do not expect circuit
courts will forget that administrative agencies must operate within the limits of their
governing statutes. Thus, the circuit court ruling enforcing the subpoena violates the tenet
that subpoenas should be related to pending matters, and for a statutory purpose.See footnote 5 There can
be no greater judicial function of the court than to stand between the government and the
citizen, and, thus, to protect the latter from harassment and unfounded intrusion. This Court
recognized in Bouchelle that meaningful judicial oversight is necessary to prevent a "judicial
fishing enterprise" and "unreasonable searches and seizures and meddling curiosity
concerning an individual's personal affairs," and these matters "are not to be determined by
the exercise of a merely ministerial function." 123 W. Va. at 269, 14 S.E.2d at 616.
We cannot help but take notice as an appellate court of the apparent policy
inconsistency by the Board in the various cases pending before this Court. In a separate
action involving the same parties, the Board argues that a hearing examiner has no authority
to issue subpoenas in favor of the petitioner for either investigative purposes or discovery.
In State ex rel Hoover v. Smith, ___ W. Va. ___, ___ S.E.2d ___ (No. 23613, ___/___/___), the Board argues that in the absence of an explicit statute or rule, there can be no discovery
of any kind in favor of the petitioner. Of course, the law recognizes that an agency, such as
the Board of Medicine, may not act identically in every case. This lack of uniformity is
unavoidable - after all, administrators are not automatons - and does not in and of itself
invalidate agency action. While a certain amount of asymmetry is lawful, an agency may not
"adopt[] significantly inconsistent policies that result in the creation of conflicting lines of
precedent governing the identical situation." Davila-Bardales v. INS, 27 F.3d 1, 5 (1st Cir.
1994) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). The precept counselling avoidance
of inconsistent administrative policies at least demands that when an agency departs
significantly from its own precedent, it must confront the issue and explain the
reasonableness of its current position. Before this Court, an agency will not be permitted to
flirt serendipitously from case to case, "like a bee buzzing from flower to flower," making
up its rules and policies as it goes along.
On the other hand, today's ruling should not be viewed as a judicial attempt to
freeze an agency's jurisprudence for all time; nor, an encroachment on the conduct of the
executive branch officials. That is, we are not attempting to govern the conduct of
administrative agencies whose task it is to prevent, investigate or prove illegal and
unprofessional activities of members of the medical profession. We believe that questions
concerning the scope of an agency's substantive authority to regulate and to otherwise
perform its statutory function are not to be resolved in subpoena enforcement proceedings. Subpoena enforcement proceedings are designed to be summary in nature, and an agency's
investigations should not be bogged down by premature challenges to its regulatory
jurisdiction. As long as the agency's assertion of authority is not obviously apocryphal, as
is the case here, a procedurally sound subpoena must be enforced. Similarly, the initial
determination of what information is relevant for its investigation or formal hearing is left
to the administrative agency. To this extent, the circuit court has authority to enforce the
subpoena unless the agency determination is obviously wrong, and we will accept the
determination of the circuit court unless its ruling is a clear abuse of discretion. Therefore,
so long as the Board follows its own settled principles and provides a reasonable explanation
for its discovery and investigation policies, judicial review is very restricted.
Although we need go no further, we should attend finally to another detail.
Again, we note that the subpoena was directed to an unofficial court reporter retained
privately by the petitioner. Before this Court, the parties offered conflicting information as
to who possessed the transcript at the time the subpoena issued, and the circuit court made
no findings as to this important fact. A subpoena duces tecum may not be used to direct a
privately retained court reporter to prepare a document that is not in existence. In holding
that a court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to order a private court reporter to produce a
transcript, the California Court of Appeals for the Fifth District stated:
Petitioners are not "connected with" the administrative
mandamus action within the meaning of the statute. [citations
omitted]. Their sole connection to said action is that they are in a position to produce evidence which does not presently exist a
transcript of the administrative hearing. Petitioner's nexus to the
action is indistinguishable from others who have the ability to
produce evidence for use in litigation but have not done so a
photographer who has not photographed the accident scene, an
accident reconstruction expert who has not attempted to
reconstruct the accident, a medical doctor who has examined the
patient, studied the file or formed an opinion. Section 128
cannot reasonably be construed to vest a court with power to
order such persons, including petitioners, to perform labor and
thereby produce evidence for use in litigation. Barwis v. The
Superior Court of Stanislaus County, 87 Cal. App. 3d 239, 242,
150 Cal. Rptr. 758, 759-760 (1978).
A court reporter does not become an ex officio officer of the court or the
administrative agency merely by agreeing privately to produce a transcript of the informal
meeting between the agency and the petitioner. Nor does a court reporter officially involve
herself or himself in matters foreseeably the object of agency inquiry simply by being
privately retained to transcribe an informal administrative meeting. Furthermore, as we
discussed earlier, the subpoena duces tecum does not request an evidentiary document to be
used in the Board's investigation or to be used at a pending hearing. Also, the subpoena may
very well have been directed to the wrong party.See footnote 6 Nevertheless, we agree with the
intermediate appellate court of California in Barwis that access to the transcript in this case should be governed by contract law, and not our law evolving from subpoena enforcement
proceedings:
Petitioners' legal duty to produce a transcript is governed by
contract law. Absent a specifically enforceable contract,
petitioners are not obligated to perform the work involved in
preparing a transcript . . . Respondent court's order has deprived
petitioners of the substantive and procedural protections of the
law applicable to contract actions; it constitutes an exaction
contrary to law. Barwis, 87 Cal. App. 3d at 243, 150 Cal. Rptr. at
760.
Obviously, the Board has no cause of action for breach of contract. For the reasons stated
above, we find that the circuit court committed clear error when it ordered the enforcement
of the subpoena duces tecum.
We now turn to the propriety of granting a writ of prohibition in cases
challenging the issuance of a subpoena. Although our prior cases have permitted the use of
a writ of prohibition to challenge the issuance of a subpoena, see West Virginia Advocates
for the Developmentally Abled v. Casey, 178 W. Va. 682, 364 S.E.2d 8 (1987) (writ granted
to prohibit circuit court order restricting the scope of subpoena), we have done so without
any extended analysis.
We have held that "[p]rohibition lies only to restrain inferior courts from
proceedings in causes over which they have no jurisdiction, they are exceeding their legitimate powers and may not be used as a substitute for [a petition for appeal] or
certiorari." Syl. Pt. 1, Crawford v. Taylor, 138 W. Va. 207, 75 S.E.2d 370 (1953). Recently,
in State ex rel. Evans v. Robinson, ___ W. Va. ___ , 475 S.E.2d 858 (1996) (per curiam),
we emphasized again that where the challenge goes only to abuse of legitimate powers, we
"'will review each case on its own particular facts to determine whether a remedy at law'"
makes a writ of prohibition inappropriate. Id., ___ W. Va. at ___, 475 S.E.2d at 865 n.11
(quoting Syl. pt. 2, Woodall v. Laurita, 156 W. Va. 707, 195 S.E.2d 717 (1973). In
determining whether to entertain and issue the writ of prohibition for cases not involving an
absence of jurisdiction, but only where it is claimed that the lower tribunal exceeded its
legitimate powers, this Court will examine five factors: (1) whether the party seeking the
writ has no other adequate means, such as direct appeal, to obtain the desired relief; (2)
whether the petitioner will be damaged or prejudiced in a way that is not correctable on
appeal; (3) whether the lower tribunal's order is clearly erroneous as a matter of law; (4)
whether the lower tribunal's order is an oft repeated error or manifests persistent disregard
for either procedural or substantive law; and (5) whether the lower tribunal's order raises new
and important problems or issues of law of first impression. These factors are general
guidelines that serve as a useful starting point for determining whether a discretionary writ
of prohibition should issue. Although all five factors need not be satisfied, it is clear that the
third factor, the existence of clear error as a matter of law, should be given substantial
weight. Of course, where a statute specifically addresses the particular issue at hand, it is
that authority, not these general guidelines, that is controlling.
Applying these factors, we find that the petitioner has no plain, speedy, and
adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law. The aggrieved party would be compelled to
go through a contested hearing and appeal from a final judgment. The unreasonableness of
the delay and expense is apparent. As in mandamus, the remedy by appeal is usually deemed
inadequate in these situations, and prohibition is allowed. As discussed above, we find that
the circuit court has committed clear error of law in approving the issuance of the subpoena.
IV.
CONCLUSION
We, therefore, order that a peremptory writ of prohibition issue restraining the
Circuit Court of Kanawha County from enforcing its order entered on July 12, 1996,
directing the court reporter to produce and serve a transcript of the informal administrative
meeting held on April 28, 1996. In so doing, we leave for another day the question whether
the actions of the relator were sufficient to convert the meeting into a public meeting, and
thereby make statements of the relator admissible in subsequent hearings.
Writ granted.
Footnote: 1
The Honorable Arthur M. Recht resigned as Justice of the West Virginia Supreme
Court of Appeals effective October 15, 1996. The Honorable Gaston Caperton, Governor
of the State of West Virginia, appointed him Judge of the First Judicial Circuit on that same
date. Pursuant to an administrative order entered by this Court on October 15, 1996, Judge
Recht was assigned to sit as a member of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals
commencing October 15, 1996 and continuing until further order of this Court. Footnote: 2
The petitioner included the first two pages of the transcript with her petition.
Counsel for the Board restated the Board's position after the meeting had begun, as indicated
in the following dialogue:
MS. RODECKER: * * *
We understand that Doctor Hoover has asked that
this meeting be transcribed, and we've explained to her that, in
our opinions, it will turn this into a public proceeding rather
than remain in executive session and be an informal conference,
and that's in accordance with the West Virginia Medical
Practice Act and the regulations that accompany that.
So, this informal conference, then, will be
conducted in public and is being conducted in public with a
transcript made of that; and furthermore, it's important for
everyone to understand that because it's no longer an informal
conference, the prohibition on statements made at this
conference not being introduced in any hearing which might
occur later on cannot be introduced without the consent of all
the parties will be waived because since this is public, therefore,
any statements made can, in fact, be introduced into the record
of any subsequent proceeding, should there be one. And we
don't want there to be any question about that. We want
everybody to understand that that is the Board's view of this,
and for the record, I would appreciate it if Doctor Hoover would
acknowledge that before we proceed any further.
DOCTOR HOOVER: Yes, I also may find it
necessary to use some of this information in the public hearing
situation, so I very much want it to be public.
Footnote: 3
Of course, where a direct enabling statute specifically addresses the particular issue
at hand, it is that authority, not the general Administrative Procedure Act, that is controlling.
Indeed, we recognized in West Virginia Human Rights Com'n v. Moore, 186 W. Va. 183,
411 S.E.2d 702 (1991) that "[t]he state Administrative Procedures Act does not, in and of
itself, grant the authority to agencies to issue subpoenas. Rather such authority is recognized
if it is expressly granted by statute." Id., 186 W. Va. at 186, 411 S.E.2d at 705. As
discussed later in the text of the opinion, W. Va. Code, 30-3-7(a)(2) expressly authorizes the
Board of Medicine to issue subpoenas for several purposes including to "conduct
investigations." Footnote: 4
In an effort to coax a different result, the Board bemoans the increased burden and
risk of criminal liability it would face if it was not able to obtain a copy of the petitioner's
transcript. We are simply baffled by this argument.Footnote: 5
In most cases, a modification of a subpoena is generally preferred to outright
quashing, Northrop Corp. v. McDounell Douglas Corp., 751 F.2d 395, 403 (D.C.Cir. 1984),
but here there is simply no right or entitlement to the document. Thus, even a subpoena of
more limited scope would still be unreasonable.Footnote: 6
We believe that a critical party is absent from this proceeding. The real party in
interest may very well be the court reporter who was not joined in this action. Nevertheless,
we are assuming, without deciding, that the interests at stake are those of the petitioner's and
the interests of the court reporter are merely coextensive with the petitioner.
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