Administrative Law Flashcards

A developer sues in circuit court challenging a zoning agency's decision without first pursuing the available administrative appeal. The court should most likely:

Answer: Dismiss for failure to exhaust administrative remedies

Maryland requires exhaustion of exclusive or primary administrative remedies before resort to the courts, so the unexhausted claim is subject to dismissal.

Which exception may excuse a party from exhausting administrative remedies in Maryland?

Answer: A facial constitutional attack on the statute the agency administers

A challenge to the constitutionality of the enabling statute on its face is a recognized exception to the exhaustion requirement, since the agency cannot decide it.

Under Maryland's declaratory ruling procedure, an interested person may petition an agency to:

Answer: Issue a declaratory ruling on the applicability of a statute, regulation, or order the agency administers to the petitioner's facts

Maryland's APA allows interested persons to petition an agency for a declaratory ruling on how a statute, regulation, or order applies to their specific circumstances.

A Maryland agency adopts an emergency regulation. Which statement is correct?

Answer: It may take effect without normal notice-and-comment but requires AELR Committee approval and is limited in duration

Emergency regulations in Maryland bypass ordinary notice-and-comment but need approval of the AELR Committee and remain effective only for a limited emergency period.

On judicial review, a Maryland court determines the agency decision rests on an error of law. The court reviews that legal conclusion:

Answer: De novo, without binding deference to the agency

Questions of law in agency decisions are reviewed de novo by Maryland courts, though the agency's expertise may be given respectful consideration.

A party seeks to introduce new evidence for the first time during circuit court judicial review of a contested case. Generally, the court:

Answer: Is confined to the administrative record and may remand to the agency if additional evidence is material and there were good reasons for failing to offer it earlier

Judicial review is on the agency record; material new evidence with good cause for prior omission warrants remand to the agency rather than court-level fact-finding.

The Maryland Public Information Act (PIA) requires state agencies to:

Answer: Allow inspection of public records unless a statutory exemption applies, responding within statutory time limits

The PIA grants a right to inspect agency records subject to enumerated exemptions and requires timely agency responses.