396 Mass. 533 | Mass. | 1986
The sole issue in this action is whether the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (commission) may issue interrogatories and apply default sanctions pursuant to rule 11 of its procedural rules. The plaintiff, University Hospital, Inc., appeals from a judgment of the Superior
The stipulated facts may be summarized as follows. On April 2, 1977, a former employee of the plaintiff filed a complaint with the commission alleging that he had been unlawfully terminated from his job because of his race, in violation of G. L. c. 151B, § 4. On April 25, 1977, the commission began its investigation of this charge by serving a set of interrogatories
The Legislature granted the commission broad authority to “receive, investigate and pass on” complaints of discrimination. The commission is required to make “prompt investigation” of all complaints under G. L. c. 151B, § 5, and to establish rules of practice to “expedite” as well as to “govern” and “effectuate” its procedures and actions thereunder. Finally, the commission is granted the power to issue subpoenas in both the investigative and adjudicative stages of the administrative proceedings. Massachusetts Comm’n Against Discrimination v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., supra.
In keeping with its statutorily delegated authority, the commission used its rule making authority to provide itself with the flexible tools it needs to investigate and to determine complaints concerning discrimination. One such tool is the use of interrogatories. See 804 Code Mass. Regs. 1.11.
Rule 11 is applied only after determination by the investigating commissioner that answers to interrogatories in a particular case “are likely to expedite the resolution of the complaint.” 804 Code Mass. Regs. 1.11 (1). Interrogatories are “explora
2. Sanctions. The plaintiff argues that, even if the commission has the power to issue interrogatories, it does not have the power to impose sanctions on a party for failure to answer them. The plaintiff attacks the sanctions imposed under rule 11 as excessive and therefore not reasonably related to the statutory goal. It also attacks the sanctions on constitutional grounds.
Where a legislative body “has entrusted an administrative agency with the responsibility of selecting the means of achieving [a] statutory policy ‘the relation of remedy to policy is peculiarly a matter for administrative competence.’” Kulkin v. Bergland, 626 F.2d 181, 184 (1st Cir. 1980). Butz v. Glover Livestock Comm’n Co., 411 U.S. 182, 185 (1973). A sanction is valid as long as it is not arbitrary, capricious, or unwarranted
Rule 11 also provides a respondent with several opportunities to avoid default. A respondent is entitled to object to any question and the investigating commissioner must rule on the objection. 804 Code Mass. Regs. 1.11 (2)(b). The plaintiff did not object or claim that the interrogatories were irrelevant, overbroad, or unreasonable in scope. We do not agree with the plaintiff that this opportunity for review is meaningless because the issuer of the interrogatories is also the reviewer. Notions of administrative autonomy and judicial economy “require that the agency be given a chance to discover and correct its own errors.” McKart v. United States, 395 U.S. 185, 195
In considering what sanctions were appropriate, the commission could view the long delay caused by the plaintiff’s failure to answer the interrogatories, to object to specific interrogatories, or to use other procedures set forth in the rule.
3. Violation of constitutional rights. The plaintiff also contends that the default provisions of rule 11 violate constitutional standards of due process not only because of their “Draconian” nature but also because of the lack of judicial or administrative review prior to the imposition of sanctions. Assuming this claim to be properly before us,
We conclude that the judge correctly declared that rule 11 (804 Code Mass. Regs. 1.11) is a valid exercise of the commission’s statutory rule making authority.
Judgment affirmed.
The plaintiff was sent a copy of the complaint and a set of eighteen interrogatories.
See Mass. R. Civ. P. 37 (b), 365 Mass. 797 (1974). In discussing its Federal counterpart, Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b), the Supreme Court has stated that “while [lenity is] certainly a significant factor in considering the imposition of sanctions under Rule 37, [it] cannot be allowed to wholly supplant other and equally necessary considerations embodied in that Rule.” National Hockey League v. Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc., 427 U.S. 639, 642 (1976). One such consideration is the deterrence factor. Id. at 643.
In construing our rules, the construction of the Federal rules is to be followed, absent compelling reasons or significant differences in content. Rollins Envtl. Servs., Inc. v. Superior Court, 368 Mass. 174, 179-180 (1975).
The plaintiff filed a motion to remove the default more than two years after entry, but even then did not comply with the rule. Not one interrogatory was answered nor was any affidavit included despite the requirement that “[t]he respondent’s assertion of good cause shall be in affidavit form and shall include the full and complete answers to all interrogatories.” 804 Code Mass. Regs. 1.11 (2)(f).
The plaintiff states that it raised this issue orally and filed a written request for a ruling of law in the Superior Court. The judge denied the
A New Jersey trial court concluded that a nearly identical default procedure in an interrogatory rule promulgated by the Division on Civil Rights was valid. See General Motors Corp. v. Blair, 129 N.J. Super. 412 (1974).