[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 14, Volume 4]

[Revised as of January 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 14CFR302.32]



[Page 294-295]

 

                     TITLE 14--AERONAUTICS AND SPACE

 

   CHAPTER II--OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

                         (AVIATION PROCEEDINGS)

 

PART 302_RULES OF PRACTICE IN PROCEEDINGS--Table of Contents

 

                Subpart A_Rules of General Applicability

 

Sec. 302.32  Petitions for discretionary review of initial or 

recommended decisions; review proceedings.



    (a) Petitions for discretionary review. (1) Review by the DOT 

decisionmaker pursuant to this section is not a matter of right but is 

at the sole discretion of the DOT decisionmaker. Any party may file and 

serve a petition for discretionary review by the DOT decisionmaker of an 

initial decision or recommended decision within twenty-one (21) days 

after service thereof, unless the DOT decisionmaker sets a different 

period for filing.

    (2) Petitions for discretionary review shall be filed only upon one 

or more of the following grounds:

    (i) A finding of a material fact is erroneous;

    (ii) A necessary legal conclusion is without governing precedent or 

is a departure from or contrary to law, the Department's rules, or 

precedent;

    (iii) A substantial and important question of law, policy or 

discretion is involved; or



[[Page 295]]



    (iv) A prejudicial procedural error has occurred.

    (3) Each issue shall be separately numbered and plainly and 

concisely stated. Petitioners shall not restate the same point in 

repetitive discussions of an issue. Each issue shall be supported by 

detailed citations of the record when objections are based on the 

record, and by statutes, regulations or principal authorities relied 

upon. Any matters of fact or law not argued before the administrative 

law judge, but that the petitioner proposes to argue on brief to the DOT 

decisionmaker, shall be stated.

    (4) Petitions for discretionary review shall be self-contained and 

shall not incorporate by reference any part of another document. Except 

by permission of the DOT decisionmaker, petitions shall not exceed 

twenty (20) pages including appendices and other papers physically 

attached to the petition.

    (5) Requests for oral argument on petitions for discretionary review 

will not be entertained by the DOT decisionmaker.

    (b) Answers. Within fifteen (15) days after service of a petition 

for discretionary review, any party may file and serve an answer of not 

more than fifteen (15) pages in support of or in opposition to the 

petition. If any party desires to answer more than one petition for 

discretionary review in the same proceeding, he or she shall do so in a 

single document of not more than twenty (20) pages.

    (c) Orders declining review. The DOT decisionmaker's order declining 

to exercise the discretionary right of review will specify the date upon 

which the administrative law judge's decision shall become effective as 

the final decision of the Department. A petition for reconsideration of 

a Department order declining review will be entertained only when the 

order exercises, in part, the DOT decisionmaker's discretionary right of 

review, and such petition shall be limited to the single question of 

whether any issue designated for review and any issue not so designated 

are so inseparably interrelated that the former cannot be reviewed 

independently or that the latter cannot be made effective before the 

final decision of the Department in the review proceeding.

    (d) Review proceedings. (1) The DOT decisionmaker may take review of 

an initial or recommended decision upon petition or on his or her own 

initiative or both. The DOT decisionmaker will issue a final order upon 

such review without further proceedings on any or all the issues where 

he or she finds that matters raised do not warrant further proceedings.

    (2) Where the DOT decisionmaker desires further proceedings, he or 

she will issue an order for review that will:

    (i) Specify the issues to which review will be limited. Only those 

issues specified in the order shall be argued on brief to the DOT 

decisionmaker, pursuant to Sec. 302.35, and considered by the DOT 

decisionmaker;

    (ii) Specify the portions of the administrative law judge's 

decision, if any, that are to be stayed as well as the effective date of 

the remaining portions thereof; and

    (iii) Designate the parties to the review proceeding.