Business License Denial Appeals and Office of Administrative Hearings
If your business license was denied by a government agency in Minnesota, you need to act immediately to secure an administrative appeals lawyer to analyze the facts of your case from a legal perspective. In almost all cases, a license denial by a government agency can be appealed for additional review. This right to appeal, however, usually has a definite time limitation. Most Minnesota government agencies give you as little as thirty (30) days to appeal the denial of your business license, and it is very rare to have more than sixty (60) days to appeal an administrative determination.
In Minnesota, most of the business license denial cases are appealed to the State of Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings. The Office of Administrative Hearings is an independent agency which should conduct impartial hearings for other state agencies. Once you appeal your business license denial, you will become part of what is known as a “contested hearing” – basically, this means that there will be a trial-like hearing. An administrative law judge will preside over a hearing while both sides have an opportunity to present their evidence and cross-examine each other’s witnesses.
Indeed, even though this is supposed to be an administrative hearing with much more relaxed procedures than those adopted by the civil courts, the Office of Administrative Hearings follows a set of rules which partially adopt and/or resemble the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure. This means that a skilled lawyer may take full advantage of the prehearing motion practice to benefit his client’s case.
A major drawback of the contested hearings conducted by the Office of Administrative Hearings is the fact that, in most cases, an administrative law judge is only able to issue a recommendation which may be rejected or accepted by a government agency that originally denied the license. This means that, if the government agency persists in its denial and ignores a contrary ruling by an administrative judge, you will have to appeal the case further to the district court. This is not common, but it happens.
As you can see, the appeal of a business license denial is not an easy task and may require a detailed knowledge of laws and administrative procedures. This is why it is important to secure the help of a Minnesota administrative appeals business attorney as soon as possible.
Sherayzen Law Office has the necessary administrative appeals experience and knowledge of the rules and procedures of the Office of Administrative Hearings to mount an effective and vigorous representation of your interests.
Call NOW to talk with an experienced administrative appeals lawyer!