Title: Judicial Review of Public Utility Commissions
Abstract: The Indiana Supreme Court recently resolved a dispute between a manufacturer and an electric utility company concerning rates for electricity usage. Although the dispute involved interpretation of a contract for electricity, the majority of the court’s opinion was devoted to an entirely separate issue: the appropriate standard of review to be used by appellate courts in reviewing decisions of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. Finding deferential review appropriate, the Indiana Supreme Court vacated the decision of the Indiana Court of Appeals and affirmed the decision of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. The Indiana Supreme Court—unlike the Indiana Court of Appeals—declined to substitute its judgment for that of the Commission. That determination—the applicable standard of review—cost the electric utility company millions of dollars. The high stakes involved in standard-of-review determinations concerning decisions by public utility commissions abound in courts across the country. Every state has a public utility commission, and every appellate court in every state uses
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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