Rule 1 Scope of Rules, Title, Authority, Forms, Time Computation, and Definitions
Rule Text
(a) Scope of Rules. These rules govern the procedures in the Superior Court for judicial review of final orders or decisions from an agency in contested cases that are governed by the Administrative Procedures Act, 1 CMC §§ 9101-15.
(b) Title. These rules are to be known as the Northern Mariana Islands Rules of Procedure for Administrative Appeals and shall be cited as “NMI R. P. Admin. App.”
(c) Authority. These rules are promulgated pursuant to Article IV, Section 9 of the Constitution of the Northern Mariana Islands.
(d) Forms. Unless otherwise noted, all forms contained in the Appendix of Forms are maintained by the Supreme Court and may be modified by the Supreme Court at any time without notice.
(e) Time Computation. The time for filing documents under these rules shall be computed according to the guidelines set forth in Commonwealth Rule of Civil Procedure 6(a).
(f) Definitions. The following definitions are intended to supplement those provided in 1 CMC § 9101, and to provide clarification for terms used throughout these procedural rules. To the extent that a definition herein conflicts with a provision of the Administrative Procedures Act, the definition in the Act shall govern.
(1) “Appeal” means the procedure by which a case is brought from an agency to a trial court.
(2) “Certificate of Service” means the statement signed by a party or counsel for a party describing the date and manner of serving a particular pleading on the opposing party or counsel for the opposing party.
(3) “Contested case” means a proceeding before an agency in which the legal rights, duties, interests or privileges of specific parties are required by law or constitutional right to be determined after an agency hearing, but does not include cases in which an agency issues a license, permit or certificate after an examination to test the knowledge or ability of the applicant where the controversy concerns whether the examination was fair or whether the applicant passed the examination and shall not include agency rule making or applications for extraordinary remedies.
(4) “Petition” means the original pleading seeking judicial review by the trial court of a final order or decision of an agency in a contested case.
(5) “Petitioner” means the party who files a petition for judicial review.
(6) “Respondent” means the party against whom the appeal is taken and other necessary parties.
(7) “Trial court” means the Commonwealth Superior Court.