S.C. Code Regs. § § 9-100.20

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 11, November 22, 2024

Section 9-100.20 - Ex Parte Communications

A. Except to the extent required for the disposition of ex parte matters as authorized by law, the Adjudicator may not consult a person or party on any matter relevant to the merits of the adjudication, unless on notice and opportunity for all parties to participate.

B. Except to the extent required for the disposition of ex parte matters as authorized by law:

1. no interested person outside the agency shall make or knowingly cause to be made to the Adjudicator, SCIAA, or any employee who is or may reasonably be expected to be involved in the decisional process an ex parte communication relevant to the merits of the adjudication;

2. no member of the body comprising SCIAA, the Adjudicator, or other employee who is or may reasonably be expected to be involved in the decisional process of the adjudication, shall make or knowingly cause to be made to any interested person outside the agency an ex parte communication relevant to the merits of the adjudication.

C. SCIAA, the Adjudicator, or other employee who is or may reasonably be expected to be involved in the decisional process who receives, makes, or knowingly causes to be made a communication prohibited by this rule shall place in the public record of the adjudication:

1. All such written communications;

2. Memoranda stating the substance of all such oral communications; and

3. All written responses, and memoranda stating the substance of all oral responses, to the materials described in subsection B(1) and B(2). above.

D. Upon receipt of a communication knowingly made or knowingly caused to be made by a party in violation of this rule, SCIAA or the Adjudicator may, to the extent consistent with the interests of justice, the policy of underlying statutes, and SCIAA's rules and precedents, require the party to show cause why its claim or interest in the adjudication should not be dismissed, denied, disregarded, or otherwise adversely affected by reason of such violation.

E. The prohibitions of this rule shall apply beginning with the filing of a pleading with the Director in a matter, but in no case shall they begin to apply later than the time at which a proceeding is noticed for hearing unless the person responsible for the communication has knowledge that it will be noticed, in which case the prohibitions shall apply beginning at the time of her/his acquisition of such knowledge.

S.C. Code Regs. § 9-100.20

Added by State Register Volume 22, Issue No. 6, Part 1, eff June 26, 1998.