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The Alabama Administrative Code prescribes 18 different standards for the CON Review Board to use when applicants are competing for available beds. See Ala. Admin. Code (State Health Planning and Development Agency), Rule 410-1-6-.01 through .18. The CON Review Board subsequently voted 4-3 to award all 72 beds to Mercy. Beverly appealed this decision to an FHO, asserting that the CON Review Board had made substantial errors of fact and law, had violated fixed standards, had failed to apply the correct criteria, and had acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner.
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The Court of Civil Appeals affirmed the judgment of the circuit court, without an opinion. In its petition for certiorari review, Beverly claims that the holding of the Court of Civil Appeals conflicts with that of Forest Manor, Inc. v. State Health Planning & Development Agency, 723 So. 2d 75 (Ala.Civ.App. 1998), in two areas. It argues (1) that the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals conflicted with its holding in Forest Manor that the CON Review Board's wrongful application of its review criteria renders the decision arbitrary, and (2) that the decision by the Court of Civil Appeals to reinstate the CON Review Board's original award deviated from the scope of review set forth in Forest Manor.
The standard of judicial review applied to rulings of administrative agencies differs from that applied to rulings of trial courts. An appellate court will affirm a ruling of a lower court if there is any valid reason to do so, even a reason not presented to -- or rejected by -- the lower court. See McKenzie Methane Corp. v. M-W Drilling, Inc., 653 So. 2d 982, 984 (Ala. 1995). See also Smith v. Equifax Servs., Inc., 537 So. 2d 463 (Ala. 1988). . . .
In Forest Manor, the main dispute centered on which entity was entitled to the presumption of correctness on appeal -- the CON Review Board or the FHO. The Court of Civil Appeals properly resolved the dispute in that case in favor of the FHO:
"Thus, because the FHO's order (and not the CONRB's order) is the final agency decision to which a presumption of correctness applies, we must determine whether his conclusions … were themselves 'arbitrary, capricious, or [contrary to] applicable law.'"
Forest Manor, 723 So. 2d at 80. See also, Ala. Administrative Code, Rule 410-1-8-.26. "The agency order shall be taken as prima facie just and reasonable and the court shall not substitute its judgment for that of the agency as to the weight of the evidence on questions of fact …." § 41-22- 20(k), Ala. Code 1975. "The decision ofthe fair hearing officer is the final decision of the Board." Alacare Home Health Servs., Inc. v. Baptist Hosp. of Gadsden, Inc., 655 So. 2d 995, 996 (Ala.Civ.App. 1994).
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Before the trial court's denial of the motion to dismiss, there had been instructive, but nonbinding, revenue rulings issued by the Alabama Department of Revenue; those rulings indicate that the rental tax could be billed to or passed on to the lessee as a tax or as an additional cost of the lease. Ala. Admin. Code (Dep't of Rev.), chapter 810-6-5-.09 ("Leasing and Rental of Tangible Personal Property").
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(a) Brief of the Appellant/Petitioner.
The brief of the appellant or the petitioner, if a petition for a writ of certiorari is granted and the writ issues, shall comply with the form requirements of Rule 32. In addition, the brief of the appellant or the petitioner shall contain under appropriate headings and in the order here indicated:
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(10) Argument. An argument containing the contentions of the appellant/petitioner with respect to the issues presented, and the reasons therefor, with citations to the cases, statutes, other authorities, and parts of the record relied on. Citations of authority shall comply with the rules of citation in the latest edition of either The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation or ALWD [Association of Legal Writing Directors] Citation Manual: A Professional System of Citation or shall otherwise comply with the style and form used in opinions of the Supreme Court of Alabama. Citations shall reference the specific page number(s) that relate to the proposition for which the case is cited;