When an agency disposes without reflecting a party's submitted opinion, how can that party require the agency to explain its reasons, and in what form must the explanation come?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the copy of the disposition and any paper showing the date the party learned of it, the opinion the party submitted, the written request for an explanation of reasons, and any consent the party gave to being told by another method.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading ties every condition together: only where the agency made a disposition without reflecting opinions submitted by a party or other interested person, and only where that party asks, within the period the provision sets from the date it knew of the disposition, the agency must tell it the reasons in writing.
Another reading stresses the form: written form is the rule, but where the party consents the agency may tell the reasons by speech, by information and communications network, or by another method, so the file has to show whether that consent exists and how it was given.
Your judgment
If the file does not fix the date the party knew of the disposition, what evidence would show whether the request was made within the period the provision sets?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change the period or the form of the explanation, or if a decision clarifies what counts as the date a party knew of the disposition.