When the agency that made the decision has changed or ceased to exist, which body must be named as defendant in the annulment action?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
We read the certified copy of the disposition to see which administrative agency made it, any instrument transferring that agency's authority after the disposition, and, if the original agency has gone, the papers showing which state body or public body now handles that business.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading makes the administrative agency that made the disposition the defendant in an annulment action, unless another law provides otherwise; where the authority relating to it was succeeded by another agency after the disposition, the succeeding agency is the defendant, and where that agency no longer exists, the state or public body to whose business the matter belongs takes that place.
Another reading stresses two displacements: a special provision in another law removes this rule altogether, and succession is only reached where the authority moved after the disposition, so the file must show when and how it moved; the provision does not say how it is to be shown which body the relevant business now belongs to.
Your judgment
If part of the relevant business now sits with one body and part with another, which of them does this provision point to as the defendant?
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 how a successor is identified, or if a court decision sets the test for showing which state body or public association the business has become attached to.