Minnesota Administrative Rules

1400.7500 CONTINUANCES.

Requests for a continuance of a hearing shall be granted upon a showing of good cause. Unless time does not permit, a request for continuance of the hearing shall be made in writing to the judge and shall be served upon all parties of record and the agency if it is not a party. In determining whether good cause exists, due regard shall be given to the ability of the party requesting a continuance to effectively proceed without a continuance. A request for a continuance filed within five business days of the hearing shall be denied unless the reason for the request could not have been earlier ascertained.

"Good cause" shall include: death or incapacitating illness of a party, representative, or attorney of a party; a court order requiring a continuance; lack of proper notice of the hearing; a substitution of the representative or attorney of a party if the substitution is shown to be required; a change in the parties or pleadings requiring postponement; and agreement for a continuance by all parties provided that it is shown that more time is clearly necessary to complete authorized discovery or other mandatory preparation for the case and the parties and the judge have agreed to a new hearing date, or, the parties are engaged in serious settlement negotiations or have agreed to a settlement of the case which has been or will likely be approved by the final decision maker.

"Good cause" shall not include: intentional delay; unavailability of counsel or other representative due to engagement in another judicial or administrative proceeding unless all other members of the attorney's or representative's firm familiar with the case are similarly engaged, or if the notice of the other proceeding was received subsequent to the notice of the hearing for which the continuance is sought; unavailability of a witness if the witness' testimony can be taken by deposition; and failure of the attorney or representative to properly utilize the statutory notice period to prepare for the hearing.

During a hearing, if it appears in the interest of justice that further testimony should be received and sufficient time does not remain to conclude the testimony, the judge shall either order the additional testimony be taken by deposition or continue the hearing to a future date and oral notice on the record shall be sufficient.

A continuance shall not be granted when to do so would prevent the case from being concluded within any statutory deadline.

Statutory Authority:

MS s 14.06; 14.131; 14.51; 116C.66; 216E.16; 363.06; 363A.28

History:

9 SR 2276; 15 SR 1595

Published Electronically:

August 6, 2013