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Konefal v. Hollis/Brookline Cooperative School District12/29/1998
d (3) failing to find that the New Hampshire Constitution protects an individual's right to associate or not to associate with a union when membership in the union was utilized as a criterion for contract renewal.
"In reviewing a motion to dismiss on appeal, we ask whether the plaintiff's allegations are reasonably susceptible of a construction that would permit recovery. For the purposes of review, we accept as true the plaintiff's allegations of fact, and if the allegations constitute a basis for legal relief, we must hold that it was improper to grant the motion to dismiss. However, we need not accept allegations in the writ that are merely Conclusions of law." Gardner v. City of Concord, 137 N.H. 253, 255-56, 624 A.2d 1337, 1338-39 (1993) (quotation and citations omitted).
The PELRB has primary jurisdiction over unfair labor practices. RSA 273-A:6, I (1987) (amended 1992); see School Dist. No. 42 v. Murray, 128 N.H. 417, 421, 514 A.2d 1269, 1272 (1986). "Primary jurisdiction in an agency requires judicial abstention until the final administrative Disposition of an issue, at which point the agency action may be subject to judicial review." Bd. of Trustees v. Keene State Coll. Educ. Assoc., 126 N.H. 339, 342, 493 A.2d 1121, 1124 (1985). Here, the plaintiffs did not pursue administrative proceedings that could have eliminated or narrowed the parties' dispute. Accordingly, applying the doctrine of primary jurisdiction, the trial court correctly concluded that the plaintiffs' contract claims should have been resolved before the PELRB in the first instance.
"The rule requiring administrative remedies to be exhausted prior to appealing to the courts is based on the reasonable policies of encouraging the exercise of administrative expertise, preserving agency autonomy and promoting judicial efficiency." Bradley v. City of Manchester, 141 N.H. 329, 331-32, 682 A.2d 1194, 1196 (1996) (quotation omitted). We have recognized that the exhaustion of administrative remedies doctrine is flexible, and that exhaustion is not required under certain circumstances. Metzger v. Brentwood, 115 N.H. 287, 290, 343 A.2d 24, 26 (1975). Exhaustion is not required, for example, when further administrative action would be useless and result in delays that might make the claim moot. See Petition of Chapman, 128 N.H. 24, 26, 509 A.2d 753, 755 (1986). Ms. Konefal argues that after the school board affirmed the superintendent's decision, requiring her to proceed before the PELRB would require her to "exhaust administrative remedies she deemed ineffective while . . . unable to regain employment as a teacher with the [defendant]." We disagree. Although the administrative process may have taken time, Ms. Konefal could still have obtained a suitable remedy if her claim was proved. Cf. id. (noting that exhaustion would not be required if delay would destroy ability to obtain relief).
Administrative remedies must be exhausted when the question involves the proper exercise of administrative discretion. See Tremblay v. Town of Hudson, 116 N.H. 178, 179-80, 355 A.2d 431, 432 (1976). When a constitutional question is implicated in an administrative context, courts often require exhaustion "based on the important prudential principle that a court should not resolve a constitutional question if a dispute can be resolved on another basis that avoids the need to resolve the constitutional question." 2 K. Davis & R. Pierce, Administrative Law Treatise § 15.5, at 332 (3d ed. 1994); see 2 Am. Jur. 2d Administrative Law § 512, at 499 (1994).
Ms. Konefal's constitutional claim would essentially require us to consider whether the school district improperly abused its discretion or violated the terms of
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