In Mathew Zaheri Corp. v. New Motor Vehicle Board (1997) 55 Cal.App.4th 1305, a car dealer in a dispute with a franchisor, sought to overturn the New Motor Vehicle Board's decision in favor of the franchisor, on the ground that ex parte communications between the administrative law judges and the franchisor's counsel deprived the dealer of a fair hearing. ( Id. at pp. 1318-1320.) The dealer argued among other things that evidence or information was disclosed in the ex parte communications which the dealer had no opportunity to rebut. ( Id. at pp. 1313-1314.) The Court affirmed the trial court's denial of the dealer's mandamus petition. Among other matters, we held that if the trial court appropriately concluded (as it had in that case) that the agency did not rely upon the information provided in the ex parte communications, and that the decisionmaker was not guilty of actual misconduct arising to a presumption of bias, there was no deprivation of a fair hearing and no denial of due process. ( Id. at pp. 1319-1320.)