Fleeher v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing

In Fleeher v. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing, 850 A.2d 34 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2004), the Court stated that the timeliness of a request for reconsideration is jurisdictional. The General Rules of Administrative Practice and Procedure (GRAPP) require that an application for reconsideration be filed "within 15 days, or another period as may be expressly provided by statute applicable to the proceeding, after the issuance of an adjudication or other final order by the agency." 1 Pa. Code 35.241(a). The Court has held that the fifteen-day period is mandatory and that the failure to request reconsideration within that period deprives an agency of jurisdiction to consider the request. Fleeher. The GRAPP governs practice and procedure before agencies of the Commonwealth, except where a statute or regulation sets forth inconsistent rules on the same subject. 1 Pa. Code 31.1. If an agency intends that its own regulation supersede the GRAPP, the superseded provision must be expressly cited, along with a statement that the cited provision is not applicable to proceedings before the agency. 1 Pa. Code 13.38. There is no other statute or regulation governing a request for reconsideration before the Board; thus, we conclude that the GRAPP governs such requests.