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Note: Volumes 1 through 9 are now available for search.

As provided in IC 4-21.5-3-32, an agency is required to index final orders and may rely upon indexed orders as precedent. CADDNAR was adopted by the Natural Resources Commission in November 1988 as the index of agency decisions anticipated in IC 4-21.5 (sometimes called the "Administrative Orders and Procedures Act" or "AOPA").

Amendments made to AOPA in 1997 also require the Commission and its Administrative Law Judges to address agency precedents cited by the parties where a proceeding is governed by IC 13, IC 14, or IC 25. Since virtually all cases decided by the Commission are governed by either IC 14 or IC 25, CADDNAR was given greater significance. See IC 4-21.5-3-27(c).

Accessible through CADDNAR are decisions rendered by the Commission following the completion of a contested proceeding. Included are those following hearing or summary judgment (or involuntary dismissal, where a noteworthy point of law is considered). In addition, upon the request of the parties, settlement agreements are included which have notable precedential value. CADDNAR now includes all such decisions since 1978, when the agency began regularly assigning adjudicatory cases to Administrative Law Judges. An attempt is made to track the history of individual decisions taken on judicial review to a circuit or superior court or on appeal.

Use of CADDNAR was first acknowledged by the Indiana Court of Appeals in Peabody Coal v. Indiana DNR, (1994 Ind. App.), 692 N.E.2d 925. Subsequent reported decisions have also acknowledged CADDNAR.

RESEARCH AID

• Near the top of every decision cited in CADDNAR is the cause number assigned when the case was initiatied. An example of a cause number is 97-245D. The first number reflects the year the case was filed-in the example, 1997. The second number is the sequence of filing for that year-in the example the 245th proceeding. The letter is assigned based on what appears to be the DNR division or other agency most directly involved in the proceeding. Although the letter designation is somewhat arbitrary, it will often provide insight to the researcher as to the nature of the case. The most noteworthy letter designations are as follows:

Note: Cases designated with C, Y, or Z are precedents only for proceedings with the same letter designation. For example, a decision from the Geologist Licensure Board only applies to a proceeding before the Geologist Licensure Board. There are currently no decisions from the recently-established Soil Scientists Registration Board.

CADDNAR CITATION

• The citation form used by the Indiana Court of Appeals in Peabody Coal v. Indiana DNR is illustrated as follows:
  Peabody Coal Company v. DNR, 4 CADDNAR 58, March 18, 1988
  
  
• The citation historically used before the Commission is as follows:
  Manapogo Park, Inc. v. DNR, 5 Caddnar 115 (1990)
  

Either citation form is approved for use before the Division of Hearings. Questions or comments concerning the use of CADDNAR or other decisions available through the Natural Resources Commission, Division of Hearings may be directed to Jennifer Kane.

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