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CADDNAR - Contested Administrative Decisions
To view a summary of recently added administrative decisions, see CADDNAR UPDATE.
NOTE: Volumes 1 through 15 are now available for search. An alphabetical index and citation index are also available to facilitate an online search. Indexes updated as of January 15, 2021.
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"). IC 4-21.5-3-32
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. 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, 692 N.E.2d 925 (1994 Ind. App.). Subsequent reported decisions have also acknowledged CADDNAR.
RESEARCH AID
Near the top of every decision in CADDNAR is the cause number assigned when a file was begun. Although CADDNAR typically includes only matters arising under IC 4-21.5, the numbering system is used for adjudications and for other matters that are in the Commission's jurisdiction and administered through the Division of Hearings.
An example of a cause number is "97-245D". The number before the dash provides the year a proceeding was filed, or for a matter not an adjudication (such as a proposed rule), the year the file was opened. In the example, the year was 1997. The number following the dash is the enumeration for the year. In the example, the proceeding was the 245th. The letter is assigned based on what appears to be the DNR program most directly involved. The letter designations for matters in the Commission's current jurisdiction are as follows:
| A | Administration with General Application |
| B | Lake Michigan Coastal Program |
| C | Conservancy Districts |
| D | DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife |
| E | DNR Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology |
| F | DNR Division of Forestry |
| G | DNR Division Oil and Gas |
| H | DNR Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology |
| J | Joint Proceeding with OEA or another State Agency |
| K | State Land Office |
| L | DNR Division of Law Enforcement |
| N | DNR Division of Nature Preserves |
| P | DNR Division of Start Parks and Reservoirs |
| Q | DNR Division of Land Acquisition |
| R | DNR Division of Reclamation |
| T | DNR Division of Outdoor Recreation |
| V | Advisory Council |
| W | DNR Division of Water |
| Y | Board of Licensure for Professional Geologists |
| Z | 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. Please contact us with questions or comments concerning the use of CADDNAR or other decisions available through the Natural Resources Commission, Division of Hearings.