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NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for rehearing under Rule 22 as well as formal revision before publication in the New Hampshire Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter, Supreme Court of New Hampshire, One Charles Doe Drive, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any editorial errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Errors may be reported by E-mail at the following address: reporter@courts.state.nh.us. Opinions are available on the Internet by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of their release. The direct address of the court's home page is: http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme. THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ___________________________ Merrimack No. 2010-828 CHRISTOPHER RUEL v. NEW HAMPSHIRE REAL ESTATE APPRAISER BOARD Argued: September 22, 2011 Opinion Issued: December 15, 2011 Bianco Professional Association, of Concord (Thomas P. Colantuono on the brief and orally), for Christopher Ruel. Michael A. Delaney, attorney general (Lynmarie C. Cusack, assistant attorney general, and Kristen A. Fiore, attorney, on the memorandum of law, and Elyse S. Alkalay, attorney, orally), for the New Hampshire Real Estate Appraiser Board. LYNN, J. Christopher Ruel, a licensed real estate appraiser, appeals an order of the Superior Court (McNamara, J.) remanding his case to the New Hampshire Real Estate Appraiser Board (Board) for a new disciplinary hearing. We affirm. The pertinent facts, as established by the record, are as follows. In the spring of 2007, Kenneth Frederick hired Ruel to appraise his property in Kingston. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (DOT) sought to

take Frederick's property by eminent domain and Frederick used Ruel's appraisal in negotiating a settlement with DOT. DOT performed its own appraisal and valued the property at approximately fifty thousand dollars less than did Ruel. After finalizing the settlement, a DOT appraisal supervisor, George LeMay, reviewed Ruel's appraisal and filed a grievance against him with the Board on September 25, 2007. On November 16, 2007, the Board voted to investigate the grievance and assigned the case to an investigator, Peggy Gallus. Later, it was assigned to Barry Shea for a second investigation. Ruel received notice of the allegations in an April 25, 2008 letter from the Board. Shea submitted his report to the Board on October 30, 2008, noting Ruel's "substantial" non-compliance with the professional rules. On December 2, 2008, Ruel failed to appear for a scheduled meeting with Gallus, the grievance officer in charge of his matter, but the two had several phone calls discussing possible sanctions. Later, pursuant to Board procedure, the Board sent Ruel a proposed settlement. In April 2009, the Board granted Ruel's request to extend the deadline to respond to the settlement offer. After Ruel rejected the settlement offer, the Board voted to schedule a hearing for November 13, 2009. Ruel received notice of this hearing in a letter dated August 27, 2009. The Board continued the hearing until December 18, 2009, so that its investigator, Shea, would be present to testify. At the hearing, both Shea and Ruel testified; however, during Ruel's testimony, one Board member left the hearing and did not participate in deciding his case. Ruel submitted requests for findings of fact and rulings of law, which were ruled on at a public hearing on February 12, 2010. In April 2010, four members of the Board voted to order Ruel to pay a $500 fine and attend two appraisal courses. Ruel sought certiorari review in the superior court, alleging several errors in the Board's procedures. The superior court rejected most of Ruel's arguments, but remanded the case to the Board for another hearing because the Board conducted a portion of the disciplinary hearing and issued its final order without a quorum of its membership participating. This appeal followed. On appeal, Ruel argues that the superior court should have dismissed the Board proceedings against him because: (1) LeMay lacked standing to file the initial grievance and, therefore, the case should never have been heard; (2) the Board violated its governing statute by taking more than two years to dispose of his case; (3) the Board's delay materially prejudiced him; and (4) the Board's determination to continue with the hearing and render a final decision without a quorum violated his due process rights. In addition, Ruel contends that the superior court erred in not reviewing Shea's qualifications and competency to testify as a witness. Finally, he asks us to award attorney's fees.

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I Before considering Ruel's arguments, we first review generally the regulatory scheme for real estate appraisers established by RSA chapter 310-B. This is the first occasion we have had to address this statute. Enacted in 1991 to bring New Hampshire into compliance with Title XI of the federal Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, 12 U.S.C.

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