LAWRENCE L. BAGGETT et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. DARYL GATES, as Chief of Police, etc., et al., Defendants and Appellants. DAVID B. ZELHART, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. DARYL GATES, as Chief of Police, etc., et al., Defendants and Appellants.
L.A. No. 31533
Supreme Court of California
Aug. 23, 1982
32 Cal. 3d 128
Cecil W. Marr, Robert J. Loew and Loew & Marr for Plaintiffs and Appellants.
William H. Sortor, David P. Clisham and Carroll, Burdick & McDonough as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Appellants.
Ira Reiner and Burt Pines, City Attorneys, Frederick N. Merkin, Senior Assistant City Attorney, and Catharine H. Vale, Assistant City Attorney, for Defendants and Appellants.
Burke, Williams & Sorensen, Royal M. Sorensen and Virginia R. Pesola as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants.
BIRD, C. J.-The primary issue presented by this case is whether the Public Safety Officers’ Procedural Bill of Rights Act (Bill of Rights Act) applies to chartered cities. (See
I.
Plaintiffs, Lawrence Baggett, David Butler, John Spencer and David Zelhart, are police officers employed by the Los Angeles Police Department (Department). Defendants are the chief of police, the board of police commissioners and the City of Los Angeles.
Under the Department‘s salary structure, known as the Jacobs Plan, each of the several civil service job classes-i.e., police officer, sergeant, lieutenant, captain and deputy chief-may have more than one “paygrade” or salary level. (L.A. Admin. Code, § 4.140(n).) Officers “appointed ... to a class having more than one pay grade may be assigned and reassigned within that class” in accord with the regulations promulgated by the board of police commissioners. (Ibid.) These regulations are set forth in the Los Angeles Police Department Manual (Department Manual).
The paygrades within the civil service class of police officer, the class held by plaintiffs here, are police officers I, II, and III. (See L.A. Admin. Code, § 4.140(n).) Police officer I is the entry-level paygrade. Police officer II applies to officers who have completed one and one-half years of service. Police officer III applies to officers assigned to certain specialized positions involving increased responsibilities or calling for special qualifications. Such assignments are called “advanced paygrade assignments” and are compensated at higher rates. (See generally, 3 Department Manual, § 763 et seq.)
The Jacobs Plan also provides for additional compensation, over and above that attached to class and paygrade, for those officers assigned to positions involving particularly hazardous duties. (L.A. Admin. Code, § 4.159(g)(2), pt. B.)
Until July 1979, plaintiffs worked in the firearms and explosives unit of the Department‘s scientific investigation division. All four of them had been assigned to the unit for a number of years and had acquired extensive, specialized training and experience in the handling of fire-
In July 1979, the Department received information that plaintiffs and several others had engaged in misconduct during work hours. The alleged misconduct included: drinking while on duty or while on police premises; shooting pellet and/or BB rifles inside police premises and into the streets; mishandling evidence, including explosives; and various “pranks.” Shortly thereafter, the Department‘s internal affairs division began an investigation.
Early in the course of the investigation, each plaintiff was interrogated at some length. The Department told plaintiffs of the nature of the investigation prior to questioning them. They were also warned that it could lead to formal charges of misconduct.1
Each officer was asked to consent to a search of his home. Baggett and Butler did so, but only Baggett‘s home was searched. Spencer and Zelhart refused to give their consent. The Department searched plaintiffs’ personal desks on July 11, 1979. No effort was made to obtain plaintiffs’ consent to these searches.
On July 12, 1979, the commanding officer of the scientific investigation division, Captain Brennan, placed Officers Baggett, Spencer and Zelhart on temporary loan to other divisions within the Department. Officer Butler was placed on temporary loan outside the division when he returned from vacation on August 2, 1979. While on temporary loan, plaintiffs received the same salary as before.
The investigation failed to substantiate some of the alleged acts of misconduct and revealed that the remaining acts had occurred over a
The Department approved Brennan‘s recommendation and notified plaintiffs that they would be reassigned to police officer II positions in January and February of 1980.4 Their request for a hearing or administrative appeal was denied. Departmental regulations provide for a hearing only when a formal personnel complaint is also filed against an officer. (See 3 Department Manual, § 763.60; see also L.A. City Charter, § 202.)
Seeking to prevent their reassignment, plaintiffs filed a petition for writ of mandate and complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief in Los Angeles Superior Court.5 Relying primarily on the Bill of Rights Act (
In their answer, defendants asserted that the act could not constitutionally be applied to a charter city such as Los Angeles. Defendants further asserted that plaintiffs had no right to an administrative appeal under the act. According to defendants, the transfer or downgrading of plaintiffs did not constitute “punitive action” since it was not undertaken “for purposes of punishment.”
After the hearing, the trial court granted plaintiffs the relief they requested. The court‘s judgment and order, entered July 23, 1980, directed issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate ordering defendants (1) to give plaintiffs an administrative appeal before taking any action which would reduce their salary and (2) to otherwise comply fully with the provisions of the Bill of Rights Act. In addition, the court permanently enjoined defendants “from transferring or reassigning any officer(s) from advanced paygrade assignments to duties at lower paygrades until such officer(s) have been afforded an opportunity for an administrative appeal.” Subsequently, the court denied plaintiffs’ motion for attorney fees.
Defendants appealed. Although agreeing that the act applies to charter cities, the Court of Appeal held that the right to an administrative appeal provided by
Plaintiffs also appealed from the trial court‘s denial of their motion to recover attorney fees under section 1021.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
This court granted hearing to consider the case in connection with White v. County of Sacramento (1982) 31 Cal.3d 676 [183 Cal.Rptr. 520, 646 P.2d 191].
The first issue this court must decide is whether application of the Bill of Rights Act to charter cities violates the home rule provisions of the California Constitution. (
As its title suggests, the act sets forth a list of basic rights and protections which must be afforded all peace officers (see
In brief, the act (1) secures to officers the right to engage in political activity, if they so desire, when off-duty and out of uniform, “[e]xcept as otherwise provided by law” (
The general home rule provision of the Constitution gives chartered cities the power to “make and enforce all ordinances and regulations in
“As to matters which are of statewide concern, however, home rule charter cities remain subject to and controlled by applicable general state laws regardless of the provisions of their charters ....” (Bishop v. City of San Jose (1969) 1 Cal.3d 56, 61 [81 Cal.Rptr. 465, 460 P.2d 137].) Accordingly, the applicability of the Bill of Rights Act to charter cities turns on whether the matters it addresses are of statewide concern or are “strictly” a municipal affair. (Sonoma County Organization of Public Employees v. County of Sonoma (1979) 23 Cal.3d 296, 315-316 [152 Cal.Rptr. 903, 591 P.2d 1] [Sonoma County].)
Although what constitutes a matter of statewide concern is ultimately an issue for the courts to decide,10 it is well settled that this court will accord “great weight” to the Legislature‘s evaluation of this question. (Bishop v. City of San Jose, supra, 1 Cal.3d at p. 63.) Therefore, it is significant that the Legislature has expressly declared that “the rights and protections provided to peace officers [by the Bill of Rights Act] constitute a matter of statewide concern.” (
Moreover, this is not the usual case in which the Legislature has left the courts to divine why this is so. (See, e.g., Sonoma County, supra, 23 Cal.3d at p. 316 and fn. 20.) Instead, the Legislature has set forth the findings underlying its conclusion: “[E]ffective law enforcement depends upon the maintenance of stable employer-employee relations, be-
Defendants, however, argue vigorously that the Bill of Rights Act is nothing more than an attempt by the Legislature to impose rigid rules regarding the internal affairs of city police departments. That this is a province the Legislature cannot invade is established, they contend, by section 5, subdivision (b) of article XI. That subdivision provides in pertinent part: “It shall be competent in all city charters to provide ... for: (1) the constitution, regulation, and government of the city police force ....” Moreover, cities are granted “plenary authority” to provide in their charters for the “compensation, method of appointment, qualifications, tenure of office and removal” of their employees. (
Superficially, these provisions raise some doubt as to whether the Bill of Rights Act may be applied to charter cities. On closer scrutiny, however, it becomes clear that it may. In the first place, the act impinges only minimally on the specific directives of section 5, subdivision (b). Review of the act‘s provisions (see ante, at p. 135) demonstrates that the act does not interfere with the setting of peace officers’ compensation.12 (Compare Sonoma County, supra, 23 Cal.3d at pp. 316-318 [invalidating legislative attempt to impose a pay freeze on municipal employees]; see also San Francisco Labor Council v. Regents of University of California (1980) 26 Cal.3d 785, 790-791 [163 Cal.Rptr. 460, 608 P.2d 277] [invalidating legislative attempt to impose
The act does, however, impinge on the city‘s implied power to determine the manner in which its employees may be removed. Although the act in no way interferes with the city‘s exclusive jurisdiction over removal of its employees (compare Curphey v. Superior Court (1959) 169 Cal.App.2d 261, 268 [337 P.2d 169] [holding state statute providing for removal of employees by action of a grand jury inapplicable to a charter county]), it does require the city to provide peace officers “an opportunity for administrative appeal.” (
However, in Professional Fire Fighters Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, supra, 60 Cal.2d 276, this court specifically rejected the notion that any intrusion upon matters connected with public employment is necessarily an intrusion upon “municipal affairs.” (Id., at p. 291.) Professional Fire Fighters involved the right of Los Angeles firemen to join a labor union. Relying on the home rule provisions of the Constitution, the city there contended that the statutes purporting to confer this right on its fire department employees unlawfully interfered with its exclusive and
In rejecting the city‘s contention, this court observed that general laws seeking to accomplish an objective of statewide concern may prevail over conflicting local regulations even if they impinge to a limited extent upon some phase of local control. (Professional Fire Fighters, supra, 60 Cal.2d at pp. 292, 295.) Accordingly, this court held that the state statutes which gave firemen the right to join a labor union were applicable to charter cities. “The total effect of all this legislation was not to deprive local government (chartered city or otherwise) of the right to manage and control its fire departments but to create uniform fair labor practices throughout the state. As such, the legislation may impinge upon local control to a limited extent, but it is nonetheless a matter of state concern.” (Id., at pp. 294-295.)
Of course, the matter is no different when it comes to the police departments of chartered cities. General laws seeking to assure fair labor practices may be applied to police departments, just as they may be applied to fire departments, even though they impinge upon local control to a limited extent. (Huntington Beach Police Officers’ Assn. v. City of Huntington Beach (1976) 58 Cal.App.3d 492, 500-502 [129 Cal.Rptr. 893]; see also Los Angeles County Civil Service Com. v. Superior Court (1978) 23 Cal.3d 55, 65-66 and fn. 12 [151 Cal.Rptr. 547, 588 P.2d 249].)15
Finally, it can hardly be disputed that the maintenance of stable employment relations between police officers and their employers is a
Moreover, there is a direct, substantial connection between the rights provided by the Bill of Rights Act and the Legislature‘s asserted purpose. To give but one example, the administrative appeal provided is akin to a grievance system. It allows an officer who believes that his conduct or performance does not warrant punitive action an opportunity to present his side of the matter. Grievance systems have proved to be highly successful devices for helping to maintain labor peace. (Final Rep. Assem. Advisory Council on Public Employee Relations (Mar. 1973) at p. 186.)
In sum, here, as in Professional Fire Fighters, the total effect of this legislation is not to deprive local governments of the right to manage and control their police departments but to secure basic rights and protections to a segment of public employees who were thought unable to secure them for themselves.
“[T]he constitutional concept of municipal affairs is not a fixed or static quantity. It changes with the changing conditions upon which it is to operate.” (Pac. Tel. & Tel. Co. v. City & County of S. F. (1959) 51 Cal.2d 766, 771 [336 P.2d 514].) There must always be doubt whether a matter which is of concern to both municipalities and the state is of sufficient statewide concern to justify a new legislative intrusion into an area traditionally regarded as “strictly a municipal affair.” Such doubt, however, “must be resolved in favor of the legislative authority of the state.” (Abbott v. City of Los Angeles (1960) 53 Cal.2d 674, 681 [3 Cal.Rptr. 158, 349 P.2d 974], citations omitted.)
For these reasons, this court holds that the Bill of Rights Act may constitutionally be applied to charter cities.
The next issue this court must decide is whether the right to an administrative appeal provided by the Bill of Rights Act extends to peace officers who, like plaintiffs, are reassigned to lower paying positions.
Plaintiffs assert that their reassignments will result in a loss in pay and are, therefore, punitive actions giving rise to a right of appeal under
For the reasons set forth in White v. County of Sacramento, supra, 31 Cal.3d 676, at pages 679-684, this court has concluded that the phrase “for purposes of punishment” qualifies only the term “transfer.” “[A] decision to reassign a peace officer to a lower paying position is per se disciplinary, or punitive in nature ....” (Id., at pp. 683-684.) Accordingly, under
Moreover, “looking through form to substance,” it is evident that plaintiffs’ reassignments came about because of their alleged improper prior conduct. (Heyenga v. City of San Diego (1979) 94 Cal.App.3d 756, 759 [156 Cal.Rptr. 496].) The record before this court compels the conclusion that plaintiffs were reassigned “for purposes of punishment.”
As to plaintiffs’ appeal, the only question to be decided is whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying their motion for attorney fees under
The decision as to whether an award of attorney fees is warranted rests initially with the trial court. (Id., at pp. 938, 940-941, 942.) “[U]tilizing its traditional equitable discretion,” that court “must realistically assess the litigation and determine, from a practical perspective” (id., at p. 938) whether or not the statutory criteria have been met. In this case, the trial court had to evaluate whether plaintiffs’ action: (1) served to vindicate an important public right; (2) conferred a significant benefit on the general public or a large class of persons; and (3) imposed a financial burden on plaintiffs which was out of proportion to their individual stake in the matter. (See
Where, as here, a trial court has discretionary power to decide an issue, its decision will be reversed only if there has been a prejudicial
Analysis of plaintiffs’ action leads to the conclusion that there was no reasonable basis for the trial court‘s denial of their motion for attorney fees. Plaintiffs’ action resulted in securing for themselves and many others the basic rights and protections of the Bill of Rights Act. This court has today concluded that these rights and protections are matters of statewide concern. It follows that the rights vindicated by plaintiffs are sufficiently “important” to justify an attorney fee award. (See Woodland Hills, supra, 23 Cal.3d at p. 936.)
Moreover, it can scarcely be contended that plaintiffs’ litigation has not conferred a “significant benefit” on the “general public.” Since enforcement of the Bill of Rights Act should help to maintain stable relations between peace officers and their employers and thus to assure effective law enforcement, plaintiffs’ action directly inures to the benefit of the citizenry of this state. (See ante, at pp. 139-140.) No one can be heard to protest that effective law enforcement is not a “significant benefit.”
Finally, although this is a closer question, the record before this court indicates that the financial burden this suit placed on plaintiffs was out of proportion to their personal stake in the case. By their action, plaintiffs have secured the enforcement of basic procedural rights, including the right to an administrative appeal of disciplinary actions. However, enforcement of these procedural rights may well not result in any pecuniary benefit to plaintiffs themselves. (See Serrano v. Priest, supra, 20 Cal.3d 25, 45.) For example, plaintiffs’ newly won right to an administrative appeal of the Department‘s decision to reassign them to lower paying positions will not necessarily result in the reversal of that decision. Plaintiffs’ reassignment and consequent reduction in salary may be approved.
This court is satisfied that plaintiffs’ action meets the requirements of
Since no reasonable basis for denying plaintiffs’ motion for attorney fees appears in the record, the trial court‘s refusal to award fees was an abuse of discretion and its denial order must be reversed. In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed. The case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. Plaintiffs-appellants shall recover their costs on appeal.
Mosk, J., Newman, J., Broussard, J., and Reynoso, J., concurred.
KAUS, J., Concurring and Dissenting.-I concur in parts II and III of the court‘s opinion, but dissent from the court‘s conclusion in part IV that the trial court abused its discretion in denying plaintiffs’ motion for attorney fees under
In establishing the parameters of this state‘s private attorney general doctrine,
The attorney fees at issue total about $8,400. As the court‘s opinion notes, each of the four plaintiffs is challenging the validity of a disciplinary sanction which threatens to reduce his salary by $5,000 a year. Although there is, of course, no guarantee that plaintiffs will prevail on the merits once they are afforded an administrative hearing, assuming-as we must-that plaintiffs believe in the validity of their case, the total amount of money at stake in this proceeding-$20,000 every year-certainly provided the plaintiffs with a substantial financial incentive to pursue this litigation.
Furthermore, contrary to the court‘s suggestion (ante, p. 143), this litigation will provide a substantial monetary benefit to the individual officers even if they do not ultimately prevail on the merits after an administrative hearing. The reduction in the officers’ salaries proposed by the city was scheduled to take effect early in 1980, but that reduction has been stayed during the course of this litigation by an injunction issued by the trial court. As a consequence, the lawsuit to date has apparently permitted plaintiffs to receive more than $40,000 in additional income. Thus, even if we consider the matter solely from the point of view of the individual plaintiffs’ financial interest, I do not see how we can conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in finding that in light of their personal stake in the litigation, the cost of the litigation-$8,400 in attorney fees-did not place a disproportionate burden on plaintiffs.1
In addition, it is not at all clear to me that the trial court-in conducting the “realistic assessment” of the situation mandated by Wood-
I would affirm the trial court judgment in its entirety.
RICHARDSON, J.-I respectfully dissent. In my view, matters relating to the employment, compensation and discipline of police officers are municipal affairs. Accordingly, chartered cities such as Los Angeles may make and enforce ordinances on these subjects without limitation or restriction by any contrary state law. This seems to me to be man-
The majority concedes that the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act (
Notwithstanding the breadth of article XI, section 5, subdivision (a), the majority concludes that “the maintenance of stable employment relations between police officers and their employers is a matter of statewide concern.” (Ante, pp. 139-140.) The majority fails to appreciate that if “stable employment relations” with public employees were the dispositive factor, every state law which called for terms or conditions of public employment less restrictive than those required by municipal charter would override all conflicting local ordinances on the subject. We have previously rejected any such approach. (See, e.g., Ector v. City of Torrance (1973) 10 Cal.3d 129, 132-133 [109 Cal.Rptr. 849, 514 P.2d 433] [local residence requirement for city employees overrides contrary state law]; Bishop v. City of San Jose (1969) 1 Cal.3d 56, 62-63 [81 Cal.Rptr. 465, 460 P.2d 137] [state prevailing wage law inapplicable to charter city employees].)
In the context of employment relations, the state Constitution seems to me to be quite explicit in establishing supervision of city police as a “municipal affair.” Not only does the Constitution provide that charter provisions regarding municipal affairs “shall supersede” any contrary state laws, but the very next subdivision of article XI empowers cities to provide by charter for “the constitution, regulation, and government of the city police force ....” (Id., § 5, subd. (b).) That same subdivision also recites that “plenary authority is hereby granted [charter cities] ... to provide ... the manner in which, the method by which, the times at which, and the terms for which the several municipal officers and employees ... shall be elected or appointed, and for their removal, and for their compensation, and for the number of ... em-
It is difficult for me to see how the framers of our Constitution could have been more explicit in declaring their intention that the employment and regulation of local police officers be considered “municipal affairs.”
The express constitutional grant of “plenary authority” to charter cities furnishes conclusive “constitutional guidance” in this regard. (See Sonoma County Organization of Public Employees v. County of Sonoma (1979) 23 Cal.3d 296, 316-317 [152 Cal.Rptr. 903, 591 P.2d 1]; Ector v. City of Torrance, supra, 10 Cal.3d 129, 132.) As was recently expressed in Brown v. City of Berkeley (1976) 57 Cal.App.3d 223, 236 [129 Cal.Rptr. 1], ” ‘It has been uniformly held that the organization, maintenance and operation of a police and fire department by a chartered city is a municipal affair and as such not subject to the control of the legislature.’ [Citation.] Moreover, under article XI, section 5(b), of the California Constitution chartered cities are specifically provided the authority to constitute, regulate and govern city police departments.”
The majority relies for its contrary conclusion almost exclusively upon Professional Fire Fighters, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles (1963) 60 Cal.2d 276 [32 Cal.Rptr. 830, 384 P.2d 158], but that case is inapposite. It held only that the right of municipal employees to join a labor union was a matter of statewide rather than municipal concern. This holding is correct, but I see no inconsistency between it and the views which I herein express. Union activities neither directly nor inevitably conflict with nor infringe upon the cities’ constitutional power to employ, compensate and discipline its own municipal employees.
I would reverse the judgment.