161 N.E. 438 | NY | 1928
The claimant was one of five persons who held positions as detective agents in the office of the *114 Comptroller of the State. The positions were in the competitive class of the civil service. In the year 1923 the Legislature appropriated moneys to pay for the services of not more than three of such agents. It, therefore, became necessary for the Comptroller to abolish two of the positions. It was then the law that, whenever a position in the competitive class of the civil service was abolished, the occupant should be suspended without pay; and that such suspension should be made in the inverse order of the original appointments to the service. (Civil Service Law [Cons. Laws, ch. 7], sec. 22-a, added by ch. 836, Laws of 1920; amended by ch. 875, Laws of 1923, and repealed by ch. 685, sec. 4, Laws of 1926.) Of the five detective agents, the claimant was the third in order of appointment. Nevertheless, the Comptroller notified the claimant that his position was abolished and that his services were no longer required. Thereafter the claimant instituted mandamus proceedings and procured his reinstatement, as well as all arrears of salary owing him for the period of his apparent suspension. For counsel fees and disbursements in the legal proceedings made necessary by the unlawful act of the Comptroller the claimant expended the sum of $1,055. Thereafter the Legislature passed an act conferring jurisdiction upon the Court of Claims to hear and determine claimant's claim to recover the moneys thus expended. (Laws of 1927, ch. 716.) The act provided that "if the court shall find that the said Edgar C. Farrington was lawfully appointed to and held the position of detective agent in the office of the Comptroller of the State of New York, and was illegally dismissed or removed from that position to which he was reinstated by an action at law, the State of New York shall be deemed liable for his counsel fees, expenses and disbursements made and incurred in securing such reinstatement" and that, in such event, "the court shall make an award and render judgment against the State of New York, and in favor of the said Edgar C. Farrington, *115 for the counsel fees, expenses and disbursements made and incurred in securing such reinstatement and unpaid salary." The Court of Claims subsequently heard the claim, found the facts to have been as stated in the act, determined that the claimant's reasonable expenses had been the sum of $1,055, and made an award to claimant for that amount.
The Legislature may not sanction a mere gift of public moneys for private purposes. (Const. art. VIII, sec. 9; Lehigh ValleyR.R. Co. v. Canal Board,
Instances in which enactments, authorizing the allowance of private claims, have been held to be constitutional, since it might reasonably be said that the sanctioned claims involved moral obligations, have been subject to classification under two heads. The first are claims involving benefits conferred by private persons upon the State which the State has continued to enjoy without the return of a quid quo pro. The second are claims involving injuries and damages wrongfully inflicted upon individuals by those in the State service or others for whose acts the State might justly be regarded as responsible. (People
v. Westchester County National Bank, supra.) Our claim, if belonging to either class, falls under the second head. It is grounded upon a legal wrong inflicted by one of the chief officers of the State upon the claimant, a public servant of the State. It is not material that the wrong did not involve the infliction of physical violence. It is not material that the damage inflicted might not have been recoverable in a suit at law against an employer occupying a similar relation to the parties as did the State. Special enactments authorizing the allowance of private claims against the State are not required for the purpose of removing the State's immunity from suit. The provisions of section 264 of the Code of Civil Procedure, now incorporated within the provisions of section 12 CTC of the Court of Claims Act, long ago established a universal waiver of such immunity, in all cases prosecuted before the Court of Claims. (Quayle v.State,
We find nothing in the cases of Matter of Chapman v. City ofNew York (
The judgment should be affirmed, with costs.
CARDOZO, Ch. J., POUND, CRANE, ANDREWS, LEHMAN and O'BRIEN, JJ., concur.
Judgment affirmed.