108 Cal. App. 2d 114 | Cal. Ct. App. | 1951
The petitioner-respondent, a civil service employee of the county of Los Angeles, was a senior typist clerk in the office of the county clerk. On May 16, 1949, she was notified by the county clerk that as of June 2, 1949, she was permanently discharged from that position. In conformity with the rules of the County Civil Service Commission she denied the charges contained in the letter of discharge and requested a hearing before the commission. On June 2, 1949, in the manner prescribed by the county charter and the rules of that commission, a hearing was had before the commission. On June 7, 1949, the commission rendered its decision sustaining respondent’s discharge. Respondent thereupon petitioned the superior court for a writ of mandate. Upon issue joined a trial was had following which that court made its findings and rendered judgment. The judgment directed the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate commanding the commission, its individual members and the county clerk to set aside the decision sustaining respondent’s discharge. Appellants thereupon took this appeal.
Thfe case was tried under the theory that the appellant Civil Service Commission is one of the inferior tribunals or boards referred to in Code of Civil Procedure, section 1094.5, subsections (a) and (b) and that the trial court’s inquiry was limited as specified therein to the following questions:
By his letter of May 16, 1949, discharging respondent, County Clerk Ostly declared that she was “. . . guilty of wilfully destroying, mutilating, defacing, removing from anil secreting, public papers and documents contained in the probate files of the Long Beach Department of the Superior Court in and for the County of Los Angeles. The specific facts constituting the above described offense are as follows:
“That for a period of several weeks prior to May 2nd, 1949, and particularly on April 29, and May 2,1949, you have removed numerous papers from probate files, consisting of such documents as Affidavits of Publication of Notice to Creditors, Certificates of Inheritance Tax, Inheritance Tax Releases, and that more particularly on or about the 2nd day of May, 1949, you wilfully removed from said probate files,*117 the following described documents and papers which you mutilated and secreted:
Number
Document
Date Filed
LBP 18882 Certificate of Inheritance Tax
Appraiser 11- 1-48
LBP 12413 Affidavit of Publication of
Notice to Creditors 8-14-43
LBP 18880 Certificate of Inheritance Tax
Appraiser 4- 7-49”
By its decision of June 7, 1949, upholding the discharge and entered in its minutes the commission declared.
“ ‘In the matter of the discharge of Shelia A. Pratt, heard and submitted on June 2, 1949, the Commission having considered all the evidence, including the appearance and demeanor of Mrs. Pratt while testifying, and being fully advised in the premises, found that the facts stated in the letter of discharge dated May 16, 1949, are true; that on May 2, 1949, Mrs. Pratt removed from the files, mutilated, and secreted, certain public records as charged in the letter of discharge ; that such action was not done with criminal intent but because of her emotionally unstable condition; that such removal, mutilation and secretion of public records constitute reasonable grounds for discharge; that none of the facts stated in the Answer to Charges, dated May 19, 1949, are true; that the resignation was withdrawn with the consent of the department head and is therefore not material to this case; that such resignation was entirely voluntary and entered into without duress or menace. The Commission concluded—Commissioners Mack and Crouch voting “aye”— that the reasons justify the discharge. Commissioner 0 ’Keefe took no part in the findings or decision. ’ ’ ’
Respondent for a period of 18 months prior to May, 1949, had been assisting Probate Commissioner Charvat of the Long Beach Superior Court. One of her principal duties was to check the probate files prior to each Monday, which was the regular calendar day, to determine if the necessary supporting documents were present. It was also .Commissioner Charvat’s duty to separately check such files. They were the only persons who did so. On each Monday for two or three weeks prior to May 2d, Judge Maltby, who regularly heard the probate calendar, had found from three to six necessary documents missing which Charvat had noted as present at the time of his checking. An examination of the
The trial court by its memorandum of opinion declared that there was no substantial evidence to support the findings of the commission and that its decision was based on mere suspicion. With this we cannot agree. It seems clear to us that in the light of the whole evidence and the inferences reasonably to be drawn therefrom the findings of the commission were not only supported by substantial evidence but were also well justified. The specific finding was “that on May 2, 1949, Mrs. Pratt removed from the files, mutilated and secreted, certain public records as charged in the letter of discharge.” This is supported by the evidence that at 7:20 a. m. of that day the documents in question, items 26, 27 and 30, were in their respective files in respondent’s locked office; that respondent entered the office at 8:15 a. m.; that Commissioner Charvat arrived thereafter and did not touch those files that day; that respondent or Mr. Charvat or both were present at all times between 8:15 a. m. and 9:30; that respondent checked those files between 9:30 a. m. and 10:30 a. m.; and that the documents were torn out, mutilated and secreted in the office wastebasket and lavatory. The specific finding is also supported by the following inferences which could reasonably be drawn from the above evidence and the record as a whole: That no one entered the office between 7:20 a. m. and 8:15 a. m.; that no one except respondent touched the files between 8:15 a. m. and 10:30 a. m.; that the documents were removed by respondent while checking those files that morning and thereafter mutilated and secreted.
Respondent urges that there was no motive shown on her part. It is hard to understand why she should have done the acts in question. Appellant urges that it may have been an endeavor on her part to impress Mr.. Charvat with the need for her services in double checking the files. Be that as it may the commission found that it was the result of her “emotionally unstable condition.” There was evidence that respondent had for some time been passing through a period of menopause. Respondent urges that this fact was discovered during the conversations between respondent and the county clerk and his deputies at the time respondent submitted her resignation, later withdrawn, and that all parties had agreed the resignation was irrelevant. However, it was respondent who developed the subject and relies on it in her brief. In any event the commission had every opportunity to observe her appearance and demeanor and her manner of testifying during the hearing and was entitled to draw its own conclusions in regard to her condition of mind. Both the trial court and we are bound thereby.
Respondent also argues that if we assume the finding as to the removal of items 26, 27 and 30 on May 2d is supported by substantial evidence, that is not true as to the portion of the letter of discharge which charged that for a
In any event to remand the matter to the commission could only result in the same decision. By ‘its findings that respondent had removed, mutilated and secreted public documents on May 2d, the commission not only found her guilty of a most serious breach of duty, but also of having committed an act of a felonious nature in that she had violated section 6200 of the Government Code. That section reads as follows : “Every officer having the custody of any record, map, or book, or of any paper or proceeding of any court, filed or deposited in any public office, or placed in his hands for any purpose, who is guilty of stealing, wilfully destroying, mutilating, defacing, altering or falsifying, removing or secreting the whole or any part of such record, map, book, paper, or
What we have said demonstrates that the findings of the commission support its decision. The judgment is reversed and the trial court is directed to quash the peremptory writ of mandate.
Shinn, P. J., and Wood (Parker), J., concurred.