BOARD OF SUP'RS OF MARICOPA CTY. v. Woodall

586 P.2d 640, 120 Ariz. 391
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedApril 21, 1978
Docket1 CA-CIV 3960
StatusPublished

This text of 586 P.2d 640 (BOARD OF SUP'RS OF MARICOPA CTY. v. Woodall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
BOARD OF SUP'RS OF MARICOPA CTY. v. Woodall, 586 P.2d 640, 120 Ariz. 391 (Ark. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

120 Ariz. 391 (1978)
586 P.2d 640

The BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF MARICOPA COUNTY, Arizona, by Henry H. Haws, George L. Campbell and Hawley Atkinson, a majority thereof, Appellant,
v.
Rhea WOODALL, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of Maricopa County, Arizona, Charles F. Hyder, Maricopa County Attorney and Maricopa County ex rel. Charles F. Hyder, Appellees.

No. 1 CA-CIV 3960.

Court of Appeals of Arizona, Division 1, Department A.

April 21, 1978.
Rehearing Denied June 2, 1978.

*392 Lewis & Roca by John P. Frank, Richard W. Bowers, Phoenix, for appellant.

Treon, Warnicke, Dann & Roush, P.A. by Charles D. Roush, Carol A. Roush, Phoenix, for appellee Woodall.

Burch, Cracchiolo, Levie, Guyer & Weyl, P.A. by Daniel Cracchiolo, Phoenix, for appellee Hyder.

Stephen D. Neely, Pima County Atty. by Howard L. Baldwin, Deputy County Atty., Tucson, amicus curiae.

OPINION

FROEB, Chief Judge.

We decide in this case that a county board of supervisors may hire attorneys on its staff to render legal advice to the board and its departments and that the right to do so does not conflict with the statutory authority of the county attorney.

The majority of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Henry Haws, George L. Campbell and Hawley Atkinson (hereinafter "the Board"), brought a complaint for special action against Rhea Woodall, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors (hereinafter "the Clerk"). In it, the Board sought an order that five staff attorneys (Richard Zielinski, James G. Bond, Douglas Zimmerman, William J. Carter and Joseph A. Mayfield) be paid their salaries then being denied by the Clerk. The complaint also sought a declaration that no provision of law precluded the Board of Supervisors from hiring in-house counsel to perform advisory functions of a legal nature. Thereafter, the Maricopa County Attorney, Charles F. Hyder (hereinafter "the County Attorney") was allowed to intervene in the proceedings by filing a complaint in special action. The County Attorney sought an order enjoining the Clerk from paying the salaries of the staff attorneys. Both the Board and the County Attorney then moved for summary judgment. The motions were supported by affidavits and legal memoranda. After argument, the trial court entered judgment sustaining the position of the County Attorney and the Clerk. The operative portion of the judgment is set forth in the footnote.[1] The motion of the Board for a new *393 trial was denied. The Arizona Supreme Court declined jurisdiction in a special action brought by the Board in that court and the appeal to this court followed.

There is no dispute concerning the material facts. The staff attorneys are full-time employees of the county hired by the Board of Supervisors to perform a variety of functions which include both administrative duties and the rendition of legal advice. It is apparent from the record that very often the two functions are blended together. More particularly, the attorneys advised the Board of Supervisors and its subordinate boards and commissions on planning, zoning and building codes, on the general and statutory duties of the Board of Supervisors, on condemnation and flood control and on health and hospital matters. For purposes of this opinion, the functions and duties of the staff attorneys need not be further detailed. There is some dispute between the parties as to how long the Board of Supervisors has followed the practice of hiring staff attorneys and the precise duties which they performed. There is some indication the practice goes back to 1952; the County Attorney argues that the present system began in 1972. While a long-standing practice might in another case prove material, we do not think that it has any bearing on the legal issues decided here. It should also be pointed out that we are concerned in this case only with those legal services which do not constitute litigation. Although the judgment of the trial court prohibits the Board of Supervisors from engaging counsel for litigation purposes, the issue was not raised directly in the trial court and is not argued on appeal.

A further factual matter, which is undisputed, is that the County Attorney stands ready, willing and able to furnish to the Board of Supervisors and its departments, as well as to other agencies of the county, such legal advice and representation as may be required. Both sides have made it clear that, for the purpose of this case, there has been no failure by the County Attorney to make legal services available. By the same token, the County attorney has not consented to the employment of staff attorneys by the Board of Supervisors or to their rendition of legal advice.

The first question is jurisdictional. To vest the court with jurisdiction in an action for declaratory judgment, the complaint must set forth sufficient facts to establish that there is a justiciable controversy. Planned Parenthood Center of Tucson, Inc. v. Marks, 17 Ariz. App. 308, 497 P.2d 534 (1972). The controversy must be real and not theoretical. Moore v. Bolin, 70 Ariz. 354, 220 P.2d 850 (1950). The parties must have adverse interests.

The County Attorney contends that there is no justiciable controversy between the Board and the Clerk and that, therefore, the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the claim. In support of this contention he *394 relies upon Riley v. County of Cochise, 10 Ariz. App. 55, 455 P.2d 1005 (1969) and Riley v. County of Cochise, 10 Ariz. App. 60, 455 P.2d 1010 (1969).

In my opinion, a sufficient adverse interest to create a justiciable controversy is lacking in this case between the Board and its clerk. Were it not for the intervention of the County Attorney, the case would require dismissal.

How can the presence of the County Attorney create a justiciable controversy when the Riley cases held that the requisite adversity of interest was lacking between the board of supervisors and the county attorney? The answer lies in the specific claim made here but not in the Riley cases that the Board of Supervisors has usurped statutory powers of the County Attorney in hiring attorneys for legal advise. This is indeed a real controversy and the parties are adverse. Cf. Maricopa County v. Biaett, 21 Ariz. App. 286, 518 P.2d 1003 (1974). The County Attorney has a definite interest in the exclusive statutory right to render legal advice asserted here, and the Board of Supervisors has denied that right. The Riley cases are distinguishable inasmuch as the "difference of opinion" in those cases did not involve a determination of whether an exclusive power given one county officer had been usurped by another.

It is necessary to explain, however, how the court has jurisdiction over a case which originated without the required justiciability. The answer is that, while the case was subject to dismissal for lack of jurisdiction when the only parties were the Board and its clerk, it was not dismissed prior to the intervention of the County Attorney.

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586 P.2d 640, 120 Ariz. 391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-suprs-of-maricopa-cty-v-woodall-arizctapp-1978.