City of Saint Paul v. Eldredge

800 N.W.2d 643, 2011 Minn. LEXIS 450, 2011 WL 3111949
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJuly 27, 2011
DocketNo. A10-0528
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 800 N.W.2d 643 (City of Saint Paul v. Eldredge) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Saint Paul v. Eldredge, 800 N.W.2d 643, 2011 Minn. LEXIS 450, 2011 WL 3111949 (Mich. 2011).

Opinions

OPINION

ANDERSON, PAUL H., Justice.

William A. Eldredge is a firefighter employed by the City of Saint Paul. He is an honorably discharged veteran of the United States Armed Forces; therefore, the Veterans Preference Act (VPA) provides that Eldredge may not be removed from his job as a firefighter except for incompetency or misconduct shown after a hearing. In 2009, the City notified Eldredge that it [645]*645intended to terminate his employment. Eldredge challenged the termination under the VPA before the Saint Paul Civil Service Commission, which granted summary disposition in Eldredge’s favor. The City sought judicial review by petitioning for and securing the issuance of a writ of certiorari from the Ramsey County District Court. On Eldredge’s motion, the court dismissed the writ after concluding that the City had missed the filing deadline for appeals under the VPA. The City appealed. The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed, concluding that the VPA deadline does not apply to appeals brought by employers. We affirm.

Respondent, the City of Saint Paul, hired appellant William A. Eldredge as a firefighter in 1994. In 2004, the City placed Eldredge on light duty because of a medical condition that affected his eyesight. In 2006, the City notified Eldredge that it was terminating his employment because he was unable to perform the duties of a firefighter. As an honorably discharged veteran of the United States Armed Forces, Eldredge is entitled to the protections and procedures of the Veterans Preference Act (VPA), codified at Minn.Stat. § 197.46 (2010). After receiving the notice of termination from the City, Eldredge requested a hearing under the VPA. The matter was heard before the Saint Paul Civil Service Commission. El-dredge testified before the Commission that, because of his vision, he had difficulty reading but not with “chopping, pulling, finding, searching.” In December 2007, after the hearing, the Commission concluded that the City’s evidence was insufficient to establish that Eldredge could not perform his job duties and the Commission overturned the City’s intended termination of Eldredge.

In February 2009, the City again notified Eldredge that it intended to terminate his employment because he could not perform firefighting duties. For a second time, Eldredge requested a hearing under the VPA before the Saint Paul Civil Service Commission and also moved for summary disposition. By order dated July 31, 2009, the Commission granted Eldredge’s motion for summary disposition after determining that the facts underlying El-dredge’s employment had not changed since the Commission’s 2007 decision to overturn the City’s first attempted termination. On September 18, 2009, the City, acting pursuant to Minn.Stat. § 484.01 (2010), petitioned the Ramsey County District Court requesting the issuance of a writ of certiorari in order to obtain judicial review of the Commission’s decision.

The district court issued a writ of certio-rari on September 22, 2009. The writ was issued within the 60-day deadline set by section 484.01, subdivision 2, for parties to secure issuance of a writ in order to obtain review of the decision of a civil service commission. Eldredge filed a motion to dismiss, asserting that the City’s appeal petition was untimely because the VPA provided only 15 days for appeals, whether sought by the veteran or the employer. Eldredge based his motion generally on Minn. R. Civ. P. 12 and argued by analogy to Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.03, which allows a district court to enter judgment on the pleadings in a civil action after the pleadings are closed.

The district court granted Eldredge’s motion but did not cite any Rule of Civil Procedure in its order. Rather, the court held that the deadline set out in the VPA applied to the City’s appeal and relied on our decision in Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency v. Schrader, 394 N.W.2d 796, 802 (Minn.1986). In Schrader, we stated that “both the veteran and the employer may appeal” from the decision of a hearing board in a VPA proceed[646]*646ing. Id. The court then dismissed the City’s appeal in this case as untimely on the ground that the City did not meet the appeal deadline provided in the VPA.

The City appealed, and the court of appeals reversed. City of St. Paul v. Eldredge, 788 N.W.2d 522, 529 (Minn.App. 2010). The court of appeals held that the district court erred when it applied the 15-day VPA appeal deadline and not the 60-day deadline contained in section 484.01, subdivision 2. Eldredge, 788 N.W.2d at 529. In reaching its decision, the court of appeals construed the plain language of the VPA, which grants to veterans a right of appeal to the district court but does not mention a right of appeal for employers. Eldredge, 788 N.W.2d at 525. The court of appeals concluded that section 484.01, subdivision 2, applies to this case because subdivision 2 expressly provides authority to a district court to review the final decision of a civil service commission. Eldredge, 788 N.W.2d at 526.

The court of appeals concluded that Eldredge and the district court were wrong to rely on Schrader to establish that the VPA governs the employer’s right to appeal. Eldredge, 788 N.W.2d at 527. The court of appeals noted that the employer in Schrader secured judicial review through a writ of certiorari. Eldredge, 788 N.W.2d at 526. The court of appeals stated that we granted review in Schrader in order to resolve questions about the scope of authority of certain hearing boards under the VPA, not to consider any question related to when an appeal must be filed. Eldredge, 788 N.W.2d at 527. The court of appeals concluded that the City’s appeal was timely because the City had complied with the 60-day deadline to secure a writ of certiorari under section 484.01, subdivision 2, and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings on the writ. Eldredge, 788 N.W.2d at 529. We granted Eldredge’s petition for further review.

This appeal raises a question about the appellate jurisdiction of the district courts. It involves a review of both the Minnesota Constitution, which states that the district courts “shall have appellate jurisdiction as prescribed by law,” Minn. Const, art. VI, § 3, and Minn.Stat. § 484.01, subd. 1, which grants appellate jurisdiction to the district courts “in every case in which an appeal thereto is allowed by law from any other court, officer, or body.” We have held that jurisdiction is a question of law, which we review de novo. In re Civil Commitment of Giem, 742 N.W.2d 422, 425-26 (Minn.2007). To decide the jurisdictional question in this case, we must construe the VPA and section 484.01, subdivision 2. Statutory construction is a legal issue subject to de novo review. Krummenacher v. City of Minnetonka, 783 N.W.2d 721, 726 (Minn.2010); Brua v. Minn. Joint Underwriting Ass’n, 778 N.W.2d 294, 300 (Minn.2010).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
800 N.W.2d 643, 2011 Minn. LEXIS 450, 2011 WL 3111949, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-saint-paul-v-eldredge-minn-2011.