Cotrell v. Division of Housing & Neighborhood Development

830 So. 2d 1083, 2002 La.App. 4 Cir. 0816, 2002 La. App. LEXIS 3233, 2002 WL 31414090
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 16, 2002
DocketNo. 2002-CA-0816
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 830 So. 2d 1083 (Cotrell v. Division of Housing & Neighborhood Development) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Cotrell v. Division of Housing & Neighborhood Development, 830 So. 2d 1083, 2002 La.App. 4 Cir. 0816, 2002 La. App. LEXIS 3233, 2002 WL 31414090 (La. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

JjBYRNES, Chief Judge.'

The appellants, Elias Cotrell, Randolph Scott, Pierre Curry, Pamela Davis, Lawrence Parker and William Severin, appeal a decision of the Civil Service Commission rendered on March 5, 2002. The appointing authority-defendant is the Division of Housing and Neighborhood Development, hereinafter referred to sometimes as the “DHND.”

On November 20, 1997, the Civil Service Commission ordered a hearing to gather evidence regarding the following issues:

[1084]*10841. Whether the appellants were unlawfully transferred without good reason and against their will from one appointing authority to another in violation of Civil Service Rules;
2. Whether the functions of the former positions of the appellants were assigned to unclassified employees in violation of civil service rules.

The Civil Service Commission ruled against the appellants on both of these issues. The appellants appealed directly to this Court. The Civil Service Commission filed an exception to the jurisdiction of this Court on the grounds that the appellants should have first appealed to the District Court. Appellants invoke the jurisdiction of this Court pursuant to La. Const. Art. X, § 8, Appeals, which provides that:

12(A) Disciplinary Actions. No person who has gained permanent status in the classified state or city service shall be subjected to disciplinary action except for cause expressed in writing. A classified employee subjected to such disciplinary action shall have the right of appeal to the appropriate commission pursuant to Section 12 of this part....
(B) Discrimination. No classified employee shall be discriminated against because of his political or religious beliefs, sex, or race. A classified employee so discriminated against shall have the right of appeal to the appropriate commission pursuant to Section 12 of this Part....

As may be seen from the La. Const. Art. X, § 8, the appellate rights referred to relate only to disciplinary actions and discrimination actions. Those appeals are governed by La. Const. Art. 10, § 12, referred to in boldface above, which provides that the appeals shall be to the Court of Appeal. However, it is uncontested that the instant does not involve either disciplinary actions or discrimination actions.

On the other hand it would appear that the City Civil Service Commission is not covered by the Administrative Procedure Act, La. R.S. 49:950, et. seq. The definition of “Agency” found in La. R.S. 49:951(2) is limited to state agencies and would not include the City Civil Service Commission. George v. Department of Fire, 93-2421, p. 8 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/17/94), 637 So.2d 1097, 1103. Appellants argue that this means that the provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act dictating that appeals be made first to the district court do not apply to the instant case. We stand by our statement in George that the Administrative Procedures Act does not apply to the City Civil Service Commission, but that statement must be viewed in the context in which it was made. The action in George was an |3appeal from a disciplinary decision of the Civil Service Commission and, as already noted above, the Louisiana Constitution specifically provides for direct appeal to this court from such disciplinary decisions. La. Const. Art. X, § 8 and La. Const. Art. 10, § 12. Additionally, the question before this Court in George was whether the City Civil Service Commission had to conform to the hearing and notice requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act. This Court decided that the answer to that question was “no,” but the question of whether there is a right of direct appeal to this Court from the decisions of the City Civil Service Commission was not before this Court in George; and that is an entirely different issue.

However, in a more recent case this Court dismissed an appeal from a City Civil Service Commission, holding that: “Because this court has no jurisdiction over the appeal, it is dismissed.” Carbonnet v. Department of Civil Service, 97-1187, p. 2 (La.App. 4 Cir. 1/28/98), 706 [1085]*1085So.2d 1063. This Court concluded with the statement that:

Parenthetically1 we note that appellants’ request to sit in the exam became moot when the exam was over. Their alternative request for a hearing was granted so they have nothing to complain about. Their sole remedy is to apply to sit for the next captain’s examination. They cannot sit for the one that took place.
“In any event, appellants in their own brief state that this court’s jurisdiction is based upon Art X, § 12(B) of the Constitution'. That section applies only to “removal and disciplinary cases.” Appellants argue that it is a disciplinary case but it is not. It is an appeal from an administrative decision of the Commission concerning the conduct of a promotional test.
Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed.

Id., p. 3, 706 So.2d at 1064.

The appellants contend that this Court’s holding in Carbonnet was based on the mootness of the plaintiffs case, and not on lack of jurisdiction because of the administrative, non-disciplinary nature of the action of the City Civil Service Commission. However, appellants’ contention flies in the face of this Court’s characterization in Carbonnet of its reference to the mootness of the case as being parenthetical only, and the fact that, more significantly, at the outset of the opinion this court states that it is dismissing the case for lack of jurisdiction.

Accordingly, we find that Carbonnet relates much more directly to the precise issue before this court in the instant case than does George and, therefore, is the only case of any direct persuasive authority on this issue.

The appellants cite Rules and communications from the City Civil Service Commission instructing them to appeal to this Court in support of their contention. These Rules and communications do not have the power to confer appellate jurisdiction on this Court.

Appellants make a stronger argument by reference to La. Const. Art. 5, § 16(B) which sets forth the appellate jurisdiction of the district courts as follows: “A district court shall have appellate jurisdiction as provided by law.” The City Civil Service Commission has referred this Court to no specific law conferring appellate jurisdiction on the district court for non-disciplinary, non-diseriminatory decisions of the City Civil Service Commission, except the Administrative Procedures Act, which this Court determined in George to be inapplicable.

La. Const. Art. 5, § 10(A) defines the jurisdiction of appellate courts , as follows:

IsExcept as otherwise provided by this constitution, a court of appeal has appellate jurisdiction of (1) all civil matters, including direct review of administrative agency determinations in worker’s compensation matters as heretofore or hereafter provided by law, (2) all matters appealed from family and juvenile courts, and (3) all criminal cases triable by a jury, except as provided in Section 5, Paragraph (D)(2) of this Article. It has supervisory jurisdiction over cases which arise within its circuit.

This constitutional definition of appellate court jurisdiction provides no definitive answer to the question before us. ■ Because La. Const.

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Related

Cotrell v. DIV. OF HOUS. AND NEIGHBOR. DEV.
830 So. 2d 1083 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
830 So. 2d 1083, 2002 La.App. 4 Cir. 0816, 2002 La. App. LEXIS 3233, 2002 WL 31414090, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cotrell-v-division-of-housing-neighborhood-development-lactapp-2002.