Krasnoff v. City of New Orleans

209 So. 2d 149, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 5072
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 8, 1968
DocketNo. 3021
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 209 So. 2d 149 (Krasnoff v. City of New Orleans) 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.

Bluebook
Krasnoff v. City of New Orleans, 209 So. 2d 149, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 5072 (La. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

CHASEZ, Judge.

This is an appeal from a decision of the Civil Service Commission of the City of New Orleans which denies plaintiff Sanford Krasnoff’s application for a hearing before that agency. The plaintiff seeks a reversal of this decision which states he lacks standing before the Civil Service Commission. The commission reasoned that because his voluntary resignation from the New Orleans Police Department was accepted and approved before his application to the commission was ever received that he had no standing to voice an appeal. Plaintiff now avers in his argument before this court that his resignation was simply a subterfuge which was intended to force his employer, the New Orleans Police Department, to act on a prior ap[150]*150plication for a leave of absence. Although the resignation was submitted as authentic in every respect to his employer, he referred to it as a “phony resignation” in his application to the Civil Service Commission.

The question which is posed for our determination involves the validity of the alleged “phony resignation” and its effect on his standing to appear before that agency. The controversy may be reduced to two questions of law. Was the resignation valid? If so, does an employee who has voluntarily resigned have standing to air his complaints before the Civil Service Commission ?

The facts from which this controversy has arisen constitute one of the more unusual series of events we have ever encountered in an appeal of this sort. Briefly the plaintiff’s case developed as follows: The plaintiff was employed as a Field Sergeant with the Police Department assigned to the First District Police Station. On the night of March 10, 1967 Sergeant Krasnoff was injured while investigating an accident which he had observed on his way home from his normal duty shift at the First District Station. The accident involved two automobiles on Interstate 10 Expressway under foggy weather conditions which had limited visibility to approximately 150 feet. Noting these dangerous conditions and the fact that the driver of one of the automobiles was bleeding severely, Sergeant Krasnoff, who was still in his uniform, stopped to render assistance. During the course of this investigation, the plaintiff was injured when the driver of a third automobile collided with the plaintiff’s automobile. Although the emergency lights of the plaintiff’s vehicle were blinking as a warning to approaching vehicles, the driver of the third automobile apparently did not see them in time to stop.

The injuries Sergeant Krasnoff received kept him from returning to his normal duties with the Police Department for a period of approximately two months. During this period the Police Department carried the plaintiff on their records as on sick leave which was exhausted in fifteen days. They then placed him on furlough which exhausted his accumulated vacation time and finally carried him as sick without pay until the time he resigned his employment. Sergeant Krasnoff contends both in his appeal to the Civil Service Commission and to this court that he should rightfully have been carried as “injured on duty” rather than under the other, less beneficial categories of absence. Krasnoff based his complaint to the Civil Service Commission on the fact that he was not listed as “injured on duty” when he was in fact acting as a policeman investigating an automobile collision while still in uniform even though he had terminated his official duties for the evening. While we think Sergeant Krasnoff’s activities are highly commendable, and furthermore we wish in no way to discourage off-duty policemen from accepting the responsibility that a dangerous accident situation demands, the legal question is concerned simply with the effect of his resignation on the appeal he filed with the Civil Service Commission. Therefore, while we are sympathetic to Sergeant Krasnoff’s cause as his complaint originally arose, we must confine ourselves to the legal problem as it is presented to us. See La.Const. of 1921, Art. 14, § 15(0) (1).

The first question we must face is whether his. resignation should be accepted as valid or is it a “phony resignation” as the plaintiff alleges in his appeal. As stated earlier plaintiff’s alleged “phony resignation” was only referred to as such in his correspondence with the Civil Service Commission. His employer, to whom the resignation was directed had no indication that the plaintiff’s intent to resign was anything other than bona fide. Indeed the letter of resignation dated May 9, 1967 was offered and approved by his employer before the Civil Service Commission received any notice that it was to be con[151]*151sidered as a “phony resignation”. The letter as submitted can be taken only as the true expression of the plaintiff’s intent. This letter as reproduced below can mean but one thing, and an oral withdrawal after the resignation was accepted cannot now revoke his intent to resign. The full text of the letter is as follows:

“Department of Police 2700 Tulane Avenue New Orleans, Louisiana

TO : Joseph I. Giarrusso Superintendent of Police

FROM : Sergeant Sanford Krasnoff Assigned First District

VIA : Major John J. Spann, Jr. Supervisor, Patrol Bureau

SUBJECT: ■ Resignation

“I would respectfully submit my resignation from the New Orleans Police Department, effective this date.

“However, this resignation is to be withdrawn if my request for Leave of Absence is granted.

“Said request for Leave of Absence was submitted on April 14, 1967, and as of this date, no answer to same has been received by myself.

(Stamped) APPROVED

/s/ Capt. A. Ragusa 5-9-67 Bureau Districts Date

(Notation written in longhand): Leave of absence not approved because of the shortage of personnel.

/s/ Sanford Krasnoff Sanford Krasnoff Sergeant, First District

(Stamped) APPROVED J. J, Spann, Jr._ Bureau Districts

,/s/ Jos. I. Giarrusso 5-9-67 Superintendent of Police”

Thus at the time the resignation was submitted to Superintendent Giarrusso, there was no written nor oral reservation of his intention to resign made either to the police department or the Civil Service Commission. The Superintendent saw fit to approve the resignation as submitted, and we find no reason to rule it invalid because the plaintiff now claims that he intended it to be phony. The written resignation speaks for itself, and the plaintiff should not be able to revoke its terms by his untimely denial that it was bona fide.

The second question posed for our consideration is whether one who has volun[152]*152tarily resigned his position in the classified service has a right to appeal his canse to the Civil Service Commission. The problem arises logically that if one has resigned his position and is not due immediate reinstatement, what relief is available through the course of a hearing? The Civil Service Law as originally formulated in the Louisiana Constitution and further defined by the statutes grants the right of appeal, the pertinent constitutional provisions being as follows:

“(O) (1) Appeals; jurisdiction; decision; judicial review. There is vested in the State Civil Service Commission and in the appropriate Civil Service Commissions for the several cities respectively the exclusive right to hear and decide all appeals and the legality of all removal and disciplinary cases.

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Related

Badeaux v. Department of Police
363 So. 2d 1238 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1978)

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Bluebook (online)
209 So. 2d 149, 1968 La. App. LEXIS 5072, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/krasnoff-v-city-of-new-orleans-lactapp-1968.