Linton v. Bossier City Mun. Fire & Pol. Bd.

428 So. 2d 515
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 22, 1983
Docket15196-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 428 So. 2d 515 (Linton v. Bossier City Mun. Fire & Pol. Bd.) 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
Linton v. Bossier City Mun. Fire & Pol. Bd., 428 So. 2d 515 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

428 So.2d 515 (1983)

Michael W. LINTON, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
BOSSIER CITY MUNICIPAL FIRE AND POLICE CIVIL SERVICE BOARD, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 15196-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

February 22, 1983.
Rehearing Denied April 7, 1983.

Fayard & Snell by A.R. Snell, Bossier City, for plaintiff-appellant.

DeLaune, Blondeau & Hall by Harvey P. DeLaune, Bossier City, for defendant-appellee.

Before JASPER E. JONES, SEXTON and NORRIS, JJ.

SEXTON, Judge.

Appellant was fired from his job as a Bossier City policeman by the Bossier Mayor, and appealed his dismissal to the Bossier City Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board (Board) which affirmed the appellant's *516 firing. Appellant subsequently appealed the Board's decision to the District Court, which upheld the Board's affirmance of his discharge. We concur with the Bossier Mayor, the Civil Service Board and the District Court and find that appellant was fired for legal cause. We therefore affirm.

Appellant in the instant proceeding is Michael W. Linton, who joined the Bossier City Police Department in 1973, and was terminated from his position as a Bossier City policeman on November 11, 1977, by the Mayor of Bossier City, Marvin E. Anding. Appellant appealed his dismissal to the Board, and by a written decision rendered March 17, 1978, the Board upheld Mr. Linton's discharge and denied his reinstatement to the force. Appellant appealed the Board's affirmance of his dismissal to the Twenty-Sixth Judicial District Court of Bossier Parish, which upheld the Board's affirmance in an opinion submitted July 24, 1980.

Appellant subsequently appealed the District Court's affirmance to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the trial court's judgment on wholly procedural grounds. The Second Circuit found that the Civil Service Board—which considered Mr. Linton's appeal from his dismissal—had affirmed his discharge by a legally insufficient vote, with two members favoring reinstatement and two members voting to uphold the Mayor's dismissal of Mr. Linton.[1] The Court accordingly remanded Mr. Linton's civil service appeal, mandating that he be given a rehearing by the Board in conformance with the applicable statutory requirements. Linton v. Bossier City Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service Board, 402 So.2d 716 (La.App.2d Cir.1981).

On remand from the Second Circuit, the Board on December 7, 1981, once again affirmed Mr. Linton's dismissal from the Bossier City Police Department—this time by a legally sufficient vote of three to two. Mr. Linton appealed this adverse administrative determination to the Twenty-Sixth Judicial District Court, which—on July 21, 1982—again upheld the Board's affirmance of Mr. Linton's dismissal.

Constitutional and statutory provisions clearly delineate the substantive grounds which justify the dismissal of civil service employees, and the procedural rights of civil employees threatened by such a dismissal. LSA-R.S. 33:2500 provides that civil employees may be discharged or subjected to disciplinary sanctions for any of fifteen statutorily stipulated reasons, including the following:

"(1) Unwillingness or failure to perform the duties of [one's] position in a satisfactory manner.
....
(3) The commission or omission of any act to the prejudice of the departmental service or contrary to the public interest or policy.
(4) Insubordination.
(5) Conduct of a discourteous or wantonly offensive nature toward the public, any municipal officer or employee; and, any dishonest, disgraceful, or immoral conduct.
....
(15) Any other act or failure to act which the board deems sufficient to show the offender to be an unsuitable or unfit person to be employed in the respective service."[2]

*517 These statutory grounds for the removal of a civil employee have been juridically construed to describe any conduct on the part of the public employee which substantially detracts from, or impairs the efficiency of, the public service department by which the employee is employed. Dumez v. Houma Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service Board, 408 So.2d 403 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1981); Dept. of Public Safety v. Rigby, 401 So.2d 1017 (La.App. 1st Cir.1981); McIntosh v. Monroe Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board, 389 So.2d 410 (La.App. 2d Cir.1980); Legros v. Dept. of Public Safety, 364 So.2d 162 (La.App. 1st Cir.1978).

The civil service employee disciplined or dismissed is statutorily entitled to a written statement of reasons explaining the disciplinary action taken against him. La. Const. Art. 10, § 8(A) (1974). LSA-R.S. 33:2500(D). Moreover, a civil service employee discharged by the appointing authority may appeal his dismissal to the Civil Service Board within 15 days of such dismissal. LSA-R.S. 33:2501. The board must hold a hearing within 30 days of the receipt of the employee's written request for an appeal. Id. Such hearings are to be informally conducted, and both the employee and the appointing authority must be *518 allowed to appear with or without counsel to present evidence concerning the justification for the dismissal. Id.

LSA-R.S. 33:2501 sets out the standard of administrative review that Civil Service Boards are to employ in scrutinizing disciplinary actions taken by the appointing authority against civil servants. The disciplinary action is to be upheld if it is taken in good faith and for one of the fifteen causes delineated in LSA-R.S. 33:2500 as grounds for disciplinary action.[3] The disciplinary action is to be vacated by the Civil Service Board if it is not established that the action of the appointing authority was taken in good faith and for a cause enunciated in LSA-R.S. 33:2500.

On appeal to the Civil Service Board, "The burden of proof ... as to the facts, shall be on the appointing authority," La. Const. Art. 10, § 8(A) (1974), and the board may only affirm the appointing authority's disciplinary action "if the evidence is conclusive." LSA-R.S. 33:2501. However, the appointing authority is not required to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, but merely by a preponderance. Newman v. Dept. of Fire, 413 So.2d 225 (La.App. 4th Cir.1982); Herbert v. Dept. of Police, 362 So.2d 1190 (La.App. 4th Cir.1978).

Any employee or appointing authority dissatisfied with the determination of the Board, may appeal its decree directly to the district "court of original and unlimited jurisdiction in civil suits in the parish wherein the board is domiciled." LSA-R.S. 33:2501. This statutory right of judicial review, while granting to an employee or appointing authority the right to an appeal, does not require a trial de novo. Bland v. City of Houma, 264 So.2d 729 (La.App. 1st Cir.1972). The decisional standard employed by the District Court is the same as that employed by the Civil Service Board: the appointing authority's disciplinary action will not be disturbed if taken in good faith and for a cause set forth in LSA-R.S. 33:2500. LSA-R.S. 33:2501. However, the courts employ a deferential approach in reviewing administrative determinations of the Civil Service Board. Thus, the Board's factual findings will be upheld if there is any evidence to support them,[4] and will not be judicially overturned unless manifestly erroneous[5] or arbitrary and capricious.[6]

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Bluebook (online)
428 So. 2d 515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/linton-v-bossier-city-mun-fire-pol-bd-lactapp-1983.