Mauboules v. Louisiana Wild Life & Fisheries Commission

312 So. 2d 899, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3728
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 19, 1975
DocketNo. 10234
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 312 So. 2d 899 (Mauboules v. Louisiana Wild Life & Fisheries Commission) 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
Mauboules v. Louisiana Wild Life & Fisheries Commission, 312 So. 2d 899, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3728 (La. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

BARNETTE, Judge.

Preston Mauboules, an employee of Louisiana Wild Life and Fisheries Commission since 1956, was dismissed from his classified position of Investigator III effective February 6, 1974. He was notified of his dismissal by letter dated January 31, 1974. On appeal to the Civil Service Commission and after a hearing thereon the action of the Director of the Commission in dismissing him was upheld with written reason. He has appealed and now seeks reversal of the Commission and reinstatement to his former position of employment with payment of salary from date of discharge.

The letter dated January 31, 1974 notifying him of dismissal and enumerating the charges against him is as follows:

“Pursuant to the authority contained in Civil Service Rule 12.3 you are hereby advised that you will be separated from your position as Investigator III effective at the close of business, Wednesday, February 6, 1974.
“You are being separated because of the following offenses:
“1. Failure to follow my specific written orders provided by letter of April 12, 1973.
a. After reviewing your Duty and Cost Reports for the months of November 1972, December 1972, January 1973, February 1973, and March 1973 and your requests for sick leave for an unspecified period of time during January 1973 and February 1973, I felt it necessary to return all of them to you. A xerox copy of my above referenced letter is attached; as of this date, I have not received an answer to this letter.
“2. Abandonment of a State owned automobile, assigned to you by the Wild Life and Fisheries Commission for your use in the accomplishment of your official duties, for a period of time sufficient to render it inoperable to such extent that it was necessary for the Com[901]*901mission to employ a wrecker service March 1, 1973 to tow it away from the rear of the imperial House Motor Hotel in the 3400 block of Causeway Boulevard.
“3. Abandonment of your position from April 1, 1973 to the present. Not only did you fail to resubmit your Duty and Cost Reports for the months cited in Offense # 1 above, you have not submitted a Duty and Cost Report since April 1, 1973, nor have you contacted me by any means since that time.”

The letter of April 12, 1973 to which the above letter made reference is as follows:

“Mr. Preston Mauboules
P.O. Box 52589
New Orleans, Louisiana 70150
Dear Mr. Mauboules:
T am returning: your duty and cost reports and your sick leave applications in order that you may complete each of them.
As you know it is required that you show daily mileage, gas and oil tickets and any other expenditures on the state-owned vehicle. I also note that you show license No. 12 X 032 and records reflect that you should have public license plate 20643.
The sick leave applications must show the number of hours of sick leave each month. 1 also desire that you furnish me with a report of all investigations conducted during this period indicated on your time sheets.
You will forward a copy of this report to Mike L. Hogan, Chief of the Enforcement Division.
Expecting to hear from you in the immediate future, I remain
Yours very truly,
/s/ J. Burton Angelic J. Burton Angelic Director”

Every classified civil service employee has a right of appeal of an order of dismissal to the appropriate Civil Service Commission, (in this case the State Civil Service Commission) and failing there to obtain a reversal or modification of the order of removal, an appeal to the appropriate Circuit Court of Appeal. La.Const. (1921) Art. 14, Sec. 15(0) (1), and Art. 7, Sec. 29 as amended (1958).

The appellate jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal shall be on both the law and the facts ‘‘except zvhere the appeal- is limited to questions of lazv only by any other Section of this Constitution.” La.Const. (1921) Art. 7, Sec. 29. The exception in regard to appeals from decisions of Civil Service Commissions is found in La.Const. (1921) Art. 14, Sec. 15(O) (1) in the following language:

“ * * * The decision of the appropriate Civil Service Commission shall be final on the facts, but an appeal shall be granted * * * [to the appropriate Court of Appeal] on any question of law * * * t’

There have been numerous decisions by our appellate courts in which the above quoted exception has been applied and it would serve no useful purpose to indulge in a lengthy reference to the many cases to be found on the subject.

The jurisprudential guidelines controlling appeals of this nature are firmly established to the effect that the findings of fact of the Civil Service Commission are binding on the Court when supported by any evidence, and the Court may not substitute its conclusion on the facts for that of the Commission. Tt has been held that only where there is no evidence to support the ruling of the Commission, the Court may reverse its decision. We cite only a few of the many cases applying this principle of law. Leggett v. Northwestern State College, 242 La. 927, 140 So.2d 5 (1962); Bennett v. Division of Administration, 307 So.2d 118 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1974); Biggio v. Department of Safety [902]*902and Permits, 299 So.2d 504 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1974) ; Cortez v. Department of Public Safety, Division of State Police, 292 So.2d 876 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1974); Floyd v. Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, 283 So.2d 537 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1973); Morris v. State Department of Highways, 274 So.2d 924 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1973) ; Bryant v. Division of State Buildings and Grounds, 264 So.2d 678 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1972); Ragusa v. Department of Public Safety Division of State Police, 238 So.2d 193 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1970), writ refused, 256 La. 885, 239 So.2d 542; Bradford v. Department of Hospitals, 222 So.2d 891 (La.App., 1st Cir. 1969), reversed on other grounds, 255 La. 888, 233 So.2d 553 (1970).

In this case the Commission found that the charge of abandonment of a State owned automobile was not supported by the evidence and that the denial of that charge should be sustained.

The Commission found as a fact that the orders communicated by the April 12, 1973 letter were not complied with. More particularly the Commission found:

“From April 12, 1973, up until the time of the hearing on this appeal, [August 7, 1974] appellant had not furnished the appointing authority the correct duty and cost reports with supporting data for the months of November and December, 1972, and January, February and March, 1973. Nor did he return the sick leave applications with the information requested in the April 12 letter. Nor did he furnish the Director or Chief of the Enforcement Division with reports of the investigations he had conducted and at the times indicated on the Duty and Cost Sheets of November, 1972 through March, 1973.”

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Related

Johnson v. Department of Finance
354 So. 2d 766 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1978)
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339 So. 2d 539 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
312 So. 2d 899, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3728, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mauboules-v-louisiana-wild-life-fisheries-commission-lactapp-1975.