State ex rel. Harris v. Haynes

157 Ohio St. (N.S.) 214
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 19, 1952
DocketNo. 32498
StatusPublished

This text of 157 Ohio St. (N.S.) 214 (State ex rel. Harris v. Haynes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Harris v. Haynes, 157 Ohio St. (N.S.) 214 (Ohio 1952).

Opinion

Taft, J.

The relator contends that, because his 15-day suspension in January was void, he did not have the full three-month probationary period provided for by Section 486-13, General Code, and therefore could not be dismissed from office as chief of police except pursuant to Sections 486-17 and 486-17a, General Code.

He contends further that, if it should be held that he did have an opportunity to serve his full three-month probationary period, then the end of that probationary period was February 5 and thereafter the mayor could not dismiss him as chief of police, as he endeavored to do on February 7, without following the procedure provided for in Sections 486-17 and 486-17a, General Code.

As we view the law applicable to this case, it is not necessary for this court to determine whether the efforts made by Mayor Haynes to suspend relator in January for 15 days,did or did not represent a void suspension. Likewise, we do not believe it is neces[219]*219sary to determine whether, as contended by relator, the three-month probationary period was only 90 days and not the 93 days included in the period of three months running from and including November 9, 1950, to and not including February 8, 1951.

Section 486-13, General Code, provides so far as material in this case:

“All original and promotional appointments shall be for a probationary period of not to exceed three months to be fixed by the rules of the commission, and no appointment or promotion shall be deemed finally made until the appointee has satisfactorily served his probationary period. At the end of the probationary period the appointing officer shall transmit to the commission a record of the employee’s service, and if such service is unsatisfactory, the employee may, ivith the approval of the commission, be removed or reduced without restriction; but dismissal or reduction may be made during such period as is provided for in Sections 486-17 and 486-17a of the General Code.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Section 486-17, General Code, provides so far as material in this case:

“* * * No chief of police or chief of a fire department or any member of a police or fire department shall be reduced in rank, laid off, or suspended, except as provided in Sections 486-17a and 486-17b of the General Code with reference to the removal of any officer, employee or subordinate in the classified service of the state, counties, cities and city school districts.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Section 486-17a, General Code, provides so far as material in this case:

“In all cases of removal the appointing authority shall furnish such employee or subordinate with a copy of the order of removal and his reasons for the [220]*220same, and give such officer, employee or subordinate a reasonable time in which to make and file an explanation. Such order with the explanation, if any, of the employee or subordinate shall be filed with the commission. Any such employee or subordinate so removed may appeal from the decision of order of such appointing authority to the state or municipal commission, as the case may be, within ten days from and after the date of such removal, in which event the commission shall forthwith notify the appointing authority and shall hear, or appoint a trial board to hear, such appeal within thirty days from and after its filing with the commission, and it may affirm, disaffirm or modify the judgment of the appointing authority, and the commission’s decision shall be final-, provided, however, that in the case of the removal of a chief of police or chief of the fire department or any member of the police or fire departments of a municipality an appeal may be had from the decision of the.municipal commission to the Court of Common Pleas of the county in which such municipality is situated to determine the sufficiency of the cause of removal. Such appeal shall be taken within ten days from the finding of the commission.” (Emphasis supplied.)

Much reliance is placed by relator upon State, ex rel. Brittain, v. Board of Agriculture, 95 Ohio St., 276, 116 N. E., 459. It is sufficient to state that in his letter of February 7 Mayor Haynes did state what purport to be reasons for his order of removal while “no reason whatever” was stated in the order of removal in the Brittain case.

In the instant case, the mayor furnished Harris a .copy of what purports to be an “order of removal and his reasons for the same” when he gave him a copy of the letter of February 7. Thereafter, Harris promptly appealed to the commission from that order [221]*221by filing his motions with the commission. When the commission rendered its order of February 15, it certainly rendered a decision which appeared upon its face to be final so far as it affirmed the judgment of the mayor in terminating the services of Harris as chief of police. Thereafter, if, as relator contends, the provisions of Sections 486-17 and 486-17a, General Code, were applicable, those statutes certainly gave Harris a right of appeal from that decision of the commission to the Court of Common Pleas. In re Fortune, 138 Ohio St., 385, 35 N. E. (2d), 442. In our opinion, the remedy made available to him by that statute was an adequate remedy. See State, ex rel. Sidell, v. Cole, Dir., 147 Ohio St., 203, 206, 70 N. E. (2d), 451. Having had such a remedy, whether he exercised it or not, Harris cannot now have the extraordinary remedy of mandamus in this court to secure the same rights which he could have secured by appeal to the Common Pleas Court. See State, ex rel. Bassichis, v. Zangerle, Aud., 126 Ohio St., 118, 184 N. E., 289; State, ex rel. Blackburn, v. Court of Appeals, 154 Ohio St., 464, 96 N. E. (2d), 297.

However, relator argues that the February decision of the commission overruled relator’s motion for a hearing to test the February 7 action of Mayor Haynes, and that, therefore, there was nothing from which relator could have appealed to the Common Pleas Court. In support of this argument, relator contends that “the ‘decision’ of the commission only becomes an appealable final order when that ‘decision’ was the one contemplated by exact words of the statute, i. e., that decision after the commission ‘shall hear’ or have a ‘trial’ board hear the removal question,” and that a necessary step in the procedure of the commission is notification to “the appointing authority that it is going to have a hearing. ’ ’ As relator recognizes, this [222]*222amounts to an argument that the Common Pleas Court upon appeal cannot review legal questions “such as denial of a hearing by the commission.” In support of this, relator relies on the provision of Section 486-17a, General Code, that the “appeal * * * to the Court of Common Pleas” is “to determine the sufficiency of the cause of removal.” We are of the opinion that the words of the statute do not justify any such narrow scope being given to the court appeal therein provided for. See State, ex rel., v. Cole, supra, 206, and Gannon v. Gallagher, Dir.,

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Related

State Ex Rel. Bassichis v. Zangerle
184 N.E. 289 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1933)
State Ex Rel. Artman v. McDonough
4 N.E.2d 982 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1936)
State Ex Rel. Sidell v. Cole
70 N.E.2d 451 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1946)
State v. Cabc
96 N.E.2d 297 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1951)
State Ex Rel. White v. City of Cleveland
5 N.E.2d 331 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1936)
State Ex Rel. Curtis v. DeCorps
16 N.E.2d 459 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1938)
Gannon v. Gallagher
60 N.E.2d 660 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1945)
Hawkins v. City of Steubenville
17 N.E.2d 641 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1938)
Kearns v. Sherrill
30 N.E.2d 805 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1940)
Fortune v. Civil Service Commission
35 N.E.2d 442 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1941)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
157 Ohio St. (N.S.) 214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-harris-v-haynes-ohio-1952.