Villemarette v. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, ETC.

129 So. 2d 835
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 10, 1961
Docket5215
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 129 So. 2d 835 (Villemarette v. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, ETC.) 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
Villemarette v. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, ETC., 129 So. 2d 835 (La. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

129 So.2d 835 (1961)

Anthony A. VILLEMARETTE
v.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, DIVISION OF STATE POLICE.

No. 5215.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

April 10, 1961.
Rehearing Denied May 22, 1961.
Certiorari Denied June 29, 1961.

*836 Gravel, Sheffield & Fuhrer, Alexandria, for appellant.

Louis S. Quinn, Baton Rouge, for appellee.

Before ELLIS, LOTTINGER, JONES, HERGET and LANDRY, JJ.

JONES, Judge.

Plaintiff, who was a Sergeant in the Division of State Police, was transferred from Troop E, Alexandria, Louisiana, to Troop I, Lafayette, Louisiana, on August 2, 1956, by order of the Superintendent of State Police. Alleging that he was discriminated against, he filed an appeal dated August 27, 1956 to the Civil Service Commission. Subsequently, on October 31, 1956, he received an order of removal from the Superintendent from his position with the Division of State Police, and on November 2, 1956, he appealed from this order of removal, alleging that his dismissal was for political reasons. The two appeals were consolidated for the purpose of trial by the Commission and the matter was duly tried on December 17, 1956. From a ruling of the Commission holding that both his transfer and dismissal were proper, he appealed to the Supreme Court and that court, under the provisions of Article VII, Section 30, of the Louisiana Constitution, as amended by Act No. 593 of the Acts of the State of Louisiana for the year 1960, adopted by the electorate November 8, 1960, LSA-Const., transferred the case to this court.

Article XIV, Section 15(O) (1), Louisiana Constitution of 1921 provides that the State Civil Service Commission has the exclusive right to hear and decide all appeals and the legality of all removal and disciplinary cases and further provides that the decision of the Commission shall be final on the facts and limits the appeal to this court to a question of law. This court is without authority to examine the weight or sufficiency of the evidence where there is some evidence to support the findings of the Commission. Konen v. New Orleans Police Department, 226 La. 739, 77 So.2d 24; Jordan v. New Orleans Police Department, 232 La. 926, 95 So.2d 607; King v. Department of Public Safety of State of Louisiana, 236 La. 602, 108 So.2d 524.

Since the two appeals were consolidated for trial before the Civil Service Commission, we will accordingly consider both of them in this opinion, the first being number 173, having to do with the appointing authority transferring the plaintiff-employee from one geographical area to another. The Commission set forth in its opinion that Rule 8.16(c) of the rules of the Commission recognizes the right of the appointing authority to change the duty station of any permanent employee from one area in the State to another and that there was no rule requiring that an employee be given written reasons for such action. Further, that the right of appeal arises only when *837 the employee alleges that he was discriminated against or subjected to disciplinary action for political reasons. (Rule 13.10 (a) and (b))

Accordingly, since the Commission was of the opinion that the employee had no right of appeal from a mere change of duty station, it dismissed the appeal number 173. We are of the opinion that this dismissal was correct for the reasons stated by the Commission and, as a matter of fact, this point is not urged in plaintiff's brief.

We will next consider appeal number 200 before the Commission. On October 31, 1956, the appointing authority advised the plaintiff that he was separated and removed from his position as Sergeant with the Division of State Police at the close of business October 31, 1956, for the following reasons:

(1) That after his transfer to Lafayette, he arbitrarily refused and neglected to perform such duties ordered by said order of the transfer in violation of the Manual of Rules and Regulations of the Division of State Police, especially Section 7, Subsection 3, thereof.[1]

(2) That on October 25, 1956 he was ordered by letter to report to Troop E Headquarters in Alexandria, Louisiana, on Tuesday, October 30, at 10:00 a. m., to be furnished transportation for the purpose of transporting him to the State Police Headquarters in Baton Rouge, in order that he might undergo a physical examination to be given by the Division's physician, and that he arbitrarily refused to comply with said order without good cause, all in violation of Section 7, Sub-section 3 of the Manual of the Rules and Regulations of the Division of State Police.

(3) That on numerous occasions he was ordered to report to a basic course of instruction at the State Police Training School and that due to declaration of physical inability, he refused and neglected to attend said Training School.

(4) That due to his frequent absence from duty because of alleged illnesses and because of alleged inability to comply with orders of the Superintendent of State Police because of an alleged physical disability, which allegations of physical disability, if true, rendered him physically unable to perform the duties demanded of a Sergeant or as a member of the State Police in any capacity.

Included in this charge were the number of days sick leave taken by the plaintiff from August of 1954 to October of 1956, which was shown to be fifty-seven in number. Also included in the charge was that he had accumulated no working time during the month of October and that he was absent from duty the whole of said month. In answer to the charges, the plaintiff, by letter dated November 2, 1956, alleged that his dismissal was purely for political reasons and that he was discriminated against because of politics. He further alleged that the reasons stated in the letter of discharge were false and untrue and, further, that his appeal to the Commission in the first instance in connection with his transfer was one of the real reasons for his dismissal.

Plaintiff filed pleas of prescription and vagueness to the charges contained in paragraph 3 to the effect that he failed to report for his course of instruction at the State Police Training School but this charge was abandoned at the time of the Civil Service hearing as well as charge number 1 to the effect that he arbitrarily refused and neglected to perform his duties at Lafayette, Louisiana, as a result of the order of transfer. The two charges heard by the Commission were numbers 2 and 4, as outlined *838 above. On the second and fourth charges, the Commission found as follows:

"On the second charge, the evidence establishes that appellant chose to accept the advice of his private physician over the orders of his employer. He says that he relied on his physician to notify his employer that he would not report for the scheduled physical examination. Appellant was not so incapacitated as to be incapable of giving the notice himself. His physician had ordered him to rest from work and recommended against his going to Baton Rouge for the examination, because from the doctor's personal viewpoint and medical standpoint, the examination was needless, appellant having just finished a thorough examination. Neither appellant nor his physician gave advance notice that appellant would not report for the examination.
"On the fourth charge the evidence is plain that appellant was incapacitated by illness from full and constant performance of his duties.

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Bluebook (online)
129 So. 2d 835, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/villemarette-v-department-of-public-safety-etc-lactapp-1961.