Adkins v. Leach

• Decision Date: 21 May 1971
• Citation: 17 Cal.App.3d 771,95 Cal.Rptr. 61
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: Bobby ADKINS on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. William LEACH as Monterey County Director of Welfare et al., Defendants and Respondents. Civ. 28152.

Page 61

95 Cal.Rptr. 61

17 Cal.App.3d 771

Bobby ADKINS on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. William LEACH as Monterey County Director of Welfare et al., Defendants and Respondents.

Civ. 28152.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 1, California.

May 21, 1971.

Maurice Jourdane, Salinas, for appellant.

William H. Stoffers, County Counsel of the County of Monterey, John O. Thornberry, Asst. County Counsel, Salinas, for respondents.

ELKINGTON, Associate Justice.

Plaintiff Bobby Adkins, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, filed an action 'for injunction and declaration (sic) relief' against the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, the county welfare department, and certain officials of that department. A general demurrer to his amended complaint was sustained after which a judgment of dismissal of the action was entered. The appeal is from the judgment.

The amended complaint purports to state three causes of action, the separate statements of which are not exemplary. We interpret its allegations as follows.

COUNT ONE:

Adkins, 'a disabled father,' with his family of four left his home in Kansas, destined for California. He arrived in Monterey County without funds or available living quarters, and with a short supply of food. He promptly contacted the county welfare department and, informing that agency of his needy circumstances, applied for 'Aid to Families with Dependent Children' (see Welf. & Inst.Code, §§ 11200--11507), which application was accepted and thereafter processed. He also applied for general relief covering his immediate needs, i.e., food vouchers and rent assistance. ¹

The application for general relief was denied. He 'was told that he could receive a food voucher only after he could give the department an address of a dwelling at which he was residing.' He was also told 'that he could receive rent assistance only if he could find a vacant dwelling and a landlord who would accept payment a month or two after the outset of the tenancy with the possibility he would not get any money if the tenant was not eligible for Categorical Aid, * * *' Adkins then commenced a search within the county for such a dwelling and landlord. He met with no success; payment of rent in advance was uniformly required. He reported his failure to the welfare office and repeated his request for immediate general relief. The request was again denied, for the reason previously given. Thus Adkins and his family were in a position of frustration where they could obtain no relief until they had a county residence, and they could acquire no county residence until they were furnished relief. As a result, he alleges, his family and 'all others similarly situated' were and 'are compelled to live in the streets and cannot obtain food,' and have suffered and are suffering irreparable injury. ² Defendants 'have thus adopted an emergency relief system that does not give relief. In so doing, they have failed to perform the obligation imposed upon them by Welfare and Institutions Code Section 17000. * * *'

The relief sought as to Count One is 'an order declaring that the present food voucher and deferred rent systems do not fulfill defendant Supervisors' duty under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 17000.)'

COUNT TWO:

Generally the allegations of Count One are here incorporated. In addition it is alleged: 'California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 17001 imposes upon the defendant Board of Supervisors the duty to promulgate regulations to set standards of assistance granted pursuant to Section 17000. ( ) Said defendants have not fulfilled the obligation imposed by Section 17001, in that no regulations delineating the type or amount of assistance, the conditions upon which it will be granted, nor the procedure pursuant to which the program is to be carried out have been promulgated. ( ) As a result of such failure, a determination of whether plaintiff and the class he represents are to receive aid and how such aid, if any, is granted, is left to the whim and fancy of nonsupervisorial discretion, denying plaintiff and the class he represents the right to have standards for eligibility and procedures for dispensation of general relief set and determined by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors.'

The relief sought as to Court Two is 'an order compelling defendant Board of Supervisors to promulgate regulations as required by Welfare and Institutions Code section 17001.'

COUNT THREE:

Generally the allegations of Counts One and Two are incorporated in Count Three. Additionally, the following is alleged: 'As a result of defendant Board of Supervisor's failure to promulgate rules pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code Section 17001, rules governing the Monterey County general relief program have been adopted by others without public hearing, and are changed from time to time, as the Welfare Department desires. As a result, plaintiff, and the class he represents, is deprived of Due Process of Law as guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.'

The relief sought as to Count Three is 'an order prohibiting defendant Welfare Department from enacting and enforcing general relief regulations not adopted by defendant Board of Supervisors.'

In each of the three counts of the amended complaint Adkins alleges: 'This cause of action is brought by plaintiff, Bobby Adkins, on his own behalf and on behalf of all other general relief applicants. There are common questions of law and fact concerning his rights and those of all other general relief applicants. The class is so numerous that joinder by all the members is impractical. The representative party will fairly and adequately protect the interest of the class. The claims of the representative are typical of the class.'

The defendants demurred to the amended complaint on the following grounds: '(I) That the complaint fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause, or causes, of action. (2) That the court has no jurisdiction of the subject of the action, in that there is no real controversy or dispute between the parties. (3) That there is a misjoinder of parties plaintiff, in that the plaintiffs designated as 'all others similarly situated' are not members of an ascertainable class of persons and do not have a common or general interest in this litigation.'

The demurrer was sustained by the trial court on the single stated ground 'not class action--not ascertainable.'

The following sections of the Welfare and Institutions Code are pertinent to this appeal.

Section 17000: 'Every county and every city and county shall relieve and support all incompetent, poor, indigent persons, and those incapacitated by age, disease, or accident, lawfully resident therein, when such persons are not supported and relieved by their relatives or friends, by their own means, or by state hospitals or other state or private institutions.' ³

Section 17001: 'The board of supervisors of each county, or the agency authorized by county charter, shall adopt standards of aid and care for the indigent and dependent poor of the county or city and county, * * *'

Section 17006: 'The board of supervisors of every county as a board, or by committee or by such person or society as it may authorize, shall investigate every application for relief from the funds of the county, * * *'

The sustaining of defendant's general demurrer to the amended complaint was proper only if each of its three counts did not state a cause of action. (See Lord v. Garland, 27 Cal.2d 840, 850, 168 P.2d 5.) Of course, if the general demurrer should have been sustained on any ground, the reason stated therefor by the court is immaterial. And the allegations of the amended complaint, for the purposes of demurrer must be deemed true. (Kenworthy v. Brown, 248 Cal.App.2d 298, 300, 56 Cal.Rptr. 461.)

We choose first to consider Counts Two and Three and whether a proper representative or class action is stated therein.

Adkins' argument with respect to these counts may be summarized in this manner. The law, section 17000, requires a county to render general aid to the class of persons therein described. Section 17001 mandates the county supervisors to 'adopt standards' under which such aid is rendered. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors has not (as alleged in the amended complaint) adopted standards under which aid is to be given to (or withheld from) the persons described in section 17000. Instead, such standards were adopted by the county welfare department, or some other 'non-supervisorial' body or person unknown. ⁴ He, Adkins, is one of the persons described in section 17000, and is therefore entitled to have his eligibility for aid determined by standards adopted by the board of supervisors. And 'all other similarly situated,' i.e., persons desiring county aid who are described in section 17000, are equally entitled to have their right to aid determined by supervisorially adopted standards.

The basic authority in this state for the maintenance of class actions is Code of Civil Procedure section 382 which, as pertinent, provides that 'when the question is one of a common or general interest, of many persons, or when the parties are numerous, and it is impracticable to bring them all before the Court, one or more may sue or defend for the benefit of all.'

The California Supreme Court in Daar v. Yellow Cab Co., 67 Cal.2d 695, 704, 63 Cal.Rptr. 724, 731, 433 P.2d 732, 739, has collected relevant authority and restated the circumstances under which such actions are permissible. The court says that 'two requirements must be met in order to sustain any class action: (1) there must be an ascertainable class (citations); and (2) there must be a well defined community of interest in the questions of law and fact involved affecting the parties to be represented. (Citations.)'

In the case at bench it must...