California Teachers Assn. v. State of California

• Citation: 84 Cal.Rptr.2d 425,975 P.2d 622,20 Cal.4th 327
• Decision Date: 10 May 1999
• Docket Number: No. S067030,S067030
• Parties: , 975 P.2d 622 CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. STATE OF CALIFORNIA et al., Defendants and Appellants
• Court: California Supreme Court

Page 425

84 Cal.Rptr.2d 425

20 Cal.4th 327, 975 P.2d 622

CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION et al., Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. STATE OF CALIFORNIA et al., Defendants and Appellants.

No. S067030.

Supreme Court of California

May 10, 1999.

Daniel E. Lungren and Bill Lockyer, Attorneys General, Floyd D. Shimomura, Assistant Attorney General, Linda A. Cabatic, Michelle Gluck, Eileen Gray and Karen Leaf, Deputy Attorneys General, for Defendants and Appellants.

Susan E. Diedrich and John L. Bukey, Corona, for the Education Legal Alliance as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Appellants.

Tuttle & McCloskey, Ernest H. Tuttle III, Kay M. Tuttle and Daniel T. McCloskey, Fresno, for Plaintiffs and Respondents.

Catherine I. Hanson and Astrid G. Meghrigian, San Francisco, for California Medical Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiffs and Respondents.

GEORGE, C.J.

Education Code section 44944, subdivision (e), provides that whenever a teacher exercises his or her constitutional right to request a hearing regarding a threatened suspension or dismissal, but ultimately does not prevail at the hearing, the teacher is required to pay to the state one-half the cost of the administrative law judge. This cost is imposed in every case in which the teacher ultimately is suspended or dismissed, even if the teacher reasonably and in good faith has challenged the district's disciplinary action, and even if the teacher has prevailed on some of the district's charges. A teacher also is liable for this cost where the hearing results in a decision that the teacher should not be suspended or dismissed but where the favorable decision at the administrative hearing ultimately is reversed on judicial review.

We agree with the trial court and Court of Appeal that this cost provision is unconstitutional. The imposition upon such a teacher of the open-ended cost of the adjudicator conflicts with the centuries-old common law tradition that the salaries of judges are to be borne by the state, and not by the litigants. By its terms, the cost provision at issue in the present case -- which is not limited to frivolous hearing requests but applies whenever the teacher ultimately is suspended or dismissed, without regard to the reasonableness of the teacher's position -- advances no legitimate governmental interest. Furthermore, the state interest that is claimed to be advanced by this cost provision does not justify the risk of error posed by the provision, because substitute procedures limiting the imposition of costs to teachers engaging in frivolous tactics would conserve public resources while safeguarding the substantial liberty and property interests at stake in these proceedings.

I

Plaintiff Gary Daloyan is a permanent teacher employed by a public school district in San Joaquin County. The district notified plaintiff of its intent to dismiss him for evident unfitness for service and immoral conduct. (Ed.Code, § 44932 [specifying causes for dismissal of permanent teachers].) ¹ The charge of immoral conduct, based upon allegations that plaintiff engaged in inappropriate verbal exchanges with students, permitted the district to suspend plaintiff immediately without pay. (§ 44939.) Plaintiff timely demanded a hearing, thus requiring the district either to rescind its action or to schedule a hearing. (§ 44943.)

Hearings to determine whether permanent public school teachers should be dismissed or suspended are held before the Commission Following a 13-day hearing, the Commission unanimously determined that the district had failed to prove its charge that plaintiff engaged in immoral conduct, but also concluded that the district had proved plaintiff evidently was unfit for service. Based on the latter charge, the Commission determined that plaintiff should be dismissed. Neither plaintiff nor the district sought judicial review of the Commission's decision. (§ 44945.)

on Professional Competence (Commission) -- a three-member administrative tribunal consisting of one credentialed teacher chosen by the school board, a second credentialed teacher chosen by the teacher facing dismissal or suspension, and "an administrative law judge of the Office of Administrative Hearings who shall be chairperson and a voting member of the commission and shall be responsible for assuring that the legal rights of the parties are protected at the hearing." (§ 44944, subd. (b).) The Commission's decision is deemed to be the final decision of the district's governing board. (§ 44944, subd. (c).)

After his dismissal, the Department of General Services billed plaintiff for $7,747.97, representing half the cost of the administrative hearing, including the cost of the administrative law judge, as specified in section 44944, subdivision (e) (hereafter section 44944(e)). ² Plaintiff did not pay this bill, and subsequently he was notified that his state income tax refunds would be offset against the debt. Plaintiff and the California Teachers Association petitioned the superior court for a writ of mandate to compel the state Controller not to offset the refund against the debt. The complaint alleges that the offset is for a debt imposed under a facially invalid statute that places an undue burden upon plaintiff's due process right to a hearing intended to determine whether he should lose his property interest in continued employment. The superior court determined that the cost provision in section 44944(e) is unconstitutional on its face and issued the writ.

In a divided decision, the Court of Appeal affirmed. The majority opinion reasoned that the district affirmatively was attempting to strip plaintiff of his property interest, and that the hearing before the Commission was the only effective means of resolving the dispute. Unlike litigants who seek state-paid assistance in presenting a claim (such as that provided by appointed counsel or investigative funds), the teacher in this case was subject to a substantial monetary obligation simply for obtaining the due process hearing itself, for which there was no alternative. The obligation is open-ended, because the teacher has little or no control over the length or complexity of the hearing. The law has no provision for abatement of all or part of the costs based upon financial considerations, and no provision for apportionment or abatement if the teacher prevails in part. Finally, the imposition upon the teacher of costs including the cost of the adjudicator does not require any conduct on the part of the teacher that might be considered sanctionable, such as frivolous or bad faith conduct.

Accordingly, the Court of Appeal held that the cost provision placed too great a burden upon the exercise of the right to due process. The court also concluded that the state has no legitimate interest in denying a teacher a meaningful opportunity to be heard before termination -- no matter how meritless the teacher's defense may prove to be. The dissenting opinion emphasized that plaintiff did receive a hearing and that the record reveals nothing regarding his financial condition, and concluded that the hearing costs are neither arbitrary nor unlimited because they are directly related to the cost of the proceeding.

We granted the Controller's petition for review.

II

"As [the United States Supreme] Court has stated from its first due process cases, traditional practice provides a touchstone for constitutional analysis. [Citations.]" (Honda Motor Co. v. Oberg (1994) 512 U.S. 415, 430, 114 S.Ct. 2331, 129 L.Ed.2d 336.) Thus, in considering whether section 44944(e) satisfies constitutional requirements, it is important to recognize that its provision requiring any dismissed or suspended teacher who requests a hearing to pay half the cost of the hearing officer or adjudicator provided by the state is unique and virtually unprecedented.

The first state constitutions following the American Revolution abolished the fee system of the colonial courts and provided that judges instead should receive fixed salaries. (Pound, Organization of Courts (1940) pp. 156, 193.) As one federal appellate court recently stated with regard to the vindication of statutory rights: "[W]e are unaware of any situation in American jurisprudence in which a beneficiary of a federal statute has been required to pay for the services of the judge assigned to hear her or his case." (Cole v. Burns Intern. Security Services (D.C.Cir.1997) 105 F.3d 1465, 1484 (Cole ).) Even in England, where the government's cost of providing civil courts is funded primarily by litigant fees, and the losing party automatically must pay the prevailing party's costs and attorney fees, judges' salaries are paid from public funds. (Jackson, The Machinery of Justice in England (6th ed.1972) pp. 413-420.)

Litigants may be required to pay fixed, incidental court fees that indirectly subsidize the cost of judges, such as filing fees. (E.g., Gov.Code, §§ 26820-26863.) Fees or penalties that are contingent upon the outcome of the case, however, are examined closely to ensure that the parties are not deprived of a disinterested and impartial adjudicator. (Tumey v. Ohio (1927) 273 U.S. 510, 531-532, 47 S.Ct. 437, 71 L.Ed. 749.) Prevailing parties in civil litigation also may recover from their adversaries various costs of litigation, but these costs never have included the cost of judges. (See Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1032, 1033.5.)

The established tradition of the public funding of judicial compensation undoubtedly arises from the central role of our judicial system in society. "Perhaps no characteristic of an organized and cohesive society is more fundamental than its erection and enforcement of a system of rules defining the various rights and duties of its members, enabling them to govern their affairs and definitively settle their differences in an orderly, predictable manner. Without such a 'legal system,' social organization and cohesion are virtually impossible;...