Earley v. Landsidle

• Decision Date: 26 February 1999
• Docket Number: Record No. 981552.
• Citation: 514 S.E.2d 153,257 Va. 365
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: Mark L. EARLEY, Attorney General of Virginia v. William E. LANDSIDLE, Comptroller of Virginia.

514 S.E.2d 153

257 Va. 365

Mark L. EARLEY, Attorney General of Virginia v. William E. LANDSIDLE, Comptroller of Virginia.

Record No. 981552.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

February 26, 1999.

Francis S. Ferguson, Deputy Attorney General (Mark L. Earley, Attorney General; Randolph A. Beales, Chief Deputy Attorney General; James Hopper, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Gregory E. Lucyk, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Raymond L. Doggett, Jr., Assistant Attorney General; Richard S. Schweiker, Jr., Assistant Attorney General; Barbara Vann, Assistant Attorney General, on brief), for petitioner.

William G. Broaddus (McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe, on brief), Richmond, for respondent.

Daniel R. Ortiz, Charlottesville (R. Claire Guthrie; E.M. Miller, Jr., Richmond, on brief), for Bruce F. Jamerson, Clerk, Virginia House of Delegates and Susan Clarke Schaar, Clerk, Senate of Virginia.

Present: All the Justices.

KEENAN, Justice.

This is an original petition for a writ of mandamus brought by the Attorney General of Virginia, Mark L. Earley, under the provisions of Code § 8.01-653. The issue before us is whether to grant a motion to dismiss the Attorney General's motion to join as parties Bruce F. Jamerson, Clerk, Virginia House of Delegates, and Susan Clarke Schaar, Clerk, Senate of Virginia (the Clerks). The Clerks assert in their motion to dismiss, among other things, that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to consider the Attorney General's petition.

The Comptroller of Virginia, William E. Landsidle, notified the Attorney General by letter dated July 1, 1998, that he entertained doubt concerning the constitutionality of two spending provisions enacted by the General Assembly as part of the Commonwealth's 1998-2000 Biennial Budget (the 1998 Budget). 1998 Va. Acts of Assembly, ch. 464; 1998 Va. Acts of Assembly, Special Session, ch. 1. The Comptroller questioned Item 1A6 of the 1998 Budget, which increased the so-called "per diem" paid to legislators for legislative activities involving the discharge of their duties when the General Assembly is not in session from $100 to $200. The Comptroller also questioned Item 1A8, which increased the legislators' monthly allowance for office expenses and supplies from $750 to $1250.

The Comptroller stated that his doubt was based on Article IV, § 5 of the Constitution of Virginia (the Constitution), which provides that an increase in salary for a given legislator shall not take effect until after the end of the legislative term for which the legislator was elected. As directed by Code § 8.01-653, the Comptroller informed the Attorney General that he would not make payments for these items at the new levels authorized in the 1998 Budget until the constitutionality of those items had been adjudicated by this Court. However, the Comptroller stated that he would continue to make payments for those items at the levels authorized before the 1998 Budget was enacted.

In July 1998, the Attorney General filed with this Court the present petition for writ of mandamus naming the Comptroller as party defendant. The Attorney General asked this Court to declare unconstitutional the increased payment levels authorized in Items 1A6 and 1A8 of the 1998 Budget, which became effective before the end of the present term of the members of the General Assembly. The Attorney General requested that this Court direct the Comptroller to continue to make payment for these items at the previously authorized levels until the next term of the General Assembly begins in January 2000, and, thereafter, to make payment at the increased levels fixed in the 1998 Budget.

The Attorney General later filed a motion to join the Clerks as additional parties defendant. The Attorney General alleged that the Clerks "have responsibilities in conjunction with the payments called into question in this action, and therefore, have a direct and substantial interest in the issues" before the Court. The Clerks have moved to dismiss the Attorney General's motion to join them as additional parties.

The Clerks assert that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear the petition for a writ of mandamus because Code § 8.01-653 requires the Attorney General to defend the constitutionality of spending provisions challenged by the Comptroller. The Clerks also contend that they are not proper parties under Code § 8.01-653 because the statute only permits joinder of additional parties defendant who stand in the same position as the Comptroller and might be involved in implementing the challenged spending provisions. The Clerks argue that the Attorney General and the Comptroller essentially are "two respondents in search of a petitioner," and that Code § 8.01-653 does not permit the joinder of additional parties to furnish someone to oppose the Comptroller.

In response, the Attorney General contends that § 8.01-653 is a remedial statute that must be construed liberally to accomplish its purpose of permitting prompt judicial review of "questionable" appropriations of public funds. The Attorney General asserts that when he believes that a spending provision is unconstitutional, he is obligated to challenge its constitutionality by filing a petition for writ of mandamus under Code § 8.01-653, and that he may seek the joinder of additional defendants to argue in support of the challenged provision. He argues that the present petition properly seeks an affirmative order directing the Comptroller to make payments under the challenged provisions after the next term of the General Assembly convenes in January 2000. We disagree with the Attorney General's arguments.

Mandamus is an extraordinary remedy that may be used to compel public officers to perform their ministerial duties. Town of Front Royal v. Front Royal & Warren County Indus. Park, Corp., 248 Va. 581, 584, 449 S.E.2d 794, 796 (1994); Williams v. Matthews, 248 Va. 277, 281, 448 S.E.2d 625, 627 (1994); Morrissette v. McGinniss, 246 Va. 378, 382, 436 S.E.2d 433, 435 (1993). When a public official has failed to perform his ministerial duty at a time required by law, mandamus will lie to compel the discharge of such duty within a reasonable time after issuance of the writ. Andrews v. Shepherd, 201 Va. 412, 416, 111 S.E.2d 279, 282 (1959); Moore v. Pullem, 150 Va. 174, 198, 142 S.E. 415, 422 (1928).

Code § 8.01-653 authorizes this Court to consider a petition for a writ of mandamus in the particular circumstances detailed in the statute. Under basic rules of statutory construction, we examine the statute in its entirety, rather than by isolating particular words or phrases. Ragan v. Woodcroft Village Apartments, 255 Va. 322, 325, 497 S.E.2d 740, 742 (1998); Buonocore v. C & P Tel. Co., 254 Va. 469, 472-73, 492 S.E.2d 439, 441 (1997). The legislature's intent must be determined from the words used, unless a literal construction of the statute would yield an absurd result. Ragan, 255 Va. at 325-26, 497 S.E.2d at 742; Abbott v. Willey, 253 Va. 88, 91, 479 S.E.2d 528, 530 (1997); Barr v. Town & Country Properties, Inc., 240 Va. 292, 295, 396 S.E.2d 672, 674 (1990). Therefore, when the language in a statute is clear and unambiguous, the courts are bound by the plain meaning of that language. Harrison & Bates, Inc. v. Featherstone Assoc., 253 Va. 364, 368, 484 S.E.2d 883,...