Falke, Application of

• Decision Date: 19 April 1962
• Parties: Application of Joseph A. FALKE, Petitioner, for an order to compel Armand D'Angelo, Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, and George E. Riley, Jeremiah P. Sullivan, John D. O'Connell, Herbert Lippmann, Carlton E. Schaad, Edwin S. Guilford and John Doris, constituting the Electrical Licensing Board of the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity of the City of New York, Respondents, to reissue to Petitioner his Master Electricians License which Petitioner was required to surrender to the then Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity for temporary suspension during the period of employment of Petitionery by the City of New York as an Electrical Inspector in the Department of Water Supply, Gas & Electricity of said City of New York.
• Court: New York Supreme Court

Page 890

228 N.Y.S.2d 890

34 Misc.2d 744

Application of Joseph A. FALKE, Petitioner, for an order to

compel Armand D'Angelo, Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas

and Electricity, and George E. Riley, Jeremiah P. Sullivan,

John D. O'Connell, Herbert Lippmann, Carlton E. Schaad,

Edwin S. Guilford and John Doris, constituting the

Electrical Licensing Board of the Department of Water

Supply, Gas and Electricity of the City of New York,

Respondents, to reissue to Petitioner his Master

Electricians License which Petitioner was required to

surrender to the then Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas and

Electricity for temporary suspension during the period of

employment of Petitionery by the City of New York as an

Electrical Inspector in the Department of Water Supply, Gas

& Electricity of said City of New York.

Supreme Court, Special Term, New York County, Part I.

April 19, 1962.

Meyer Alterman, New York City, for petitioner.

Leo A. Larkin, Corp. Counsel, for respondents.

SAMUEL M. GOLD, Justice.

In this article 78 proceeding, petitioner seeks an order requiring respondents to reissue to him his Master Electrician License without the necessity of his taking another written examination therefor. Petitioner originally voluntarily surrendered his license in 1923, when he was appointed an Electrical Inspector for the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity. His claim is that he did so on the specific understanding that the license was to be restored without examination, upon termination of his employment with the Department. A letter from the then Chairman of the License Board to petitioner offers some proof in substantiation of this position. Moreover, petitioner contends that it was the custom, practice and usage at that time--and thereafter--for licenses to be surrendered for voluntary suspension during city employment, with the proviso that they would be re-effectuated or reissued without examination when such employment ended. Some substantiation of this position is offered by the fact that in 1939 a written regulation of the License Board was promulgated, which embodied the custom and practice which petitioner claims had been in effect regarding surrendered or suspended licenses. Furthermore, in 1957, this regulation became statutory law, further demonstrating its continued usage and applicability (Administrative Code of the City of New York, § B30-16 .0).

Respondents, in opposition, allege that in 1923 there was no written regulation or statute...