Gibbons v. Finley, 5808
| Decision Date | 12 July 1954 |
| Docket Number | No. 5808,5808 |
| Citation | 272 P.2d 610,77 Ariz. 391 |
| Parties | GIBBONS et al. v. FINLEY. |
| Court | Arizona Supreme Court |
William C. Eliot, City Atty., Fred F. Bockmon, Asst. City Atty., Phoenix, for appellants.
Parker & Muecke, Phoenix, for appellee.
All dates hereinafter mentioned refer to the year 1951. In March, the city council of Phoenix adopted ordinance No. 5713 setting up a new administrative code for the administration of the city government. In the ordinance it is provided that there shall be a police department organized in four divisions, each of which to be headed by a police captain. On May 25th, the civil service board of the city of Phoenix (hereinafter referred to as the board) set up a new classification plan covering all positions in the classified civil service. Included was a classification for position of police captain and police lieutenant. On May 29th, the city council passed ordinance S-27, to be effective July 1, adopting the classification plan theretofore set up by the board.
Prior to the establishment and effective date of the new plan there existed the position of police captain but there was no designation or classification of the position of police lieutenant. In the new plan the designation of police lieutenant agrees substantially with what was formerly the designation of police captain, and the new designation of captain was given different and additional duties to those formerly imposed on captains.
The record is not clear concerning the exact number holding the rank of captain on the effective date of the new plan, but it does appear there were at least seven including one Woodrow Wilson and one Richard E. Finley, appellee herein, the latter being seventh in seniority according to their respective dates of appointment. As well as can be gleaned from the record, five of these officers holding seniority over appellee were retained as captains under the new plan, one of whom was assigned to the Public Works department as traffic engineer, while Wilson and Finley were retained as lieutenants. Thereafter, pursuant to petition filed with the board, these latter two men claimed they had been demoted because of having been allocated to the classification of lieutenant. At a hearing on the petition the board by motion declared the classification of police lieutenant in the new classification plan was equivalent to the classification of captain of police in the old classification plan and directed that a promotional examination be held to fill the positions of police captain under the new plan. Thereafter, in August, the board by motion rescinded its former action requiring promotional examination and declared that five of the officers formerly holding position of captain and holding seniority over Wilson and Finley qualified as captain under the new plan.
On December 1st, the board granted the petition of Wilson and Finley and directed they be restored to the position of captain of police. Three days later, on December 4th, but effective December 1st, the chief of police served on appellee Finley a notice that he was laid off from the position of police captain and returned to the rank of police lieutenant due to lack of work in the police captain classification. This action of the chief was approved by the city manager. Appellee appealed to the board for reinstatement to the position of captain and being denied relief, secured from the superior court of Maricopa County a writ of certiorari. After hearing upon return made of the record of the proceedings and action of the board, the superior court rendered judgment setting aside the order of the board denying petitioner's request for reinstatement.
From this judgment the board appeals and requests this court to rule that the superior court erred in setting aside its order refusing reinstatement of appellee for the reason the record submitted by the return to the writ shows that the board had jurisdiction to enter the order in question. In support of this position the board contends that since it had authority to hear matters of this character and to make decisions thereon, it had jurisdiction and power to make the order in question and since certiorari can only be used to test jurisdiction, appellee must fail to get the relief granted by the superior court. It is contended that since the board had the power to hold the hearing and receive evidence concerning the matter at issue, this court on review by certiorari cannot go into the evidence to determine the correctness of the board's judgment thereon.
It is true that, according to the statute, A.C.A.1939, sections 28-101 and 28-104, and our...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Stant v. City of Maricopa Emp. Merit Bd.
...action as ground for relief). In such a review, a court does not reweigh the evidence or resolve conflicts in it. Gibbons v. Finley, 77 Ariz. 391, 394, 272 P.2d 610, 612 (1954). The court's review involves questions of law subject to our independent review. See Ayala v. Hill, 136 Ariz. 88, ......
-
Mueller v. City of Phoenix ex rel. Phoenix Bd. of Adjustment II
...cannot create jurisdiction by finding a fact upon which its jurisdiction depends without evidence in support thereof. Gibbons v. Finley, 77 Ariz. 391, 272 P.2d 610. Thus the sufficiency of evidence is properly reviewable on certiorari in determining whether jurisdictional facts were proved.......
-
Walker v. Dunham, 5828
...The most it will do is review the same to determine whether there is any evidence to sustain the finding of the board. Gibbons v. Finley, 77 Ariz. 391, 272 P.2d 610. Several disinterested witnesses testified to observing officers Walker and Hill unmercifully beat and kick the prisoner, Manu......