Leak v. High Point City Council, 7418SC1094

• Decision Date: 16 April 1975
• Docket Number: No. 7418SC1094,7418SC1094
• Citation: 213 S.E.2d 386,25 N.C.App. 394
• Parties: O. H. LEAK et al., Original Plaintiffs, and League of Professional Police of High Point, Inc., Intervening Plaintiffs, v. The HIGH POINT CITY COUNCIL et al., Defendants.
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals

Page 386

213 S.E.2d 386

25 N.C.App. 394

O. H. LEAK et al., Original Plaintiffs and League of Professional Police of High Point, Inc. Intervening Plaintiffs, v. The HIGH POINT CITY COUNCIL et al., Defendants.

No. 7418SC1094.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

April 16, 1975.

Chambers, Stein & Ferguson by Adam Stein, Chapel Hill, for original plaintiffs.

Morgan, Byerly, Post & Herring by W. B. Byerly, Jr., High Point, for intervening plaintiff.

Tharrington, Smith & Hargrove by Wade H. Hargrove, Roger W. Smith and Peter E. Powell, Raleigh, for defendants.

CLARK, Judge.

On 3 February 1975, after this cause had been docketed and briefs filed, the original plaintiffs filed in this Court a motion to dismiss the appeal as moot.

The defendants with their response to said motion to dismiss filed a certified copy of selected excerpts from the minutes of Council meeting on 23 October 1974, wherein the hearings were 'recessed' by the Chairman, who made the following statement: '. . . I feel that it would be some time before each of us might be able to digest the information that we might have. And I feel that maybe there's a possibility that maybe we might want to come back and ask further questions after digesting these notes. And now, I'm going to recess these hearings until further notice, and then we will have a statement to make.'

The original plaintiffs with their motion to dismiss filed a certified copy of the minutes of the Council meeting on 27 November 1974, wherein it appeared that the Council met to receive the report of the Police Investigating Committee. The report contained detailed findings of negligence, misconduct and favoritism within the police department and noted that 'we believe the City Manager's recent action in dismissing Chief Pritchett was justified.' The meeting concluded with the statement by Mayor Clapp that 'the Committee will not disband and will make their recommendations at a future time.'

The defendants' response to the motion to dismiss as moot was filed in this Court on 27 February 1975. We assume that if the Committee had conducted an investigative hearing after making its report on 27 November 1974, the counsel for defendants would have with this response appropriately informed this Court of such hearing.

It appears that the question involved in this appeal may be moot for that the Police Investigating Committee of the City Council of High Point has probably concluded its investigative hearings, though it may still exist for the purpose of making recommendation based on its hearings.

However, we do not deem it necessary to make a determination of whether the controversy has ceased to exist either from the record before us or after remanding to the Superior Court for further findings. The general rule that an appeal presenting a moot question will be dismissed is subject to some exceptions, one of which is that where the question involved is a matter of public interest the court has the duty to make a determination. 5 C.J.S. Appeal and Error § 1354(1) (1958).

This case involves the right of city councils to 'investigate the affairs of the city', to subpoena witnesses and compel the production of evidence to carry out that function as provided by G.S. §...