Title: King v. Dept. of Public Safety of the State of Louisiana

State: louisiana

Issuer: Louisiana Supreme Court

Document:

108 So. 2d 524 (1959) 236 La. 602 Alva A. KING v. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. No. 44217. Supreme Court of Louisiana. January 12, 1959. Rehearing Denied February 16, 1959. *525 Cadwallader & Perkins, Baton Rouge, for appellant. N. Cleburn Dalton, Baton Rouge, for appellee. PONDER, Justice. This is an appeal by Alva A. King from his dismissal as Drivers License Administrator in the Department of Public Safety. On March 1, 1957, the Director of the Department of Public Safety addressed a letter to appellant notifying him that effective March 7, 1957, he was being dismissed for eight detailed reasons set out in the letter. After trial the Civil Service Commission sustained appellant's discharge on two of the eight charges. On appeal to this Court, we remanded the case to the Civil Service Commission for a hearing consistent with the views expressed in King v. Department of Public Safety, 234 La. 409, 100 So. 2d 217. It was the basis of the opinion of this Court in that case that the Commission had arbitrarily refused to hear evidence tending to show political motivation for the dismissal of the appellant. On remand the Commission heard the evidence on political motivation and found that "the suggestion that the action of appellant's employing authority was founded on an unexpressed illegal cause is without a fragment of substance." The Commission pointed out that the testimony of appellant's own witnesses refutes the charge that his employing authority acted with malice or under political pressure. In the letter of dismissal, the appellant was charged: As to the charges and causes for dismissal the Commission concluded: On appeal to this Court, appellant contends that the evidence does not justify or support the penalty of dismissal and to impose the extreme penalty of discharge is so inequitable, arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable as to disclose a wanton abuse of the discretion vested in the Civil Service Commission; that the findings of fact by the Commission on charges Nos. 1 and 4 do not constitute acts of a substantial nature directly affecting the public interest; that the Commission's conclusion of law on charge No. 4 violated the concept of the "classification plan" provided for in Section 15(I)(b), Article 14 of the Constitution and Chapter 5, Rules 5.1-5.6 of the Civil Service Rules; that the evidence at the two hearings preponderantly shows that the appointing authority would not have taken the disciplinary action of dismissing appellant except for political reasons or prejudices; that the Commissions' conclusions of law are inconsistent with the charges made in No. 1 and No. 4; that the findings of fact do not support the allegations of charge No. 4. Suffice it to say, without categorically answering the contentions of appellant, there is evidence in the record to support the charges and there is no evidence of political motivation. The contention that the charges were not substantial is without merit and the reasons given by the Commission in its findings quoted heretofore are well founded, viz.: that the insubordination is substantial enough to support dismissal. There is no merit in the contention that the punishment is inequitable since the insubordination is of such a nature that it is highly detrimental to the efficiency of the service. This Court held in Cottingham v. Department of Revenue, State of Louisiana, 232 La. 546, 94 So. 2d 662, that where there is a real and substantial relation between the assigned cause for dismissal and the qualification for the position, the sufficiency of the cause assigned for dismissal is a question of fact which the Civil Service Commission has the exclusive right to determine. Where the decision of the Commission is based on evidence, the court may not consider the weight or sufficiency of the evidence. Konen v. New Orleans Police Department, 226 La. 739, 77 So. 2d 24; Domas v. Division of Employment Security of Department of Labor, 227 La. 490, 79 So. 2d 857. The attorney for the Department of Public Safety cogently answered appellant's complaints urged against charge No. 4 in his brief, viz.: We conclude that the decision of the Commission was not arbitrary or capricious. There is evidence in the record to support the conclusions reached by the *528 Commission. So long as there is any evidence in the record to support the findings of the Commission we are without jurisdiction to determine the sufficiency of the evidence or the reasonableness of the cause. It is only where there is no evidence in the record to support the findings of the Commission that we are authorized to consider the evidence. For the reasons assigned, the judgment is affirmed at appellant's cost.