Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/345/798/327593/
Timestamp: 2019-11-14 22:03:52
Document Index: 205432108

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1500', '§ 1004', '§ 154', '§ 155', '§ 5', '§ 1001', '§ 14', '§ 863']

Frank Camero v. the United States, 345 F.2d 798 (Ct. Cl. 1965) :: Justia
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Frank Camero v. the United States, 345 F.2d 798 (Ct. Cl. 1965)
U.S. Court of Claims (1855-1982) - 345 F.2d 798 (Ct. Cl. 1965) May 14, 1965
Then, on May 12, 1961, plaintiff commenced the present action. On November 6, 1962, plaintiff brought an action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in which he sought reinstatement and a declaratory judgment that his discharge was wrongful.1 On September 25, 1963, the district court granted the Government's motion for a general continuance, since plaintiff already had pending the instant suit in this court. Camero v. McNamara, 222 F. Supp. 742, 745 (E.D. Pa. 1963).
In the case at bar, defendant had included as one ground for its motion for summary judgment the assertion that, by virtue of 28 U.S.C. § 1500,2 the filing of the district court suit took away the jurisdiction of this court. At the time of oral argument of the present case, defendant announced that it had abandoned its position on jurisdiction. Furthermore, for the reasons expressed in Tecon Engineers, Inc. v. United States, Ct. Cl., 343 F.2d 943 (April 16, 1965), we hold that, regardless of the degree of similarity between the suit in the district court and the case at bar, the filing of the action in the district court did not affect the jurisdiction of this court over the present case.
The test of "substantial evidence" is widely used as the standard for judicial review of administrative determinations. The Supreme Court has construed "substantial evidence" to be "* * * more than a mere scintilla. It means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion." Consolidated Edison Co. of New York v. N. L. R. B., 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S. Ct. 206, 217, 83 L. Ed. 126 (1938). The Court added (at 230, at 217 of 59 S. Ct.), "Mere uncorroborated hearsay or rumor does not constitute substantial evidence." These general notions expressed by the Supreme Court, even though stated in a very different context, should be relevant to the present case.
This court is not unmindful of the serious nature of the charge of accepting bribes, nor do we overlook the drastic consequences of being removed from employment on such grounds. Nonetheless and despite the fact that plaintiff was charged with activities which (if timely asserted) could have provided the basis for a criminal prosecution, the standard of review applicable to the instant case is that of "substantial evidence." It is clear that the charge of bribery was not proved "beyond a reasonable doubt." However, this is not determinative of the case at bar. Cf. Finn v. United States, 152 Ct. Cl. 1 (1961), where the removal of an employee was upheld, despite a directed verdict of acquittal in a related criminal action. Even though the Government did not prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Camero had accepted payments from Altman, this court does find that there was sufficient evidence of the alleged bribery to support the administrative decision.
In determining the sanction to be applied, the depot commander was not bound to follow the recommendation of the Grievance Committee. Despite plaintiff's assertion to the contrary, this court does not find that the reasoning of Cuiffo v. United States, 137 F. Supp. 944, 131 Ct. Cl. 60 (1955), is applicable to the present case.11 First, the charge that Camero was "unduly familiar" with Government contractors is more serious than the charge which had been made against Cuiffo (i. e., taking for his own use lumber apparently abandoned by the Government). Camero had placed himself in an awkward position that could well have interfered with his effectiveness. Secondly, the matter of "undue familiarity" was only one of the grounds upon which the removal of Camero was based. For the reasons indicated, this court rejects plaintiff's contention that reliance by the Government upon the ground of "undue familiarity" was arbitrary and capricious.
Also, a copy of the December 30, 1959, letter retained by the Supply Center was initialed by Kostos and the four other persons named in Wolverton's affidavit. In support of his contention that his dismissal was made arbitrary and capricious because of the roles played by Kostos, plaintiff cites Wong Yang Sung v. McGrath, 339 U.S. 33, 70 S. Ct. 445, 94 L. Ed. 616 (1950)12 and Paterson v. United States, 319 F.2d 882, 162 Ct. Cl. 675 (1963).13
The factual situation of the instant case differs materially from those of Wong Yang Sung and Paterson, and neither the Administrative Procedure Act nor the Veterans' Preference Act was applicable to the removal of plaintiff. Still, plaintiff's motion raises serious questions as to whether his dismissal was in compliance with the regulations governing Army grievance proceedings. Clearly, the Army was bound to comply with its own regulations. Cf. Service v. Dulles, 354 U.S. 363, 77 S. Ct. 1152, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1403 (1957). Also, cf. Vitarelli v. Seaton, 359 U.S. 535, 79 S. Ct. 968, 3 L. Ed. 2d 1012 (1959).
Under the Army's Civilian Personnel Regulations, plaintiff's case was heard by a grievance committee "established at the installation level to make findings of fact, hear and evaluate evidence, and make recommendations to the commander as to appropriate disposition of individual cases." Having thus created a hearing-type remedy for its employees, the Army was bound to follow the fair procedure implicit in that grant, even though a more summary disposition was permitted by the Lloyd LaFollette Act. Service v. Dulles, 354 U.S. 363, 77 S. Ct. 1152, 1 L. Ed. 2d 1403 (1957); Vitarelli v. Seaton, 359 U.S. 535, 79 S. Ct. 968, 3 L. Ed. 2d 1012 (1959). Inherent in the concept of a decision based on an adversary hearing, especially an evidentiary hearing, is the fundamental premise that one of the adversaries will not make secret, ex parte, recommendations to the deciding officer or tribunal. See Sangamon Valley Television Corp. v. United States, 106 U.S. App.D.C. 30, 269 F.2d 221, 224-225 (1959), 111 U.S.App.D.C. 113, 294 F.2d 742 (1961); Massachusetts Bay Telecasters, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission, 104 U.S.App.D.C. 226, 261 F.2d 55, 66 (1958). In an adversary proceeding there can hardly be a graver incursion upon fairness than to permit trial counsel for one of the parties to communicate his arguments privately to the decider. A persistent theme of modern administrative law is the separation, in an adversary proceeding, of the deciding tribunal from the ex parte views of the attorneys who are the Government's advocates in the particular case. See Section 5(c) of the Administrative Procedure Act, 60 Stat. 239, 240, 5 U.S.C. § 1004(c); Section 4(a) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, 61 Stat. 139, 29 U.S.C. § 154(a); Section 5(d) (8) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 75 Stat. 421, 47 U.S.C. § 155(d) (8). The Army's regulations must be taken to incorporate this basic standard of fair practice.1
Even if I were fully prepared to join in the court's finding that the charges against plaintiff were all adequately sustained, this major departure from fair procedure would move me to vote to invalidate his dismissal and for judgment in his favor. As Mr. Justice Brandeis said, and Mr. Justice Frankfurter often repeated, "in the development of our liberty insistence upon procedural regularity has been a large factor." Burdeau v. McDowell, 256 U.S. 465, 477, 41 S. Ct. 574, 576, 65 L. Ed. 1048, 13 A.L.R. 1159 (1921) (Brandeis J., dissenting); Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath, 341 U.S. 123, 164, 71 S. Ct. 624, 95 L. Ed. 817 (1951) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). The ultimate merits of plaintiff's dismissal cannot hide the deprivation of fair procedure he urges upon us. Cf. Garrott v. United States, Ct. Cl., 340 F.2d 615, 621-622, decided Jan. 22, 1965.
I am not ready, however, to join in the court's discussion of the merits of the removal. It is a close question whether there was sufficient substantial evidence to sustain the bribery charge, and I do not, because I need not, reach that difficult issue. I think that the other two charges, the minor counts, were not sustained. In upholding the allegation of "undue familiarity" on the basis of three widely-separated non-business telephone calls, the court is binding a quartermaster inspector to an absolute standard of non-fraternization which has not been applied to courts, other tribunals, or high executive or administrative officers. The record shows, in my opinion, that this charge is trivial. The evidence also fails to support, with respect to the count relating to falsification of travel vouchers, the administrative finding that plaintiff deliberately falsified. In any event, the ex parte participation by the Government attorney in the administrative decision makes it impossible, in my view, to apply the "substantial evidence" test to this case. That test presupposes that the decision was arrived at by fair process. Cf. St. Joseph Stock Yards Co. v. United States, 298 U.S. 38, 73, 56 S. Ct. 720, 80 L. Ed. 1033 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring).
Department of the Army, Civilian Personnel Regulations E2, § 5-1 b. (March 1956).
It should be noted that the Government attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to obtain the presence of Altman at the Grievance Committee hearing. For a variety of reasons, this case is distinguishable from Williams v. Zuckert, cert. dismissed, 371 U.S. 531, 83 S. Ct. 403, 9 L. Ed. 2d 486, dismissal of cert. vacated, 372 U.S. 765, 83 S. Ct. 1102, 10 L. Ed. 2d 136 (1963).
In support of his assertion, plaintiff cites Greenway v. United States, 163 Ct. Cl. 72 (1963), where the Government's motion for summary judgment was denied, since the plaintiff was entitled to a trial to determine if his removal was due to the personal grudge of a superior. Also cited was Clark v. United States, 162 Ct. Cl. 477 (1963), where judgment was entered for the plaintiff on the ground that his removal represented an abuse of discretion. The facts of the cited cases differ materially from the case at bar, and neither of the cited cases is persuasive authority for plaintiff's assertion
Wong Yang Sung v. McGrath, supra, involved the validity of a deportation proceeding. The Supreme Court held (p. 53, 70 S. Ct. 445) that the proceeding was contrary to the Administrative Procedure Act of June 11, 1946, 60 Stat. 237, 5 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1011, because the same person (1) presented the case of the Government at the hearing and (2) prepared a summary of the evidence and a proposed order for the Commissioner of Immigration. According to the Court, the Administrative Procedure Act was intended to ameliorate the evils of combining the investigating and prosecuting functions and the adjudicating function
In Paterson v. United States, supra, this court held that the removal of a Government employee was defective in that he was not afforded an opportunity for the type of personal hearing required by § 14 of the Veterans' Preference Act of 1944, 58 Stat. 390, as amended, 5 U. S.C. § 863. The plaintiff's requests that he be granted a personal hearing before his superior were denied. This court stated, 319 F.2d at 884, 162 Ct. Cl. at 679: