Case Name: PEOPLE ex rel. RYAN v. WELLS et al.
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1903-07-24
Citations: 83 N.Y.S. 789
Docket Number: 
Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. RYAN v. WELLS et al.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 83
Pages: 789–794

Head Matter:
(86 App. Div. 270.)
PEOPLE ex rel. RYAN v. WELLS et al.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department.
July 24, 1903.)
1. Municipal Corporations — Officers—Removal—Deputy Tax Commissioners.
Civil Service Law, Laws 1902, p. 805, c. 270, § 21, provides that no person holding a position by appointment in the state or city, who shall have served the term required by law in the voluntary fire department oí a city, shall be removed except for incompetency or misconduct shown after a hearing on due notice, and that nothing in the section shall apply to the position of “deputy” of any official or department. Held, that the word “deputy,” as used in the exception of the statute, referred to persons holding a strictly confidential relation to the appointing power, and did not apply to or include a deputy tax commissioner in the department of taxes or assessments in the city of New York, who was a veteran fireman, so as to authorize his removal without a compliance with such section.
8, Same — Hearing.
Civil Service Law, Laws 1902, p. 805, c. 270, § 21, provides that city officers holding a position by appointment shall not be removed except for incompetency or misconduct shown after hearing on due notice. Held, that a proceeding against a deputy tax commissioner before the commissioners to remove him for incompetency, at which no witnesses were sworn, and accused merely appeared in his own behalf and made an unsworn statement, and answered questions put to him by two of the commissioners who were present, was not such a hearing as was required by the statute to authorize the officer’s removal.
8. Same — Review—Certiorari.
Civil Service Law, Laws 1902, p. 805, c. 270, §’ 21, provides that no person holding a position of appointment or employment in any city, who shall have served the time required by law in the volunteer fire department of any city, shall be removed from such position or employment except for incompetency or misconduct shown after hearing on due notice, on stated charges, with the right to review by writ of certiorari. Held, that where a deputy tax commissioner who had served the time required by law in the volunteer fire department of the city of Brooklyn before his appointment pursuant to a competitive civil service examination was removed without a hearing as required by such section, he was entitled to a review of such removal on certiorari.
Goodrich, P. J., dissenting.
Certiorari by the people, on relation of Michael Ryan, against James L. Wells and others, composing the board of taxes and assessments of the city of New York, to review relator’s removal from the office of deputy tax commissioner in the department of taxes and assessments in the city of New York. Order of removal reversed.
Argued before GOODRICH, P. J., and BARTLETT, WOODWARD, HIRSCHBERG, and HOOKER, JJ.
Robert H. Elder, for relator.
James McKeen (Walter S. Brewster, on the brief), for respondents.

Opinion:
WILLARD BARTLETT, J.
The relator held the position of a deputy tax commissioner in the department of taxes and assessments of the city of New York. He was removed by the board of taxes and assessments on May i, 1902, for alleged incompetency, after having been allowed an opportunity to make an explanation. He had been appointed pursuant to a competitive civil service examination,.and had served the time required by law in the volunteer fire department of the city of Brooklyn. His status as a veteran fireman, therefore, entitled him to the protection afforded by section 21 of the civil service law (Laws 1902, p. 805, c. 270), unless he was a deputy of an official or department, within the meaning of that section.
In the case of The People ex rel. Conway v. Barker, 14 Misc. Rep. 360, 35 N. Y. Supp. 727, it was held by Mr. Justice Beelcman, sitting at Special Term in the First District, that a deputy tax commissioner in the department of taxes and assessments in New York City was not a deputy within the meaning of chapter 577, p. 1117, of the Laws of 1892, which prohibited the removal -of veterans except for cause shown after a hearing had, but contained a proviso that the prohibition should "not be construed to apply to the position of private secretary or chief clerk or deputy of any official or department, or to any other person holding a confidential relation to the appointing officer." The reasoning of Judge Beelcman's opinion seems to me clear and convincing, and I cannot see why it is not just as applicable to section 21 of the civil service law, as amended in 1902, as it was to the act of 1897. Section 21 provides that nothing therein "shall be construed to apply to the position of'private secretary or deputy of any official or department." The words "or to any other person holding a strictly confidential relation to the appointing power" are omitted, and by reason of this omission it is argued that the Legislature intended to employ the word "deputy" in a broader sense than that in which it was employed under the previous enactment. Notwithstanding this omission, however, I am of opinion that the deputies intended to be excluded from the protection of section 21 are only such as occupy a confidential relation to the head of the department. This is not the case with the deputy tax commissioners in the city of New York. The number of these officers under the existing charter may be as great as 40 (Revised Greater New York Charter, § 887 [Laws 1901, p. 377, c. 466]), and, as Mr. Justice Beekman says, "there is absolutely nothing which expresses the slightest purpose, on the part of the Legislature, to place them, or any of them, under any circumstances, in the position of their official superiors, or to confer upon them the right at any time to perform any of the functions immediately belonging to the board of commissioners, which constitute the head of the department of taxes and assessments."
The relator, not being a "deputy" in the proper sense of the word, within the meaning of the civil service law, could not be removed from his position "except for incompetency or misconduct shown after a hearing upon due notice upon stated charges." The proceeding against him before the commissioners, as set out in this record, was not, in my opinion, the statutory hearing thus provided for. No witnesses were sworn; Mr. Ryan merely appeared in his own behalf, and made an unsworn statement, and answered questions put to him by two of the commissioners of taxes who were present. But, even if the proceeding be regarded as the statutory hearing, the evidence is utterly insufficient to establish the charge of incompetency. Indeed, it is impossible to gather any clear understanding of what it means, in the absence of the books referred to by the relator in his statement, and by the commissioners in questioning him, and the contents of these books are nowhere set out in the appeal papers.
The civil service law expressly provides for a review by writ of certiorari of the removal of a veteran fireman entitled to the protection given by section 21. If I am right in the view that the relator comes within the purview of that section, there is no doubt of the jurisdiction of the court in this proceeding, and the determination should be annulled, either on the ground that the relator has not been afforded a hearing upon due notice upon stated charges, to which he is entitled, or, if the proceeding against him be deemed such a hearing, on the ground that the evidence returned to this court fails to establish the charge of incompetency against him.
Determination annulled, with $10 costs and disbursements. All concur, except GOODRICH, P. J., who dissents.