Title: Civil Service Commission v. Frazzini
Citation: 287 P.2d 433
Docket Number: 17440
State: Colorado
Issuer: Colorado Supreme Court
Date: June 20, 1955

287 P.2d 433 (1955) CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF DENVER, in the State of Colorado, and Donald B. Robertson, Benjamin E. Sweet, and Bertha V. Perry, as the Members of Said Commission; William D. Blood, as Manager of Safety and Excise of said City and County of Denver, and Arthur J. Becker, Plaintiffs in Error, v. Cassio FRAZZINI, Defendant in Error. No. 17440. Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc. June 20, 1955. *434 Stanley H. Johnson, Denver, Colo., for plaintiff in error, Arthur J. Becker. Wayne D. Williams, Denver, Colo., for defendant in error. LINDSLEY, Justice. On July 28, 1952, defendant in error, herein designated as plaintiff, filed his complaint in the nature of mandamus under Rule 106(a) (2), R.C.P.Colo., in which he alleged the respective capacity of himself, the plaintiffs in error, herein designated as defendants, and complained that the civil service promotional examination taken by the respective assistant chiefs of the Fire Department of the City and County of Denver for the position of Deputy Chief of said Fire Department on May 12, 1951, was null and void, and that the certification of defendant Becker as first upon the eligible register, pursuant to said examination and his later appointment as Deputy Fire Chief, was illegal and void. Defendants answered, denying the illegality of the examination and the illegal appointment of Becker as Deputy Fire Chief, asserted that plaintiff was guilty of laches, and defendant Becker asserted a special defense of estoppel, stating that he had changed his position in good faith in that he entered upon his duties of Deputy Fire Chief on or about June 12, 1951, and had continued in that position until the filing of the complaint herein. The issues raised, the applicable provisions of the charter of the City and County of Denver, and the evidence supporting the contentions of the parties, are fully dealt with in the finding of facts and conclusions of law of the able trial judge, whose "Findings and Judgment are as follows: "The examination was wholly oral. No written tests were given the applicants. This is the first time a civil service examination in Denver has been given without some part of it at least *435 being in written form, and as stated above, the oral test was weighted at 60%. "From the ratings thus recorded each examiner then gave each candidate an *436 over-all estimate of value signified by a letter, the key for this rating being as follows: "On May 31, 1951, the Commission heard the protest, at which hearing plaintiff and his attorney were present, and later the protest was denied by the Commission and the eligible register previously announced was affirmed and declared to be the eligible register from which certification for appointment should be made. * * * Plaintiff alleges that the examination, the eligible register certified as the result of the examination, and the appointment of *437 defendant Becker as Deputy Fire Chief are illegal and void, are contrary to the Charter of Denver and the Rules and Regulations of the Commission, and that the Commission exceeded its jurisdiction and abused its discretion, because: "One examiner gave only one of the candidates a grade on the personality *439 trait designated on the sheet as `Adaptability,' and the one who was rated on this trait was not the plaintiff. Subsequent to the above judgment defendant Becker obtained additional counsel, who filed on his behalf a motion for relief from the judgment under Rule 60(b), R.C.P. Colo., upon the grounds of mistake and excusable neglect, setting forth alleged facts, all directed to the defenses of laches and change of position or estoppel of said Becker as alleged in the answer to the complaint. In the facts set forth in the affidavit it was pointed out that defendant Becker's salary advance was about $50 per month instead of $33.06, as found by the trial court; that his retirement pension of one-half pay, to which he was eligible, would be correspondingly increased; that if a new examination were given he would lose 5% seniority benefit over the plaintiff and that six other men would be eligible for veterans' preference, and seven additional men would have the maximum rating for seniority. With the court's permission, Frazzini filed a counter affidavit alleging that upon a new examination Becker's position might be improved due to the seniority ratings of the persons eligible to take the examination. Upon hearing, the court denied the petition of Becker for relief from the judgment, in effect re-affirming its judgment upon the issue of laches and estoppel, and we are not inclined, upon this review, to disturb this ruling and judgment. Fundamentally this is not a contest between Frazzini and Becker who placed second and first respectively in the examination, but the real question is whether a legal examination was held and all the candidates who participated therein were afforded equal opportunity to compete in such examination. The matter now left for determination is whether such examination as was held is so subjective in character as to be in effect a non-competitive examination and illegal; and if it is determined that the character of the examination was competitive and legal, then did the examiners follow their instructions and actually conduct a legal examination? An analysis of the decision in Fink v. Finegan, 270 N.Y. 356, 1 N.E.2d 462, cited in the trial court's findings and judgment, discloses that there was no finding and announced notice by the commission that executive ability and force were necessary qualities for the position of police surgeon and medical officer in the fire department, or that these qualities would be tested or that they could not be tested objectively; that the examiners injected this phase of the examination and rejected the candidates thereon. Following the Fink v. Finegan decision, supra, in Sloat v. Board of Examiners of *440 Board of Education of the City of New York, 274 N.Y. 367, 9 N.E.2d 12, 112 A.L.R. 660, the court upheld the examination. The petitioner, a school teacher who passed a written, practical and physical examination, failed in an oral "teaching and interview" test because of voice difficulties, the court held, as appears, 274 N.Y. at page 373, 9 N.E.2d at page 15: Courts in subsequent New York cases, in attempting to rationalize Fink v. Finegan, supra, and Sloat v. Board of Examiners, supra, announce the rule that personality tests should employ objective standards insofar as practicable. Bridgman v. Kern, 257 App.Div. 420, 13 N.Y.S.2d 249; Bridgman v. Kern, 282 N.Y. 375, 26 N.E.2d 299; Farrell v. Kern, Sup., 17 N.Y.S.2d 934; Andresen v. Rice, 277 N.Y. 271, 14 N.E.2d 65; Cowen v. Reavy, 283 N.Y. 232, 28 N.E.2d 390; Barnett v. Fields, 196 Misc. 339, 92 N.Y.S.2d 117; Weinberg v. Fields Sup., 114 N.Y.S.2d 238; Quinn v. Streeter, 174 Misc. 1073, 22 N.Y.S.2d 546. As the testing of executive ability in certain types of civil service positions became more important in the minds of various commissions a series of California decisions were rendered culminating in the California rule laid down in Almassy v. Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, 34 Cal. 2d 387, 210 P.2d 503. The facts in this case, the pattern of the examination, the computation of the grades, and the attacks thereon are similar and nearly parallel to the instant case. The Los Angeles charter provided for competitive examinations and that records thereof be kept. In upholding the legality of the examination the court said, at page 510 of 210 P.2d: The Almassy case, supra, was approved in Stoor v. City of Seattle, 44 Wash. 2d 405, 267 P.2d 902, and Curtis v. City of Seattle, 44 Wash. 2d 405, 267 P.2d 902. In Civil Service Board of City of Phoenix v. Warren, 74 Ariz. 88, 244 P.2d 1157, the court in commenting upon the fact that the city ordinance required a record of questions and answers in a civil service examination held that the reasoning in the opinions in Sloat v. Board of Examiners, supra, and Almassy v. Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, supra, was not persuasive, in face of the mandate of the ordinance and invalidated the examination. The ordinance to which we herein refer is absent in the instant case. *441 In the present case we hold that the examination proposed by the commission was in compliance with the charter of the City and County of Denver; the determination that personality factors were to be part of the examination was for the commission. Getty v. Witter, 107 Colo. 302, 111 P.2d 636; Hewitt v. State Civil Service Commission, 114 Colo. 561, 167 P.2d 961; Sloat v. Board of Examiners, supra, and Almassy v. Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, supra; that the proposed examination was competitive in that the candidates were to participate against each other equally before the examiners in answering questions of like character and nature, and that they had equal opportunity in the oral discussion to compete each against the other under like and similar conditions; that the method of grading set up in the examination by the commission was sufficiently objective and definite to be capable of being challenged and reviewed by examiners of equal ability and experience, and that there was sufficient record available for a review by the courts. Having determined that the proposed examination as set up by the commission was legal, it then becomes a question of fact whether the examiners in conducting the examination followed the instructions of the commission. The record amply supports the finding of the trial court that the examiners failed in this respect; to wit: Although instructed to do so, one examiner did not grade or rate any of the candidates on the group test. One examiner graded only one of the candidates on the personality trait designated on the examination sheet as "Adaptability" and the one who was rated on this trait was not the plaintiff nor the defendant Becker. One examiner rated an applicant a "C" based on twelve "G's" and four "P's" but gave another applicant a "B" based on nine "G's", six "P's" and one "NA" (not acceptable), manifestly an inequitable overall estimate. Other similar examples of arbitrary grading and rating without regard to measures and standards can be found upon close scrutiny of the examiners' rating sheets which were delivered to the commission. Therefore we hold the examination was not legally conducted, resulting in depriving those participating therein of a truly competitive result. At this point we call attention to the fact that by the very nature of an examination of this character, the likelihood of abuse, favoritism and human error are inherent, and the greatest care and caution should be exercised by the commission in preparing and conducting such examination; moreover, if personality factors are to be considered in appraising the qualifications of applicants, the announcement of the examination should specifically so state. Consequently we approve the finding of the trial court holding the examination invalid. The judgment is therefore affirmed.