Opinion ID: 1282019
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: was staten eligible for reinstatement?

Text: The Police Civil Service Commission has the responsibility for reviewing applications for reinstatement to the police department. W.Va.Code 8-14-12 (1972). In the case, sub judice, the Commission by a majority vote recommended to reinstate Staten, after debating whether he had resigned his position with the police force under charges of misconduct or other misfeasance. The Commission made no express findings as to whether Staten resigned under charges of misconduct or other misfeasance. The Commission merely offered a conclusory determination that Staten was eligible for reinstatement. Staten argues that the Mayor of Huntington has a legal duty to implement the Commission's recommendation to reinstate him. See Meek v. Pugh, 186 W.Va. 609, 413 S.E.2d 666 (1991), and Gartin v. Fiedler, 129 W.Va. 40, 38 S.E.2d 352 (1946). This position might warrant some consideration if the Police Civil Service Commission had prepared any findings of fact or conclusions of law. See Syllabus Point 1, Appeal of Prezkop, 154 W.Va. 759, 179 S.E.2d 331 (1971), which provides that, A final order of a police civil service commission based upon a finding of fact will not be reversed by a circuit court upon appeal unless it is clearly wrong or is based upon a mistake of law. The Commission's memorandum to the Mayor dated June 7, 1994, was minimalist, at best. The memorandum is vacant of any findings of fact or conclusions of law. [5] The circuit court ruled that the Commission's findings were not clearly erroneous; its conclusions of law were not mistaken; and the decision to rehire was not a misapplication of the law. It is difficult for this Court to understand how the circuit court could have based its determinations on the Commission's findings and conclusions when the Commission's memorandum did not contain any such findings and conclusions. [6] We review a circuit court's underlying factual findings under a clearly erroneous standard. Phillips v. Fox, 193 W.Va. 657, 458 S.E.2d 327 (1995). In issuing a writ of mandamus, the circuit court agreed with Appellee that he was eligible for reinstatement and specifically found that there were no formal charges of misconduct or other misfeasance as required by 8-14-12 (1972) of the West Virginia Code (Police Civil Service Act), pending against Kenneth F. Staten when he resigned from the Police Department. In the following discussion we conclude that this finding is based upon a flawed analysis of W.Va.Code 8-14-12 (1972), vis-a-vis the content of the Agreement. Accordingly since this factual finding, which served as leverage for two parts of the mandamus trilogy (clear legal right and legal duty), is clearly erroneous, the circuit court could not compel Staten's reinstatement. The Mayor has refused to follow the recommendation of the Commission and challenges Staten's eligibility to be reinstated. The Mayor contends that Staten is not eligible for reinstatement because he previously resigned from the police force at a time when there were charges of misconduct or other misfeasance pending against him. She points to the Agreement wherein Staten acknowledges committing acts constituting mail fraud as evidence of such improper conduct which denies Staten's eligibility for reinstatement. Conversely, Appellee asserts that misconduct or other misfeasance contemplates only formal criminal chargessuch as a formal arrest, indictment or informationas a bar to reinstatement and since the Agreement eventually resulted in the withdrawal of any criminal charges, he is eligible for reinstatement. We decline to burden W.Va.Code 8-14-12 (1972) with this threshold level of misconduct or other misfeasance. We hold that if an applicant for reinstatement previously resigned from the police force under charges of misconduct or other misfeasance, he or she is per se ineligible for reinstatement under W.Va.Code 8-14-12 (1972). Further, we hold that the charge of misconduct or other misfeasance which constitutes a per se basis for ineligibility for reinstatement under W.Va.Code 8-14-12 (1972), need not rise to the level of a formal arrest, indictment or information. There can be a charge of misconduct or other misfeasance by an acknowledgment of a police officer that he or she has committed an act which violates the laws of the United States or any of the various states.