Court Opinion

ID: 9718375
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:21:58.922451+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:58.655072
License: Public Domain

FRIEDMAN, J.
I concur. I am not convinced that the court’s syntactical analysis of section 11004, subdivision (c), reflects the Legislature’s objective. The statute’s phraseology is ambiguous; has been on the books during a decade of welfare controversy; has engendered uncertainty and upset affecting administrators and recipients; has stimulated incessant lawsuits and judicial involvement; has never stimulated legislative clarification. The interpretation sought by plaintiffs is no better than that asserted by the department. I would sustain the department’s regulation on the theory that it represents one of several available interpretations of a murky statute. (Ralphs Grocery Co. v. Reimel 69 Cal.2d 172, 176 [70 Cal.Rptr. 407, 444 P.2d 79].)
A petition for a rehearing was denied July 9, 1976, and respondents’ petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied August 26, 1976. Tobriner, J., and Mosk, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.