Court Opinion

ID: 9632161
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:05:12.92692+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:09.881369
License: Public Domain

EDMONDS, J.
I concur in the affirmance of the judgment but not upon the grounds stated in the majority opinion.
Section 376 of the city charter requires as a condition precedent to suit the presentation of a demand within six months from the time a claim has accrued. Therefore, the decisive question presented in this case is: When did that time commence to run?
Throughout this proceeding Lorenson has maintained that his claim for compensation did not arise until the board of rights declined to order his restoration to duty without loss of pay. On the ground that the order relieving him from duty was void, the city asserts that a claim for salary arose at the end of each semimonthly period for which he was not paid. Although the court declines to decide which of the two positions is correct, the conclusion that Lorenson is entitled to recover on the basis of estoppel necessarily must be based upon the city’s contention. In my opinion, the applicable provisions of the city charter may not be so construed.
*343Paragraph 2(a) of section 202 of the charter authorizes the chief of police to relieve from duty temporarily any officer or employee “pending a hearing before and decision by the Board of any charge or charges pending against such officer or employee.” In the event the chief takes no further steps, the order is revoked and the accused restored to duty without loss of pay and without prejudice. (Par. [3].) However, if the chief thereafter, within five days from the order relieving the accused from duty, files with the board of police commissioners a complaint and statement of charges, then the right to receive compensation for the period the accused is off duty is governed solely by the disposition of the charges against him in the hearing before the board of rights.
Paragraph (14) of section 202 provides that “ [i]n any case of penal suspension or removal prescribed by the Board of Rights . . . the time of such suspension shall be computed from the first day such officer or employee was so suspended or relieved from duty pending hearing before and decision by the Board of Rights, and such removal shall relate back to and be effective as of the date of such relief from duty pending hearing before and decision by the Board of Rights. ’ ’ Paragraph (12) of the same section declares; “If the accused is found ‘not guilty,’ said board shall order his restoration to duty without loss of pay and without prejudice.” According to the clear import of these sections, an accused may not claim “a right to receive compensation” for a period of relief from duty until the board has made a decision favorable to him.
In the present case, Lorenson’s right to receive compensation for the period in question was not determined until March 16, 1950, when the board dismissed the charges against him. Since his claim was presented only one month later, it was timely filed.
To hold, as the majority imply, that a claim must be filed within six months from the date each salary payment otherwise would have been due, places a burden upon an accused not warranted by any provision of the charter. Under the present decision, to protect his right, an accused must file numerous claims in anticipation of the possibility that the board will acquit him but without an order for the payment of his salary during the time he was relieved from duty.
I would follow the plain provisions of the charter which give every policeman rights to which he is clearly entitled. The rule of estoppel is based upon facts from which different *344inferences may be drawn. The right to the payment of salary for the time one has been relieved from duty and thereafter acquitted of the charges made against him, should not rest upon such an uncertain basis.