Williams v. Bagnelle
Williams v. Bagnelle
Opinion of the Court
Appeal from the judgment awarding a peremptory writ of mandate against defendant, as school superintendent of Madera county, directing her to draw a requisition in favor of plaintiff upon the county auditor of said county for $111.20 in payment of balance claimed to be due plaintiff for salary as teacher in said district. The plaintiff claims that the above-named sum is due him for one month’s salary as teacher in the public schools of Madera school district, under a contract with the school trustees of said district, for nine months ’ teaching therein. The defendant contends and claims that only eight months of school were authorized or taught in the said district, and that the plaintiff drew the full amount of his salary for said eight months.
The extraordinary writ prayed for in this case will not issue where there is a plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law: Code Civ. Proc., sec. 1086; Kimball v. Union Water Co., 44 Cal. 173, 13 Am. Rep. 157; Wood v. Strother, 76 Cal. 545, 9 Am. St. Rep. 249, 18 Pac. 766. The Political Code, under the head of “Education” (title 3, article 12, section 1699), provides: “Any teacher whose salary is withheld may appeal to the superintendent of public instruction, who shall thereupon require the superintendent of schools to investigate the matter and present the facts thereof
We advise that the judgment be reversed and the proceeding dismissed.
We concur: Haynes, C.; Gray, C.
PER CURIAM.—For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion the judgment is reversed and the proceeding dismissed.
January 19, 1903.
Application for order granting a hearing in bank. Granted.
070rehearing
Order for hearing in bank granted.
Concurring Opinion
I concur in the order granting a hearing in bank, because I am not prepared at present to sanction that part of the opinion which holds that the judgment of the state superintendent is final. I think, however, that clearly the appellant should have first appealed to the superintendent, and in other respects I think the opinion of the department correct.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- WILLIAMS v. BAGNELLE
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Mandamus—Adequate Remedy.—The Writ of Mandate will not Issue where there is a plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law. Mandamus—Teacher’s Salary.—Political Code, title 3, article 13, section 1699, provides that any teacher whose salary is withheld may appeal to the superintendent of public instruction, who shall require the superintendent of schools to investigate the matter, and that the judgment of the superintendent of instruction shall be final, and that on receiving it the superintendent of schools, if it is in favor of the teacher, shall, if the trustees refuse to issue an order for such salary, issue his requisition in favor of such teacher. The salary of a teacher was withheld by the superintendent of schools, and she applied for a peremptory writ of mandate directing him to draw a requisition in favor of petitioner. Held, that the writ would not issue, plaintiff not having pursued the remedy under the statute, which applied to a case where the salary was withheld by such superintendent, as well as where withheld by the trustees. Mandamus—Teacher’s Salary.—Code of Civil Procedure, section 1085, provides that the writ of mandate may be issued to compel the performance of an official act required to be done by law. Political Code, section 1543, requires the county superintendent of schools to draw requisitions on the county auditor against the school fund of the district, and provides that no such requisition shall be drawn unless the order states the monthly salary of teacher, and names thq months for which it is due. An order drawn by trustees in favor of a teacher was “on account of balance on yearly contract for $1,000 from-to --during the present school year.....Monthly salary .... $-.” Held, that the writ of mandate would not issue to compel the superintendent to issue a requisition for the teacher’s salary, as the superintendent was not authorized to draw a requisition; the monthly salary not being mentioned in the order, nor the month for which it was due.