New York Court of Appeals, 1971

Katz v. Hoberman

New York Court of Appeals · Decided January 7, 1971

28 N.Y.2d 530; 319 N.Y.S.2d 73; 267 N.E.2d 886; 1971 N.Y. LEXIS 1620

Cases that cite this one

12 later published cases cite this decision. The 11 that cite it most often are listed here.

Kirkland v. New York State Department of Correctional Services (2d Cir. 1983)
Kirkland v. NY STATE DEPT. OF CORRECTIONAL SERV. (District Court, S.D. New York 1982)
Kirkland v. New York State Department of Correctional Services (District Court, S.D. New York 1982)
Meana v. Morrison (Ill. App. Ct. 1975)
Allport v. City of Lockport (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1988)
Patterson v. Diamond (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 2001)
Goodman v. Department of Civil Service (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1989)
Frick v. Bahou (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1981)
Desmond v. Bahou (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1980)
Mills v. Bahou (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1976)
Clare v. Kirwan (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York 1975)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Memorandum. It is a “ fair argument ”, and this is the test of the arbitrariness with which the commission is charged (see Matter of Wirzberger v. Watson, 305 N. Y. 507, 513), first, that familiarity with the questions in dispute, and knowledge of the official answers to them, derived by some examinees from prior study of the 1962 Police Yearbooh could Well impair the competitiveness of the examination, and, second, that the possibility of the acquisition of such prior knowledge was not so unreasonable or so remote as to warrant the finding that the commission’s action was arbitrary. Our decision in Matter of Chironna v. Watson (304 N. Y. 255, mot. for rearg. den. 304 N. Y. 738), which the parties construe with some divergence, dealt with “ defects which concededly made the original examinations noncompetitive ” (p. 258), and hence with the propriety of the corrective action undertaken, and did not, of course, encroach upon the broad area of administrative discretion conferred upon the commission in determining the basic issue of competitiveness.

The orders appealed from should be reversed, without costs, the determination of the municipal civil service commission reinstated, and the petitions dismissed.

In the Matter of Katz: Chief Judge Fuld and Judges Burke, Bergan, Breitel, Jasen and Gibson concur; Judge Scileppi dissents and votes to affirm on the opinion at Special Term.

Order reversed, without costs, the determination of the municipal civil service commission reinstated and the petition dismissed in a memorandum.

In the Matter of Elliott: Chief Judge Fuld and Judges Burke, Bergan, Breitel, Jasen and Gibson concur; Judge Scileppi dissents and votes to affirm on the opinion at Special Term in Matter of Katz v. Hoberman, decided herewith.

Order reversed, without costs, the determination of the municipal civil service commission reinstated and the petition dismissed in a memorandum.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.