CITY OF MIAMI, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, ET AL., APPELLANTS,
v.
IRVING C. REZEAU, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1961-05-04
No. 60-442
HORTON, C. J., and CARROLL, CHAS., J., and SMITH, D. R., Associate Judge, concur.
129 So. 2d 432 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1961) Positive Treatment
Cited by 11 cases

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Synopsis

The City of Miami appealed a trial court judgment granting mandamus to compel promotion of an eligible police officer to Detective Lieutenant. The appellate court reversed, holding that mandamus was improper because city management retained discretionary authority over when to fill existing vacancies, and civil service rules did not impose a mandatory duty to immediately promote eligible candidates.


Holding

Mandamus is not an appropriate remedy because the city management retains discretionary authority to determine when to fill existing vacancies. Although civil service rules prescribe the method for filling vacancies through promotion of qualified candidates, they do not impose a legal duty on the Chief of Police or City Manager to immediately fill a vacancy when it occurs. Therefore, mandamus, which requires a ministerial duty with no discretion, is not available.


Key Quotes

“Mandamus is defined as a remedy to command performance of a ministerial act which the petitioner has a right to demand”

Establishes the fundamental definition of mandamus as requiring a ministerial, non-discretionary duty

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Facts & Procedural History

Irving C. Rezeau was the number one person on the eligible register for promotion to Detective Lieutenant in the Miami Police Department. A vacancy ex…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

The City of Miami, its Chief of Police and the City Manager and Director of Public Safety, have appealed, seeking review of a judgment awarding a peremptory writ of mandamus.

The appellee’s petition for alternative writ of mandamus alleged that he was the number one man on the eligible'register for promotion to Detective Lieutenant in the Detective Bureau of the Police Division of the City of Miami; that an actual vacancy exists in the rank of Detective Lieutenant to which rank he is entitled to promotion by virtue of his satisfactory completion of the competitive examination. He further contended that the appellant Chief of Police has a duty to requisition the filling of the vacancy and likewise the City Manager has a duty to fill said position since art actual vacancy does exist.

In the judgment appealed, the trial court found that a vacancy existed in the rank of Detective Lieutenant and that the ap-pellee was entitled to fill the vacancy. The trial court then commanded the appellants to do all acts necessary to instate the ap-pellee as a detective lieutenant.

The appellants urge two questions upon which they rely for reversal, i. e., (1) is it mandatory as a matter of law that the city manager promote the appellee who is-eligible and qualified for promotion to the position of detective lieutenant, upon a vacancy occurring in that position? and (2) is mandamus the proper remedy to review the action of the city manager in. failing to make such promotion?

*433Mandamus is defined as a remedy to command performance of a ministerial act which the petitioner has a right to demand, State ex rel. Eldredge v. Evans, Fla.App.1958, 102 So.2d 403; City of Miami v. State ex rel. Houston, Fla.App. 1960, 120 So.2d 459. As indicated in 21 Fla.Jur., Mandamus, § 29:

“Every application for mandamus presents the questions whether there is a right in the petitioner to the enforcement of which the remedy may be directed; whether there is a duty imposed by law upon the respondent; and whether that duty is of an imperative, ministerial character, involving no judgment or discretion on the part of the officer, body, or person whose coercion is sought.”

The appellee predicates his right to promotion on Rule XII, Sec. 1, of the Civil Service Rules and Regulations of the City of Miami, which provides:

“Vacancies in higher positions in the classified service shall be filled by promotion or advancement of employees, qualified by examination, from the lower classifications of the same group.” (Emphasis supplied.)

This rule provides the method by which a vacancy shall be filled and leaves no discretion as to the manner in which this is to be done. However, this rule does not place a legal duty upon the chief of police or the city manager to immediately fill a vacancy when it occurs, nor has the ap-pellee demonstrated in the record or by his brief, any other rule by virtue of which this duty exists. Clearly, to warrant issuance of the writ, there must be some duty imposed upon the appellants by law to perform the act whose enforcement is sought. See Ferris v. Board of Public Instruction of Sumter County, Fla.App. 1960, 119 So.2d 389. There has been no clear showing of a legal duty upon the appellants to fill the vacancy, nor is. there presented a clear legal right in the appellee to be promoted.

The appellee was not entitled to be promoted to the position of detective lieutenant while the city manager in the exercise of administrative discretion chose to leave the position vacant.

For the reasons stated, the judgment appealed is reversed and the cause remanded with directions to quash the peremptory writ and dismiss the petition.

Reversed and remanded with directions.

HORTON, C. J., and CARROLL, CHAS., J., and SMITH, D. R., Associate Judge, concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Rezeau v. City of Miami, 133 So. 2d 646 (Fla. 1961)
    …Certiorari denied without opinion. 129 So. 2d 432.…
  • The City OF Miami v. Perkins, 139 So. 2d 178 (Fla. 3d DCA 1962)
    …curred, had no discretion but to fill the vacancy regardless of whether or not he, as the chief executive officer of the city, deemed it beneficial from an economic or efficiency standpoint to do so.” See also City of Miami v. Rezeau, Fla.App.1961, 129 So. 2d 432. The chancellor was correct in extending the period of eligibility of those then on an eligibility list for the period of the freeze order. Thus, if an employee’s time on an eligibility list was to expire on May 26, 1960, and a freeze order was mad…
  • Bowlin v. Cnty. OF Dade, 296 So. 2d 602 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974)
    …the right to promote from the four man eligibility list. The appellant, as an employee, has no constitutional right to promotion by his superiors. See City of Miami v. Elmore, Fla.App. 1961, 131 So. 2d 517, and City of Miami v. Rezeau, Fla.App.1961, 129 So. 2d 432. We agree with the trial judge that a Director of Public Safety charged with the enforcement of the criminal laws must be given some right of selection as to the persons upon whom he is to impose highly responsible positions. See Marranea v. Harbo,…

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