Casserly v. City of Oakland

THE COURT.

The question involved in each of these three cases is, to all intents and purposes, the same. In the

[65]

first ease, the plaintiff, Nora Casserly, who is the widow of William Casserly, a member for several years prior to his death on December 12, 1930, of the Oakland fire department, filed her petition in the superior court for a peremptory writ of

mandamus

against the respondents, compelling them to pay her the full amount of pension allowed to her August 9, 1932, without reduction therefrom by reason of the ordinance hereafter to be mentioned. At the time of William Casserly’s death, he held the rank of hoseman and was receiving the sum of $2,400 per annum. His widow was allowed a pension of $1200 per annum. The trial court declined to issue the writ and Nora Casserly prosecutes this appeal.

A. E. Erny also appeals in the second case from a similar ruling. He was retired on June 8, 1933, for disability resulting from injuries received in the performance of his duties as a member of the Oakland police department. For a year prior thereto, he had held the rank of patrolman and was awarded as a pension the sum of $1200 per annum, or one half the salary received by him as a patrolman.

J. J. Sherry was retired from the Oakland police department, which he had served for thirty-six years, on May 27," 1932, because of his age, under a pertinent provision of the Oakland charter. He had held the rank of sergeant for more than a year prior to retirement, at a salary of $220 a month, and was accordingly allowed a pension of $110 monthly. He appeals from á like order in the third case.

In all cases the charter provided that the pension to be paid should be ‘ ‘ equal to one half of the salary attached to the rank held”, with this difference. In the case of officers killed in the performance of their duties, such as William Casserly, it was the rank held by him at the time of his death, while, in the other two eases, it was the rank held by them for a year prior to retirement which measured the pension.

In July, 1933, certain amendments to sections 91 and 97 of the Oakland charter became effective, which, in substance, authorized the city council, when it found by an affirmative vote of not less than six members thereof, that an economic emergency confronted the city government, due to extraordinary conditions beyond its control, to provide for a reduction of not to exceed ten per cent of the annual salaries which otherwise were to be paid by the provisions of the charter. Pursuant to this authorization, the city council adopted an