Smith v. Board of Police Commissioners

[293]

SCOTT, J.,

pro

tem.

Respondent, a used car dealer, sold a used automobile to a customer under circumstances which caused appellants to conduct a hearing and make an order under Los Angeles City Ordinance No. 69620 suspending respondent’s permit for thirty days. On

certiorari

to the superior court judgment was there rendered which was at first incorrectly transcribed in" the record presented to this court, but which as corrected reads in part as follows: ‘ The court having considered said petition and return and the facts and issues thereunder and thereby established and raised, and the law applicable thereto, the court being of the opinion that the ordinance is valid but that the judgment is not sustained by the evidence,” and the order of the board was thereupon annulled and it was enjoined from further proceedings.

In the original writ, after reciting the fact that an order had been made by the board suspending the license of this respondent for one month, it is stated: “Whereas it has been further represented to this court by said petitioner that said order is erroneous and unlawful and void for reasons set forth at length in said petition, and which fully appears from said petition on file herein, reference thereto being hereby made.” Attached to the petition as an exhibit is a transcript of testimony taken at the hearing before the board. It is suggested by appellants that this transcript of evidence was incomplete, although its accuracy is not questioned. No other record of evidence appears to have been submitted to the lower court. We may assume that this recorded testimony furnished a basis for the trial court’s determination. The writ itself is part of the judgment-roll, and when it specifically refers to such matters in the petition it would be unreasonable to conclude that the trial court ignored the contents of the petition, which by reference was a part of the writ. Our attention has not been directed to any evidence which was before the court at the time of the hearing on the writ which would contradict, amplify or explain the evidence as contained in the transcript of testimony above referred to.

The return sets out the decision of the board, the essential finding being as follows: “Evidence submitted to the commission established the fact beyond a reasonable doubt that two men, acting as agents of the defendant W. C. Smith,