Board of Social Welfare v. County of Los Angeles

SCHAUER, J. Petitioner, the Board of Social Welfare of this state, by this mandamus proceeding seeks to compel respondents to comply with its orders to issue to three recipients of aid for the aged duplicate warrants to replace certain county warrants which had been originally issued in payment of such aid but which because they were not presented for payment were cancelled by the county, pursuant to the provisions of section 222 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, after the expiration of six months from the respective issue dates. One of the original warrants was not presented for payment because the recipient thereof was an inmate of the county hospital and physically unable to cash his warrant; the other two warrants had been lost in the mails. Each of the three aged persons—Karl Sehamesberger (acting through a guardian), William C. Weitzel, and Eugene Dosse—informally applied to the County Auditor of the County of Los Angeles for, but was denied, the issuance of a new warrant; each then appealed to the petitioner welfare board, which, as stated above, ordered respondents to reissue the warrants. Respondents refused, and this proceeding followed.

Respondents, in defense of their refusal to issue duplicate [100]warrants to the three aid recipients, argue that the law makes no provision for appeal to the state welfare board upon refusal by a county auditor to issue such duplicate warrants; that because the original warrants were cancelled by the county auditor pursuant to the provisions of section 222 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, it is now (and at the times of the respective applications was) too late for the aid recipients to apply for duplicate warrants; and that inasmuch as such recipients have not complied with the provisions of sections 140 and 2183.1 of the same code they are not entitled to the writ sought.

Although respondents’ first point—that no provision is made by the law for appeal to the state welfare board upon refusal by a county auditor to issue a duplicate warrant to replace one which has been lost or destroyed, and that such board is without specifically stated power to order the issuance of such duplicate warrant—appears to be technically correct, it is to be noted that by section 103.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code “It is . . . declared that provision for public aid to the needy aged ... as in this code provided is a matter of State-wide concern. The board is . . . designated as the single State agency with full power to supervise every phase of the administration of the public assistance plans [for the needy aged]. ...” We are therefore of the opinion that although such board may be without specific authority to directly order the issuance of a duplicate warrant by a county auditor under such circumstances as are here depicted, nevertheless the board is a “party beneficially interested” in the issuance of such warrant, within the meaning of the provision of section 1086 of the Code of Civil Procedure that “It [the writ of mandamus] must be issued upon the verified petition of the party beneficially interested” (see 16 Cal.Jur. §§ 53-56, pp. 850-856), and is a proper party to maintain mandamus proceedings against county officials who fail or refuse to issue a warrant to a needy aged person who is a member of a class entitled thereto. Persons who are members of such a class are ordinarily financially, and often physically, unable to maintain such proceedings on their own behalf, and to deny to them the assistance of the welfare board under such circumstances would tend to defeat the purpose of the legislation which seeks to provide for them during needy old age. The rule is stated thus in 35 American Jurisprudence 73, section 320: “ [B]y the preponderance of authority . . . where the question is one of public right and the object of the man