Local 773 v. City of Bristol

In this action for an injunction and for a declaratory judgment the central issue is whether, when the Bristol city charter requires a 70 percent passing grade on a written civil service examination, the grades can legally be curved, after the examination has been given and the results known, in order to provide a sufficient number of candidates to move on to the oral examination and to be placed on an eligibility list.

The plaintiffs are three city firemen who achieved a raw score of over 70 percent on written examinations before curving and who were appointed to the positions for which the…