Cavanagh v. Watson

On June 9, 1951, 5,700 candidates took a promotion examination for the position of lieutenant in the fire department of the city of New York. Only 450 passed that examination. The petitioners herein, all firemen, first grade, in the fire department were unsuccessful candidates upon that examination. In this proceeding, brought pursuant to article 78 of the Civil Practice Act, the court is asked to direct the municipal civil service commission to refrain from grading the answers to nine questions on the basis of their published “ key answers ” and to grade them differently, or in the case of…