Brown v. Dearborn

Plaintiffs sought a peremptory writ of mandamus to compel defendant, the Personnel Director of the City of Salem, either to apply "veteran’s preference points” to their scores on a civil service promotional exam or to deduct such points from the other candidates’ scores to which they had been added. An alternative writ issued. After a hearing on the return to the writ, the trial court issued a peremptory writ ordering defendant to apply the points to plaintiffs’ scores.

The facts are not in dispute. Plaintiffs are corporals in the city’s Police Department. Each took an examination for…