City of Pasadena v. Smith

The Fire Fighters and Police Officers Civil Service Act 1 limits the grounds for judicial review of a hearing examiner’s decision in an appeal from a disciplinary suspension, 2 but as we observed in City of Houston v. Clark, if those limitations do not allow for meaningful review, they may violate constitutional restrictions on the delegation of government authority to a private person. 3 One ground is that the hearing officer exceeded his jurisdiction. 4 In this case we hold that the hearing examiner exceeded his jurisdiction in summarily reversing an officer’s indefinite suspension and…