Procedural Posture

Appellant California State Board of Examiners (board) challenged the decision of the Superior Court of Sacramento County (California), which found in favor of appellee county on the county's petition for a writ of mandamus compelling the board to allow and approve certain claims in favor of the county.

Overview: pc 135

In 1899, the county requested that the board reimburse it for the maintenance of orphans and abandoned children for the year 1895. The board denied the claims because they were time-barred. The county petitioned for a writ of mandamus to compel the board to allow and approve the claims, and the trial court found in favor of the county. The court reversed the decision and held first that the writ of mandamus could have been properly brought against the board under the Act of 1893 because the claim involved a contract between the state and the county pursuant to the Act of March 25,1880. The court then held that the claim was barred by the statute of limitations because it was not brought within two years from the time the claim could have been made in 1895. While a mandamus action could not have been brought until the board refused to perform the official duties sought to be enforced, the county had no right to delay a demand indefinitely, then assert that the claim had not begun to run until after the demand was made, thus enabling the county to defeat the object and purpose of the statute of limitations.

Outcome

The court reversed the trial court's judgment after holding that the grant of the county's petition of the writ of mandamus to compel the board to approve the county's claim was erroneous.