# Fernelius v. Pierce

> California Supreme Court · May 18, 1943 · 22 Cal. 2d 226

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9559561

## Case

- **Full name:** LOLA MAE FERNELIUS a Minor, Etc. Et Al., Appellants, v. AUGUST PIERCE Et Al., Defendants; BODIE A. WALLMAN Et Al., Respondents
- **Court:** California Supreme Court
- **Decided:** May 18, 1943
- **Citations:** 22 Cal. 2d 226; 138 P.2d 12; 1943 Cal. LEXIS 179
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Shenk
- **Judges:** Schauer, Shenk
- **Cited by:** 37 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9559561

## Opinion text

SHENK, J.
I concur in the judgment of reversal on the ground that the allegations of the complaint are sufficient to require the defendants Hassler and Wallman to answer, particularly the allegations of prior knowledge on their part of the vicious propensities of the malefactors, Pierce and Hancock, and of failure to institute timely disciplinary proceedings against them. These allegations, the truth of which is admitted for the purposes of the demurrer, bring the case fairly within the rules announced in Michel v. Smith, 188 Cal. 199 [ 205 P. 115 ], and similar eases. The civil service provisions of the Oakland City Charter are in essential respects the same as the provisions of the Los Angeles City Charter involved in the Michel case. A sound public policy supports the general rule of non-liability of superior public officers, for the torts of inferior civil service officers and employees and exceptions to that rule should not be extended; otherwise the assumption of public office with liability for the misdeeds of inferiors occupying civil service positions, many times numbering thousands, would indeed be a hazardous undertaking.
Respondents’ petition for a rehearing was denied June 14. 1943.

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9559561. Public record. Not legal advice.