McDonald's Systems of California, Inc. v. Board of Permit Appeals

The Board of Permit Appeals of the City and County of San Francisco has appealed from a judgment which granted petitioner, the successful applicant for a permit to alter an existing building to accommodate a restaurant, a peremptory writ of mandate ordering the board to set aside its decisions of July 31, 1972, and June 5, 1972, which purported to overrule the issuance of the permit. The trial court found that the board’s decision of July 31, 1972, was void for lack of jurisdiction, that there was not substantial evidence in the record from the hearing over which the board had jurisdiction to support the board’s decision of June 5, 1972, and that, in the alternative, that earlier decision was vacated by the granting of the petition for the abortive rehearing.

The board does not contend, as it might, that if the rehearing procedure continued beyond the period in which the board could exercise jurisdiction, without a further decision either concurring in or overruling the action of the department, the first decision would stand. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 660; and Whitley v. Superior Court (1941) 18 Cal.2d 75, 80-82 [ 113 P.2d 449 ] [overruled on another issue Dempsey v.…