Butler v. County of Los Angeles

— This matter is before this court by way of appeal from an order denying application for preliminary injunction.

Appellants, Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriffs, are plaintiffs in an action in which they claim their transfers from patrol duty to stationary duty at the county jail were punitively motivated by the employer.

When appellants filed their complaint initiating this action, they secured an order to show cause in respect to preliminary injunction. The order to show cause defines the issue in this appeal; it specifies the relief plaintiffs sought to obtain pending trial of the case on the merits —namely, an order that would have (1) restrained defendants from transferring plaintiffs from patrol duty to county jail custody assignments without first providing plaintiffs with the reason for the transfers and with an opportunity to appeal the decisions resulting in the transfers, and (2) ordered defendants to reinstate plaintiffs to their former patrol positions.

In the complaint, which names the County of Los Angeles, its sheriff and certain of his deputies as defendants, it is alleged that plaintiffs were involuntarily, wrongfully and unlawfully transferred to the…