Merced County Sheriff's Employees' Ass'n v. County of Merced

Statement of the Case

This appeal turns on the interpretation of two “memoranda of understanding” (MOU), one between respondent Merced County (the County) and petitioner Merced County Sheriffs Employees’ Association (the Sheriffs Association), the other between the County and petitioner Merced County Professional Firefighters’ Association Local 1396 (the Firefighters’ Association), pertaining to salary increases to petitioners’ members for a three-year period commencing July 1, 1985. Petitioners sought a writ of mandate in the superior court ordering the County to follow the agreements according to petitioners’ interpretation.

The trial court ruled that the salary increase formula in the Sheriffs Association MOU was ambiguous, and that the parties’ consent to that formula was based on a mutual good faith mistake in its meaning; it ordered the paragraph rescinded and renegotiated. The Firefighters’ Association salary formula, however, with additional explanatory language, was found by the court to be unambiguous and binding on the parties “in accordance with its express terms.” This appeal and cross-appeal followed.

For the reasons to be explained, we hold the Sheriffs…