Carleson

Appellant, the Director of Department of Benefit Payments (hereinafter the Department), appeals from an order of dismissal made pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 581, subdivision 3, after the trial court sustained the general demurrer of the Regents of the University of California (hereinafter the Regents) to the Department’s petition for writ of mandate. The Department waived its right to amend.

The Department is the agency of the State of California charged with the administration and enforcement of those portions of the Unemployment Insurance Code dealing with the payment of benefits due under that code. By its petition the Department sought judicial review, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 1094.5, of a decision of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (hereinafter the Board) which ordered the Department to refund to the Regents certain sums paid by the Department to one L. Stoller, a former employee of the Regents, in excess of the maximum amount of unemployment benefits awarded to Mr. Stoller.

In its petition for writ of mandate the Department alleged that L. Stoller was at one time an employee of the Regents at UCLA. Mr. Stoller…