California Correctional Supervisors Organization, Inc. v. Department of Corrections
Opinion
Opinion
Morrison, J.
The California Correctional Supervisors Organization, Inc. (CCSO) sought a writ of mandate to compel the California Department of Corrections and its director (collectively CDC) to discontinue certain staffing practices which assertedly violated CDC’s duty to provide employees with safe working conditions. The trial court issued a judgment denying the writ after concluding CCSO had not met its burden to prove any abuse of discretion by CDC. CCSO timely filed a notice of appeal. We affirm.
As the trial court judge explained at the hearing on the writ, CCSO’s complaints are not trivial, but they cannot be resolved by the judiciary. CDC has broad discretion to determine adequate staffing levels at prisons and CCSO has not shown CDC has acted outside the bounds of reason. Therefore, the trial court properly denied the mandamus petition.
Standard of Review
“A writ of mandate will lie to ‘compel the performance of an act which the law specifically enjoins, as a duty resulting from an office, trust, or station’ (Code Civ. Proc., § 1085) ‘upon the verified petition of the party beneficially interested,’ in cases ‘where there is not a plain, speedy, and adequate remedy, in the…