Pollak

Emil Pollak appeals from the trial court’s denial of his supplemental petition for writ of administrative mandate (Code Civ. Proc., § 1094.5; undesignated statutory references will be to this code) and denial of his motion for attorney’s fees (Gov. Code, § 800), arising from Poliak’s dissatisfaction with the administrative handling by the State Personnel Board (SPB) of Poliak’s challenge to discipline imposed by his employer, the State Board of Equalization (BOB).

SPB sustained four separate disciplinary charges against Pollak and ordered that he be demoted. Pollak filed a petition for administrative mandamus in the trial court, and the court, after a review of the evidence in the administrative record, found that some of the charges should be sustained and some should not. The trial court remanded the case to SPB to reconsider the penalty in light of the trial court’s ruling that some of the charges should not be sustained. Even though the trial court had sustained various charges, Pollak did not appeal from that judgment.

On remand, the SPB took no new evidence but reduced the penalty. Pollak filed a supplemental petition for writ of mandate in the trial court, using…