Bettencourt
Bettencourt v. City & County of San Francisco
Opinion
Opinion
Reardon, J.
The trial court denied a petition for writ of mandate and for injunctive relief filed by appellant Nicholas Bettencourt and four other members of respondent San Francisco Police Department (department) who sought dismissal of disciplinary proceedings before respondent San Francisco Police Commission (commission). The officers appeal the order denying mandamus and injunctive relief, contending that the charges against them must be dismissed inter alia because (1) the applicable statute of limitations bars these proceedings despite the then pending civil litigation in which each of the officers was a named defendant; and (2) the department failed to conduct a timely review of the charges in accordance with its own internal regulations. (See Gov. Code, § 3304, subd. (d)(6) (hereafter section 3304(d)).) In February 2006, we denied the officers’ petition for a stay of the disciplinary proceedings until the appeal was resolved. The disciplinary proceedings were set for hearing on October 10, 2006. In September 2006, we granted a renewed petition for a stay. We now affirm the trial court order and lift the stay.