Glover

Discussion In Miller the City of Los Angeles terminated Miller's employment. He appealed to the Board of Civil Service Commissioners (Board). After an evidentiary hearing, the Board upheld his discharge. Miller did not file a petition for a writ of administrative mandate. Instead, he filed a civil action against the City. The complaint alleged FEHA claims including racial discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, as well as a claim of defamation. (Miller, supra, 169 Cal.App.4th at p. 1378.) The trial court sustained the City's demurrer to the entire complaint without leave to amend. The appellate court affirmed. It noted: "In Johnson v. City of Loma Linda (Johnson) (2000) 24 Cal.4th 61, [69-70,] . . . our Supreme Court determined: '[U]nless a party to a quasi-judicial proceeding challenges the agency's adverse findings made in that proceeding, by means of a mandate action in superior court, those findings are binding in later civil actions. . . . Exhaustion of judicial remedies . . . is necessary to avoid giving binding "effect to the administrative agency's decision . . . ." [Citation.]' [Citation.]" (Miller, supra, 169 Cal.App.4th at p. 1379.)…