Mahoney

Patrick Mahoney appeals the denial of his petition for writ of mandate for reinstatement with the San Diego Community College District in his tenured position as instructor of data processing at San Diego City College. We reverse with instructions to the trial court to issue the writ of mandate.

Factual and Procedural Background

Mahoney’s petition was denied without any evidentiary hearing at which the trial court could hear live testimony directed to the various disputed factual issues in this case. We are thus presented with a situation in which the trial court was asked to make contested factual findings from a cold record consisting of declarations and depositions of the parties and various other individuals. We recently had occasion to note that this type of fact-finding by the trial court presents serious conceptual problems (see Hurtado *792 v. Statewide Home Loan Co. (1985) 167 Cal.App.3d 1019, 1026, fn. 5 [ 213 Cal.Rptr. 712 ]) to the point that some courts have argued the appellate court is in no worse position than the trial court to “find” the disputed facts. (See United Farm Workers National Union v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters (1978) 87…