Hearing officer's decision carries NO WEIGHT in Superior court

[admin]

TAKE NOTE - once you have been found liable by a hearing officer you may appeal to Superior Court for a brand new trial for just $25.

Every person who believes they did not get a fair shake from a hearing officer (because they are paid and hired by the city) should appeal to court.

While it is mis-labeled an 'appeal' it is really a NEW TRIAL WITH NEW EVIDENCE. It gives you a second shot at winning at the trial level.

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Object to any inclusion of a hearing officer's findings in Superior court.

In the County of Riverside the appellate division cited this case which states a hearing officer's findings have no weight in Superior court.

Search this case on Riverside county court file website: APRI2300078

Alessandra Montanaro, defendant and appellant v. City of Cathedral City, plaintiff and respondent (corrected caption)

Chief Judge Firetag cites the case below.

Post v. Palo/Haklar & Associates, 4 P.3d 928, 98 Cal. Rptr. 2d 671, 23 Cal. 4th 942 (2000).

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case ... s_sdt=2006

NOTE - an appeal de novo is an appeal de novo (correctly named a TRIAL DE NOVO), it is the same for an administrative citation, as it is for administrative labor code decision. So the case law supports it is a NEW trial with NEW evidence and the hearing officer's findings or interpretation of law mean nothing.

"*Although denoted an "appeal," unlike a conventional appeal in a civil action, hearing under the Labor Code is de novo. (Lab.Code, § 98.2, subd. (a).) "`A hearing de novo [under Labor Code section 98.2] literally means a new hearing,' that is, a new trial." (Pressler v. Donald L. Bren Co., supra, 32 Cal.3d at p. 835, 187 Cal.Rptr. 449, 654 P.2d 219.) The decision of the commissioner is "entitled to no weight whatsoever, and the proceedings are truly `a trial anew in the fullest sense.'" (Sales Dimensions v. Superior Court (1979) 90 Cal.App.3d 757, 763, 153 Cal.Rptr. 690.) The decision of the trial court, after de novo hearing, is subject to a conventional appeal to an appropriate appellate court. (1 Wilcox, Cal. Employment Law, supra, § 5.18[2][a], p. 5-46.) Review is of the facts presented to the trial court, which may include entirely new evidence. (See Nordquist v. McGraw-Hill Broadcasting Co. (1995) 32 Cal.App.4th 555, 561, 38 Cal.Rptr.2d 221, 1 Wilcox, Cal. Employment Law, supra, § 5.18[3], p. 5-49.)

However this was actually decided in 1937 by Supreme Court.

Collier & Wallis, Ltd., v. Astor, 9 Cal. 2d 202, 70 P.2d 171 (1937).

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case ... s_sdt=2006