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Mary A. JONES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Paul W. PRIEBE et al., Defendants-Appellees

United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit1973-12-27No. No. 73-1078
489 F.2d 709

Summary

Holding. The District Court's judgment affirming the Civil Service Commission's decision to sustain Jones's dismissal was affirmed. The administrative findings were supported by substantial evidence, including the creation of unauthorized cards, the issuance of vouchers to non-entitled individuals, and hospital records contradicting the claimed patient treatments.

Mary Jones worked as a clerk-typist and travel clerk for the Veterans Administration and was dismissed for preparing fraudulent vouchers that authorized improper travel reimbursements to individuals not entitled to them. During her administrative review, multiple levels of oversight—including a hearing examiner, the Veterans Affairs Administrator, and the Civil Service Commission—found that Jones had created unauthorized index cards in the master file system to enable the fraudulent vouchers, including one card bearing her ex-husband's name. Hospital records confirmed that several individuals named on the fraudulent vouchers had not received treatment on the dates claimed.

Jones appealed to federal court, arguing the evidence was insufficient to support the administrative findings. The court applied the narrow standard of review available in civil service dismissal cases, which permits reversal only when the administrative decision lacks substantial evidentiary support. The court examined the record and concluded that the evidence—including the extra cards typed by Jones, her initials on the vouchers, and the hospital records contradicting the claimed treatments—provided substantial evidence adequate to support the dismissal.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Standard of review for civil service dismissal decisions
  • What constitutes substantial evidence in administrative proceedings
  • Sufficiency of evidence to support findings of fraudulent voucher preparation

Procedural posture

Jones appealed from a District Court summary judgment that affirmed the Civil Service Commission's decision upholding her dismissal from the Veterans Administration.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

PER CURIAM.

Mary A. Jones has appealed from a summary judgment of the District Court, which judgment affirmed the decision of the United States Civil Service Commission sustaining her dismissal from employment by the Veterans Administration. She had been employed as a clerk-typist and travel clerk, grade GS-3, by the Veterans Administration at its Cleveland hospital. It was part of her duties to issue vouchers authorizing cash disbursements to veterans for specified travel expenses.

On August 6, 1970 Mrs. Jones was given an advance notice of proposed removal from her employment because of five charges of preparing fraudulent vouchers authorizing cash reimbursement of mileage-allowance to post-hospital-care patients.

A hearing was later held before a hearing examiner, who found that Mrs. Jones did prepare the fraudulent vouchers. This finding was upheld at every stage of the administrative review, which included the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs, the Appeals Examining Office, United States Civil Service Commission, Chicago Region, and the Civil Service Commission Board of Appeals and Review.

Mrs. Jones then sought review of the decision of the Civil Service Commission in the United States District Court. The District Judge, in a Memorandum Opinion and Order, granted summary judgment in favor of the Commission.

Mrs. Jones challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the factual findings of the Commission. The scope of review in this type of case is very limited. Determinations of an administrative body can be overturned only if they are not supported by substantial evidence. 5 U.S.C. § 706(2) (E). Substantial evidence means “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Consolidated Edison Co. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S.Ct. 206, 217, 83 L.Ed. 126 (1938), and it must be enough to warrant denial of a motion for a directed verdict in a civil case tried to a jury. NLRB v. Columbian Enameling & Stamping Co., 306 U.S. 292, 300, 59 S.Ct. 501, 83 L.Ed. 660 (1939), and Peoples Bank of Trenton v. Saxon, 373 F.2d 185, 189 (6th Cir. 1967).

An examination of the evidence in this ease reveals that it meets the test of substantiality. The voucher preparation process was based on an index card system which described the various authorizations to which each veteran was entitled. Mrs. Jones was required to check this master file as to each veteran before issuing a voucher. She issued and initialed several vouchers to four persons who were not veterans authorized to receive the same. Extra cards were found in the master file corresponding to names of these veterans, which cards had been typed by Mrs. Jones. One of the extra cards in Mrs. Jones’ own handwriting listed the name of her ex-husband.

Although Mrs. Jones never denied that she prepared the additional cards, she contends that faulty supervision and lax administrative procedures enabled her to do what she did. She claims she made these extra cards from appointment cards that were presented to her. However, this explanation seems unlikely and obviously was not believed by the hearing examiner. As a matter of practice appointment cards would have been presented to her only when and if the persons presenting them had actually received hospital care on that day; hospital records indicated that the persons named on certain vouchers had not been treated on the relevant days in question.

In our opinion there was substantial evidence to support the findings of the Commission.

The judgment of the District Court is affirmed.