Mandel v. Myers: Judicial Encroachment on Legislative Spending Powers

Abstract

In Mandel v. Myers,' the California Supreme Court considered the power of courts to compel satisfaction of money judgments rendered against the state when the state refuses to pay them. A money judgment under state law against the state traditionally has been held merely to liquidate the litigant's claim, while satisfaction of the judgment has been left to the legislature. The Mandel majority decided that the legislature's refusal to satisfy Mandel's court-awarded attorney fees amounted to an unconstitutional re-adjudication of the judicial decision to award those fees, and was therefore an encroachment on judicial power. The court held that a fund appropriated for operating expenses and equipment for the state agency that Mandel sued, though not legislatively intended to pay the attorney fees, could by virtue of the budget's broad language be applied to the claim by judicial writ of mandate.