Opinion
November 22, 1960.
April 17, 1961.
Courts — Jurisdiction — Commonwealth's petition for payment of funds into State treasury without escheat — Act of May 16, 1919, P.L. 177, as amended.
1. The Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County has no jurisdiction to hear and determine a petition of the Attorney General which seeks an order directing a Philadelphia bank and trust company to pay into the State treasury, without escheat, funds held by it or used for its own purposes, which allegedly came into being as a portion of the earnings and profits realized from the use of monies it held in years past in various fiduciary capacities; the Commonwealth's right to recover such funds is derived solely from the Act of May 16, 1919, P.L. 177, as supplemented and amended, and under § 1 thereof, which relates to jurisdiction and specifies the courts to which "application shall be made", jurisdiction to hear and determine such a petition is in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. [401]
2. Alpern, Attorney General, v. Girard Trust Corn Exchange Bank, 403 Pa. 391, followed. [401]
Mr. Justice COHEN took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.
Before JONES C. J. MUSMANNO, JONES, BOK and EAGEN, JJ.
Appeal, No. 7, May T., 1961, from order of Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, Commonwealth Docket No. 104 of 1958, in case of Anne X. Alpern, Attorney General, v. Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company et al. Order reversed.
Proceeding to have funds paid into State treasury without escheat.
Order entered overruling defendant's preliminary objections, opinion by HERMAN, J. Defendant appealed.
Ernest Scott, with him Robert L. Rubendall, Augustus S. Ballard, John G. Harkins, Jr., and Pepper, Hamilton Scheetz, for appellant.
Jack M. Cohen, Deputy Attorney General, with him Herman H. Krekstein, Special Assistant Attorney General, and Samuel Blaskey, Special Counsel, for appellee.
This appeal involves a petition for payment into the State treasury, without escheat, alleged unclaimed funds now in the hands of the Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company of Philadelphia. Through preliminary objections, Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company challenged the jurisdiction of the lower court, which objections were overruled. Fidelity appealed.
The questions raised by this appeal are substantially the same as presented for decision in the case of Alpern, Attorney General, v. Girard Trust Corn Exchange Bank, 403 Pa. 391, 170 A.2d 87. For the reasons stated in the opinion disposing of that appeal, the order of the lower court in this case is reversed and the petition is dismissed.
Mr. Justice COHEN took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.