Opinion
January 4, 1980.
Motor vehicles — Suspension of motor vehicle operator's license — Timeliness of appeal — Jurisdiction — Judicial Code, 42 Pa. C.S. §§ 5571, 5572 — Mailing.
1. A court of common pleas has no jurisdiction over an appeal from an order suspending a motor vehicle operator's license when the appeal was not filed within thirty days from the entry of the suspension order as required by the Judicial Code, 42 Pa. C.S. § 5571. [321]
2. Under the Judicial Code, 42 Pa. C.S. § 5572, an order served by mail is deemed to have been entered on the date of mailing. [321]
Submitted on briefs, to Judges WILKINSON, JR., MENCER and ROGERS, sitting as a panel of three.
Appeal, No. 2777 C.D. 1978, from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County in case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Traffic Safety v. Matthew Carlo Quatrini, No. 6792-1978.
Suspension of motor vehicle operator's license by Secretary of Transportation. Licensee appealed to the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County. Appeal sustained. LOUGHRAN, J. Commonwealth appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Reversed. Suspension order reinstated.
Harold H. Cramer, Assistant Attorney General, with him Robert W. Cunliffe, Deputy Attorney General, and J. Justin Blewitt, Acting Attorney General, for appellant.
Thomas R. Ceraso, for appellee.
The Department of Transportation mailed to the appellant, Matthew Carlo Quatrini, notice of the suspension of his motor vehicle operator's license on June 16, 1978. On July 19, 1978 Quatrini filed his appeal in the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County. Section 5571(b) of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa. C.S. § 5571(b) provides that appeals from actions of governmental units to Courts must be filed within 30 days from the entry of the order appealed. Section 5572, 42 Pa. C.S. § 5572 provides that where service is by mail, the date of mailing is the date of the entry of the order. Since Quatrini failed to file a timely appeal, the court below, where the issue was unfortunately not raised, was without jurisdiction so that we must reverse its order in favor of Quatrini and reinstate the Department's order of suspension.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 4th day of January, 1980, it is ordered that the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County, dated November 6, 1978, be and the same hereby is reversed, and the order of the Department of Transportation made June 16, 1978 suspending the appellee's operating privileges be and the same hereby is reinstated.