Ins. Co. of North Am. v. Pa. Ins. Dept

Full title: Insurance Company of North America, Appellant, v. Commonwealth of…

Court: Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania

Date published: Oct 31, 1974

327 A.2d 414 (Pa. Cmmw. Ct. 1974)

327 A.2d 414

Opinion

Argued September 4, 1974

October 31, 1974.

Insurance — Administrative law — Appeal — Administrative Agency Law, Act 1945, June 4, P. L. 1388 — Promulgation of regulations — Adjudication.

1. No right of appeal is given by the Administrative Agency Law, Act 1945, June 4, P. L. 1388, from the promulgation by the Insurance Department of regulations of general application and future effect, such action being non-judicial in nature and not constituting an adjudication. [461-2]

Argued September 4, 1974, before President Judge BOWMAN and Judges CRUMLISH, JR., KRAMER, WILKINSON, JR., MENCER, ROGERS and BLATT.

Appeal, No. 187 C.D. 1974, from the Order of the Insurance Department in case of In Re: Regulation Establishing Requirements For Objections To Report Of Examination And Procedure For Hearings On Such Objections, Dated December 26, 1973.

Appeal from and exception to proposed adoption of regulations filed with Insurance Department. Regulations adopted. Objector appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Appellee filed motion to quash. Held: Motion granted. Appeal quashed.

William B. Pugh, Jr., Assistant General Counsel, with him Howard B. Nathans, Attorney, for appellant.

Gerald Gornish, Deputy Attorney General, with him, James D. Keeney, Assistant Attorney General, and Israel Packel, Attorney General, for appellee.

OPINION BY JUDGE CRUMLISH, JR., October 31, 1974:

The Insurance Department of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Insurance Department) moves to quash an appeal by the Insurance Company of North America (INA) taken from a regulation promulgated by the Insurance Department which establishes requirements for the filing of objections to reports of examination conducted by the Insurance Department under Section 213 of the Insurance Department Act,¹ and which further establishes procedures for the hearing of such objections. The regulation was filed with the Legislative Reference Bureau and was published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on January 12, 1974,² and is codified at 30 Pa. Code, 58.1-.3. On February 11, 1974, INA appealed to this Court from the promulgation of this regulation and the dismissal of its objection there to on the ground that these actions constituted an "adjudication" within the meaning of Section 2(a) of the Administrative Agency Law,³ and therefore appealable pursuant to Section 41 of the Administrative Agency Law, 71 P.S. 1710.41. The Insurance Department's motion to quash asserts that neither the promulgation of the regulation nor the dismissal of objections thereto is an appealable adjudication, and that INA lacks standing to take the instant appeal.

1 Act of May 17, 1921, P. L. 789, as amended, 40 P. S. § 51.

2 4 Pa. B. 54.

3 Act of June 4, 1945, P. L. 1388, as amended, 71 P. S. § 1710 2(a).

For the reasons expressed in the companion case of Insurance Company of North America v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Insurance Department, 15 Pa. Commw. 462, 327 A.2d 411 (1974), the instant appeal is quashed.

ORDER

AND NOW, October 31, 1974, the motion to quash the above appeal is hereby granted, and the appeal of the Insurance Company of North America is quashed.