Opinion
Argued February 2, 1983
April 13, 1983.
Appeals — Standing.
1. A township civil service commission which was not a party to proceedings in a trial court wherein commission orders were vacated has no standing to appeal the trial court decision. [413]
Argued February 2, 1983, before Judges ROGERS, BLATT and CRAIG, sitting as a panel of three.
Appeals, Nos. 1367 C.D. 1982, 1525 C.D. 1982 and 1526 C.D. 1982 from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County in case of Township of Bristol v. John H. Tegzes, No. 82-0589-05-5.
Police chief appealed demotion to the Bristol Township Civil Service Commission. Reinstatement ordered. Township appealed to the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County. Commission order vacated. GARB, J. Township, Commission and police chief appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Appeals consolidated. Held: Appeal of Commission quashed. Lower court orders affirmed.
John M. McClure, for John H. Tegzes.
Clyde W. Waite, for Township of Bristol.
Thomas E. Timby, for Bristol Township Civil Service Commission.
Craig A. Smith, for Amicus Curiae, Pennsylvania Police Officers Association.
In these consolidated cases, Bristol Township (Township) and the Civil Service Commission of Bristol Township (Commission) have appealed, as also has John H. Tegzes, formerly the Township Chief of Police. The appeals all relate to an amended order of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County which vacated two orders of the Commission. The trial court ruled that the Commission lacked jurisdiction to act in the matter concerned.
Although the employee and the Township have raised numerous issues in their appeals, the dispositive issue is whether or not the Commission had jurisdiction. We agree that it did not and we will affirm based on the well-reasoned opinion of the Honorable ISAAC S. GARB, reported at D. C.3d (198).
And, regarding the Commission's appeal, we will grant the Township's Motion to Quash. The Commission was clearly not a party to the proceedings before the trial court and it has no standing to appear as an appellant here. See Reorganization of Penn Cambria School District, 40 Pa. Commw. 322, 397 A.2d 465 (1979).
ORDER IN 1367 C.D. 1982
AND NOW, this 13th day of April, 1983, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County in the above-captioned matter is hereby affirmed.
ORDER IN 1525 C.D. 1982
AND NOW, this 13th day of April, 1983, the Township's Motion to Quash this appeal is hereby granted.
ORDER IN 1526 C.D. 1982
AND NOW, this 13th day of April, 1983, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County in the above-captioned matter is hereby affirmed.