ALLEGHENY PGH. C. CO. v. WASH. CO., 52 Pa. Commw. 221 (1980)


415 A.2d 163

Allegheny Pittsburgh Coal Company et al., Appellants v. Washington County, Pennsylvania, a County of the Fourth Class et al., Appellees.

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.Argued May 8, 1980
June 19, 1980.

Argued May 8, 1980, before Judges ROGERS, BLATT and WILLIAMS, JR., sitting as a panel of three.

Page 222

Appeal, No. 1010 C.D. 1979, from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Washington County in case of Allegheny Pittsburgh Coal Company, Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Consolidation Coal Company, Republic Steel Corporation, Sohio Natural Resources Company, West Middletown Company, Inc., The Buckeye Coal Company and Stelco Coal Company, co-tenants, for the use of Jones Laughlin Steel Corporation, Hillman Coal
Coke Company and The Hillman Company, each for the use of Bethlehem Steel Corporation and Jones Laughlin Steel Corporation, Manor Real Estate Company, for the use of Gulf Oil Corporation, United States Steel Corporation and Consolidation Coal Company, Mathies Coal Company, Montour Land Company, National Mines Corporation, North Star Coal Company, and Penvir Realty Company, all for the use of Consolidation Coal Company, corporations and Charles E. Campbell, Marne Obernauer, A. C. Speyer, Jr., Darthea Speyer, and A. James Speyer, individuals, all for the use of Consolidation Coal Company v. Washington County, Pennsylvania, a county of the Fourth Class; Malcolm Morgan, David L. Gilmore and Edward M. Paluso, individuals comprising The Board of Commissioners of Washington County, Pennsylvania; James Sutherland, Tom E. Cox and Joseph DeMaria, individuals comprising The Board of Assessment Appeals of Washington County, Pennsylvania; C. Wayne Fleming, an individual who is the Chief Assessor of Washington County, Pennsylvania; and 21st Century Appraisals, Inc., a Pennsylvania business corporation, and David S. Barr, its President, No. 7462, in Equity, 1979.

Complaint in equity in Court of Common Pleas of Washington County challenging real estate assessment. Appellees filed preliminary objections. preliminary objections sustained and complaint dismissed.

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SWEET, P.J. Plaintiffs appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Affirmed.

William R. Carroll, for appellant, Manor Real Estate Company, for the use of Gulf Oil Corporation.

Frank J. Gaffney, Thorp, Reed Armstrong, for appellant, Sohio Natural Resources Company.

Stephen P. McCloskey, Phillips Faldowski, for appellee, McGuffey School District.

William C. Porter, Assistant Solicitor, with him Patrick C. Derrico, Greenlee, Richman, Derrico Posa, for appellee, County of Washington.

OPINION BY JUDGE ROGERS, June 19, 1980:

Sohio Natural Resources Company and Manor Real Estate Company, two of a number of parties-plaintiffs below, have pursued their appeals from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Washington County sustaining preliminary objections to and dismissing their complaint in equity seeking injunctive and declaratory relief from the assessments of their coal properties for local tax purposes.

President Judge CHARLES G. SWEET has written a comprehensive and scholarly opinion supporting the order below and we affirm on that opinion reported sub nom Allegheny Pittsburgh Coal Company v. Washington County, 59 Washington Co. Rep. 201 (1979).

ORDER
AND NOW, this 19th day of June, 1980, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Washington County, dated April 12, 1979, to No. 7462, In Equity, is affirmed.

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