WAYNESBURG BOROUGH v. VAN SCYOC, 419 Pa. 104 (1965)

213 A.2d 216

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.May 26, 1965.
September 29, 1965.

Courts — Jurisdiction — Common pleas — Quarter sessions — Action for violation of municipal ordinance — Recovery of penalty — Appeal from judgment entered by magistrate.

An action for violation of a municipal ordinance is civil in nature and an appeal from a determination of guilt and a judgment imposing a penalty thereunder will lie only to the court of common pleas; the court of quarter sessions has no jurisdiction in such a situation.

Before BELL, C. J., MUSMANNO, JONES, COHEN, EAGEN, O’BRIEN and ROBERTS, JJ.

Appeal, No. 157, March T., 1965, from order of Superior Court, April T., 1964, No. 244, affirming judgment of Court of Quarter Sessions of Greene County, June T., 1964, No. 79, in case of Borough of Waynesburg v. Ronald L. Van Scyoc, manager, Greene County Farm Bureau Co-operative Association. Order of Superior Court vacated, judgment of Court of Quarter Sessions vacated, and case remanded.

Same case in Superior Court: 204 Pa. Super. 565.

Appeal by defendant from convictions for failure to comply with taxing ordinances of borough.

Defendant found guilty and judgment entered, opinion by HOOK, P. J. Defendant appealed to Superior Court which affirmed judgment, opinion by MONTGOMERY, J. Appeal to Supreme Court allowed.

David Putney, with him Putney Killian, for appellant.

William P. Thomas, Jr., with him Pollock, Pollock Thomas, for appellee.

Richard C. Fox, James H. King, and McNees, Wallace Nurick, for amicus curiae.

Page 105

OPINION BY MR. JUSTICE COHEN, September 29, 1965:

Ronald L. Van Scyoc (Van Scyoc) is the manager of the Greene County Farm Bureau Cooperative Association. As such, he was charged by the Borough of Waynesburg with violations of its municipal ordinance (enacted annually in 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1963) imposing a mercantile tax for failure to file the annual mercantile tax return required by the ordinance. He was found guilty of the charge and apparently sentenced to pay a fine of $100.[1]

Van Scyoc then filed a petition for an appeal with the Court of Quarter Sessions of Greene County. The appeal was allowed, and, following hearing, that court found Van Scyoc guilty despite his contention that the cooperative association was exempt from the local tax because of its payment of corporate net income tax to the Commonwealth.

On further appeal to the Superior Court, the contention of Van Scyoc was again rejected and the judgment of the court of quarter sessions affirmed. 204 Pa. Super. 565, 205 A.2d 683 (1964). We allowed an appeal to this Court.

We do not pass upon the merits of this case. The decision of the Superior Court must be vacated, the judgment of the court of quarter sessions vacated and the case remanded to the latter court with instructions to dismiss Van Scyoc’s appeal. It is now the settled law of this Commonwealth that an action for violation of a municipal ordinance is civil in nature and that an appeal from a determination of guilt and a judgment imposing a penalty thereunder will lie only to the court of common pleas. Commonwealth v. Ashenfelder, 413 Pa. 517, 198 A.2d 514
(1964). This is a question of

Page 106

jurisdiction and quarter sessions has no jurisdiction in such a situation. Therefore, it had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal of Van Scyoc in this case.

The order of the Superior Court and the judgment of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Greene County are vacated and the case is remanded to the Court of Quarter Sessions of Greene County with instructions to enter an order dismissing Van Scyoc’s appeal to that court for want of jurisdiction.