Commonwealth v. Rapistan, Inc.

323 A.2d 410, 14 Pa. Commw. 501, 1974 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 853
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 26, 1974
DocketNo. 757 C.D. 1973
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 323 A.2d 410 (Commonwealth v. Rapistan, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Rapistan, Inc., 323 A.2d 410, 14 Pa. Commw. 501, 1974 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 853 (Pa. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Blatt,

In 1970 the Liquor Control Board (LCB) and Rapistan, Incorporated (Rapistan) entered into a contract whereby Rapistan agreed to construct and install, in the LCB’s Philadelphia warehouse and for the sum of $875,300, a conveyor system capable of handling

25.000 cases of alcoholic beverages during an eight-hour period. Subsequently, the LCB entered into another contract with Holt Hauling and Warehousing Systems, Inc. (Holt) for the operation of the warehouse. That contract provided for Holt to be paid 13.8^ for each case of alcoholic beverages handled through the warehouse and subsequently delivered to State Liquor Stores.

About October 1, 1970, Holt began using the Rapistan conveyor equipment in its warehouse operations. Almost immediately a dispute arose as to whether or not the equipment met the contract performance specifications, and the LCB refused to pay Rapistan the final $95,315.16 of the contract price, a sum which is still being withheld.1 Because Holt was unable to ship 25.000 cases per eight-hour period, allegedly due to the failings of the Rapistan equipment, the LCB entered into modification agreements of its original contract [504]*504with Holt, which required the LCB to pay Holt in excess of the contract rates and to reimburse Holt for additional expenses previously incurred. As part of its supplemental agreements, Holt agreed to waive its claims against the LCB and to discontinue an action against the LCB which it had begun before the Board of Arbitration of Claims. Additionally, the LCB agreed to institute this action against Rapistan.

The complaint of the LCB contains six counts seeking damages from Rapistan: (A) costs for the allegedly substantial modifications and upgrading required to make the conveyor system capable of meeting the contract standards; (B) recovery of additional money paid by the LCB to Holt allegedly because of the deficiencies in the equipment installed by Rapistan; (C) damages for breakage of the LCB’s products allegedly caused by defects in the conveyor system; (D) the sum of the damages set forth in Counts A-C; (E) recovery from Rapistan’s bonding company, the Federal Insurance Company (Federal), of the face amount of its performance bond; and (F) recovery for Holt of Holt’s additional costs of operation over and above the amount the LCB has agreed to pay Holt.

Rapistan and Federal have filed preliminary objections to the LCB’s complaint: (1) an objection as to jurisdiction and venue claiming that the complaint was not brought by the Commonwealth or an officer thereof acting within his official capacity, and further that the claim asserted in Count F “to the use of” Holt was not brought by the real party in interest and that this Court has no jurisdiction over a suit by Holt against Rapistan; (2) an objection raising the lack of capacity to sue and the pendency of a prior action because the contract at issue provides for the arbitration of all issues and also because the LCB is already engaged in an arbitration proceeding with Rapistan before the Board of Arbitration of Claims; (3) a demurrer to Counts B [505]*505and F on tlie basis that they concern only transactions between the LCB and Holt and create no rights, obligations or causes of action for or against Rapistan; (4) a demurrer to Count E on the basis that it fails to set forth any demand by the LCB that Federal perform or complete Rapistan’s contract, fails to set forth any basis for calculation of damages and fails to set forth any basis of a claim; and (5) a motion for a more specific pleading as to Counts A and C.

In considering this matter, we must, of course, note that preliminary objections admit as true all facts which are well and clearly pleaded, as well as all inferences reasonably deducible therefrom, but not the pleader’s conclusions or averments of law. Reardon v. Wilbur, 441 Pa. 551, 272 A.2d 888 (1971); Commonwealth ex rel. Powell v. Aytch, 10 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 218, 809 A.2d 734 (1973).

The first objection raised by Rapistan involves our jurisdiction in the instant case. As provided in Section 401(a) (2) of the Appellate Court Jurisdiction Act of 1970, Act of July 31, 1970, P.L. 673, 17 P.S. §211.401 (a) (2) : “The Commonwealth Court shall have original jurisdiction of . . . [a] 11 civil actions or proceedings by the Commonwealth or any officer thereof, acting in his official capacity, except proceedings under the Eminent Domain Code. . . .” Additionally, Pa. R.C.P. No. 2102(a) provides: “An action by the Commonwealth shall be brought in the name of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” The LCB is an agency of the Commonwealth, and in this instance is engaged in a governmental function. Biello v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, 454 Pa. 179, 301 A.2d 849 (1973); Merchants’ Warehouse Company v. Gelder, 349 Pa. 1, 36 A.2d 444 (1944). In fact Section 102(a) of the Appellate Court Jurisdiction Act, 17 P.S. §211.102(a) defines “Commonwealth” to include “departments, departmental administrative boards and commissions, of[506]*506ficers, independent boards or commissions, authorities and other agencies. . . .” (Emphasis added.) Section 201 of the Liquor Code, Act of April 12, 1951, P.L. 90, 47 P.S. §2-201 provides that the LCB is an “independent administrative hoard.” We believe that an action instituted on behalf of the LCB is within the jurisdiction of this Court but that it should be brought by the Commonwealth and not by the individual agency. This is merely a technical defect, however, which can be cured by amendment pursuant to Pa. R.C.P. No. 1033.

More substantial, however, is the issue of whether or not this action has been brought by and in behalf of the real party in interest. Rapistan alleges that the exhibits to the complaint demonstrate that the LCB brought this action solely for the benefit of Holt, that Holt is thus the real party in interest and that we would therefore have no jurisdiction. Pa. R.C.P. No. 2002 provides that all actions shall be prosecuted by and in the name of the real party in interest. “To be the real party in interest one must not merely have an interest in the result of the action but must be in such command of the action as to be legally entitled to give a complete acquittance or discharge to the other party upon performance.” (Emphasis in original.) Spires v. Hanover Fire Insurance Company, 364 Pa. 52, 58, 70 A.2d 828, 831 (1950).

In considering the exhibits referred to by Rapistan, as well as the allegations made in the complaint, it would appear that, at least for some of the counts, the LCB is a proper plaintiff as the real party in interest. By purporting to bring a claim “to use of” Holt, however, the LCB was in error. Rule 2002 has abolished the use action except in two specific instances: 1) when the plaintiff is acting in a fiduciary or representative capacity or 2) when the plaintiff is a person with whom or in whose name a contract has been made for the benefit of another. Certainly the first exception does [507]*507not apply here and, as we shall consider more fully below, neither does the second.

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In Re Francis Edward McGillick Foundation
594 A.2d 322 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)
F & M Schaefer Brewing Co. v. Board of Assessment Appeals
502 A.2d 310 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1985)
Scarborough v. Cartex, Inc.
5 Pa. D. & C.3d 449 (Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, 1978)
Holt Hauling & Warehousing Systems, Inc. v. Rapistan, Inc.
448 F. Supp. 991 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1978)
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board v. Rapistan, Inc.
371 A.2d 178 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
323 A.2d 410, 14 Pa. Commw. 501, 1974 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 853, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-rapistan-inc-pacommwct-1974.