D & B Auto Sales v. Commonwealth

370 A.2d 428, 29 Pa. Commw. 113, 1977 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 722
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 4, 1977
DocketAppeal, No. 1156 C.D. 1976
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 370 A.2d 428 (D & B Auto Sales v. Commonwealth) 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
D & B Auto Sales v. Commonwealth, 370 A.2d 428, 29 Pa. Commw. 113, 1977 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 722 (Pa. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Rogers,

The appellant partnership, D & B Auto Sales (D & B), a used car dealer, has been engaged in buying new automobiles from new car dealers for sale to the public. The vehicles acquired by D & B from the new car dealers have not been previously titled — that is, registered in the name of any owner in Pennsylvania or any other state. They have been registered in D & B’s name when purchased by it. D & B has ob-. tained “A” titles, designating it as the first or original owner. When D & B has sold the vehicles to customers, the latter have received “B” titles, the designation for a car having its second owner. The appellant has paid no Pennsylvania sales tax when acquiring the automobiles from the new car dealers but has collected the tax from its customers.

The State Board of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, Dealers and Salesmen, after hearing, suspended D & B’s license as a used car dealer for ninety days for violation of subsections 5(2) (xv) and 5(2) (xvi) of the Motor Vehicle Manufacturer’s Dealer’s and Salesmen’s License Act1 which state:

[116]*116The board shall have power and its duty shall be:
(2) ... to suspend or revoke licenses issued by the board if after due notice and hearing the person charged is found guilty of committing or attempting to commit the following acts:
(xv) Being a used car dealer as defined in ‘The Vehicle Code/ who advertises or otherwise holds out to the public that such dealer is selling new motor vehicles.
(xvi) Being a used car dealer as defined in ‘The Vehicle Code/ who sells motor vehicles which have never been registered or titled in Pennsylvania or any other state and on which a tax for education imposed by the ‘Tax Be-form Code of 1971/ has not been paid prior to such sale.

I) & B asks that we set aside the Board’s order, saying (1) that the Board was improperly constituted as required by statute and therefore without jurisdiction; (2) that there was not substantial evidence that the appellant advertised or held out to the public that it was selling new motor vehicles in violation of subsection xv; (3) that subsection xvi violates Article III, Section 3 of the Pennsylvania Constitution which prohibits the passage of a bill containing more than one subject; (4) that subsection xvi is an unwarranted exercise of the legislature’s police power; (5) that subsection xvi denies the appellant equal protection of the laws; and (6) that subsection xv is so vague and indefinite as to create an unconstitutional violation of due process. None of these contentions have merit.

The appellant’s challenge to the jurisdiction of the Board is based upon the asserted fact that two of its members who were used car dealers at the time of [117]*117their appointment have since acquired new car franchises, and that there were not two used car dealers on the ten person Board, as required by Section 3 of the Act, 63 P.S. §803.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has said that quo warranto is the exclusive remedy for a challenge to the right to hold public office, and that such right cannot be challenged collaterally. The acts of de facto officials are binding until they are ousted by an action in quo warranto. DeFranco v. Belardino, 448 Pa. 234, 292 A.2d 299 (1972). “Recognizing that an unlimited right to question collaterally the title to office would impede the orderly operation of government, we have ruled that the official acts of one who acts under the color of title to an office should be given the same effect as those of a de jure official.” (Emphasis in original.) State Dental Council and Examining Board v. Pollock, 457 Pa. 264, 267-68, 318 A.2d 910, 913 (1974). D & B is challenging the instant Board’s action on the grounds that some individuals on the Board are not properly serving. This challenge falls squarely within the de facto doctrine.

Adverting next to D & B’s assertion that the record does not contain substantial evidence that it has advertised or otherwise held itself out as selling new cars in violation of subsection xv, we note from the record that D & B sells new automobiles which it has purchased from new car dealers with new car stickers attached to the windows and with the manufacturer’s new car warranty. Neither of these activities is unlawful; they do however provide evidence that D & B holds itself out to the public which comes to its place of business as selling new motor vehicles. Indeed, a member of the D & B partnership testified that purchasers of such vehicles could and probably did assume that they were buying new ears. We think the evidence sufficiently supports the Board’s determina[118]*118tion that D & B holds out to the public that it sells some new cars. While the appellant had at the time of the Board hearing discontinued its earlier practice of advertising that it has “brand new” cars for sale, it continues to advertise that it has current models with low mileage. D & B’s present advertising practices do not offend subsection xv; they are, nevertheless, consistent with the activities at D & B’s place of business, at which location the evidence shows that the appellant holds out that it sells new cars.

D & B next says that subsection xvi of the License Act violates Article III, Section 3 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which provides that no bill shall be passed containing more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title. D & B’s argument being overly ingenious is difficult to follow. It first correctly says that subsection xvi prohibits all sales by used car dealers of automobiles on which a sales tax has not been paid prior to the sale. It then also correctly says that Section 201(h) (8) (i) of the Tax Reform Code of 1971, Act of March 4, 1971, P.L. 6, as amended, 72 P.S. §7201(k) (8) (i), excludes from the meaning of the phrase “sale at retail” any transfer of personal property for the purpose of resale, thus rendering purchases for resale not taxable. It next argues that subsection xvi’s stricture on sales by used car dealers of nontaxed cars bought for resale amends the Tax Reform Code’s definition of “sale at retail” as including, rather than excluding, the transfer of motor vehicles from a new car dealer to a used car dealer for the purpose of resale. This effect, D & B says provides subsection xvi with two subjects, sales of cars and taxes. Of course, subsection xvi has no such effect. It does not say that transfers of new cars for the purposes of resale are sales and thus taxable; it simply says that used car dealers may not sell vehicles of a certain description, to wit, those not pre[119]*119viously titled and on which no sales tax has been previously paid. It simply defines an activity forbidden to used car dealers. So far as subsection xvi is concerned, the appellant may sell cars titled in its name and on which sales tax has been paid prior to the sale.2

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Bluebook (online)
370 A.2d 428, 29 Pa. Commw. 113, 1977 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 722, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/d-b-auto-sales-v-commonwealth-pacommwct-1977.