DeBald v. McCarthy

487 A.2d 460, 87 Pa. Commw. 408, 1985 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 823
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 5, 1985
DocketAppeals, Nos. 1780 C.D. 1983 and 1857 C.D. 1983
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 487 A.2d 460 (DeBald v. McCarthy) 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
DeBald v. McCarthy, 487 A.2d 460, 87 Pa. Commw. 408, 1985 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 823 (Pa. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Craig,

The Borough of Kenuett Square1 appeals from a decision of the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County, sitting en banc, which affirmed, in part, an order which Judge Gawthrop of that court had issued in a mandamus action which several police officers2 had brought against the borough to enforce arbitration awards and collective bargaining commitments. The en banc court affirmed those parts of Judge Gawthrop’s order requiring the borough to pay the officers for overtime worked during 1978 through 1981 and to purchase life insurance for each officer, ■but struck those paragraphs of the order directing the borough to pay to the police pension fund the amounts it had failed to expend for life and disability insurance. The officers cross-appeal from the striking of those parts of Judge Gawthrop's order.3

[411]*411The several issues for our determination are (1) whether Judge Gawthrop .properly addressed and determined .the availability of mandamus, (2) whether mandamus was appropriate for two former officers, (3) whether the trial court erred in an evidentiary ruling, (4) whether the trial court correctly awarded overtime pay, and, on the cross-appeal, (5) whether the en banc court abused its discretion by striking portions of Judge Gawthrop’s order.

During the years 1974 through 1981, a series of collective bargaining agreements and arbitration awards4 governed the employment relationship between the borough and its police officers, in accordance with Act 111, Act of June 24, 1968, P.L. 237, as amended, 43 P.S. §§217.1-217.10. The terms of those awards and agreements required the borough to compensate ¡the officers at one and one-half times the hourly base pay for overtime, defined as more than eight hours per day or forty hours per week. The terms also required the borough to purchase term life insurance in the amount of $25,000 for each officer and to spend a maximum of $2,000 per year, in both 1975 and 1976, for disability insurance. The 1983 contract, in effect at the time of Judge Gawthrop's decision, similarly required the borough to purchase life insurance for each officer.

[412]*412The officers sought mandamus to compel the borough’s compliance with each of the specified terms. After trial, Judge Gawthrop issued an order deciding in favor of the officers on each of those points. Buling on the borough’s exceptions, the en bane court concluded that no precedent directly supported the judge’s order granting to the police pension fund those sums which the borough had failed to expend for insurance premiums; the court en banc therefore struck those sections, but left the balance of Judge Gawthrop’s order as the court’s final order.

1. Availability of Mandamus

■The borough initially contends that Judge Gawthrop erred by failing to determine, after receiving evidence, whether mandamus was the appropriate procedural vehicle for the case. Before answering the complaint, the borough had filed a preliminary objection in the nature of a demurrer; Judge Stively overruled that objection, concluding that mandamus was available to enforce Act 111 arbitration awards and agreements.

In his order, Judge Gawthrop specifically agreed that mandamus was the proper procedure, noting in a footnote that Judge Stively’s initial determination was the law of ¡the case on the issue. The borough argues that because Judge Gawthrop had heard evidence in the case, the preliminary decision was no longer binding and therefore, he should have, but did not, reconsider the issue.

The cases have clearly established the general rule that “absent some [new] evidence it is improper for a trial judge to overrule an interlocutory order by another judge of the same court in the same case. . . ,”5 [413]*413Commonwealth v. Tyson, 57 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 569, 575, 427 A.2d 283, 286 (1981); Reifinger v. Holiday Inns, Inc., 315 Pa. Superior Ct. 147, 461 A.2d 839 (1983). At the close of trial, Judge Gawthrop had received evidence that had not .been available to Judge Stively ; however, the receipt of evidence, which may have empowered Judge Gawthrop to overrule the preliminary decision, did not require him to do so.

■■Contrary to the borough’s interpretation, we do not read Judge Gawthrop’s statement as indicating-failure to consider the question. Bather, it reflects his implicit determination that the evidence did not justify overruling the initial order, which therefore became binding.

The borough also continues to argue that mandamus was not available because the officers had an adequate remedy through a civil action (formerly assumpsit).

The extraordinary writ of mandamus may “compel the performance of a ministerial act or mandatory duty only ‘where there is a clear legal right in the plaintiff, a corresponding duty in the defendant, and a want of any other appropriate and adequate remedy.’ ” Township of South Fayette v. Commonwealth, 73 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 495, 506, 459 A.2d 41, 46 (1983), quoting Valley Forge Racing Association v. State Horse Rocing Commission, 449 Pa. 292, 295, 297 A.2d 823, 825 (1972).

The recent case of Geriot v. Council of the Borough of Darby, 491 Pa. 63, 417 A.2d 1144 (1980), appeal after remand, 73 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 1, 457 A.2d 202 (1983), firmly established that mandamus is available to enforce clear contractual rights arising from Act 111 collective bargaining- agreements and arbitration awards. We agree with the trial court that with respect to the borough’s duty to purchase life insurance and compensate the officers for overtime, the [414]*414agreements and awards are without ambiguity; thus, we conclude that the court did not err in allowing the officers to proceed in mandamus.

With respect to its contention that the officers were not entitled to mandamus because the applicable agreements and awards had expired, thereby negating any clear legal rights .and duties, the borough was unable to supply any direct authority for the proposition that only executory contracts are enforceable through mandamus.6 In Angelotti v. Rankin Borough, 341 Pa. 320, 19 A.2d 398 (1941), which the borough cites, the court’s determination that mandamus was unavailable turned, not upon the fact that the contract had been executed, but upon the plaintiff’s failure to prove the existence of the applicable contract and the court’s general statement, without reference to the evidence, that he had “made out no case for a writ of mandamus. ’ ’ Angelotti, 341 Pa. at 323, 19 A.2d at 399.

2. The Former Officers

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
487 A.2d 460, 87 Pa. Commw. 408, 1985 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 823, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/debald-v-mccarthy-pacommwct-1985.