DiLacqua v. City of Philadelphia

25 Pa. D. & C.5th 500
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedMay 9, 2012
DocketNo. 02401
StatusPublished

This text of 25 Pa. D. & C.5th 500 (DiLacqua v. City of Philadelphia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
DiLacqua v. City of Philadelphia, 25 Pa. D. & C.5th 500 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2012).

Opinion

TUCKER, J.,

I. Summary

This matter comes before the court on appeal from an order of the court overruling a decision of the City of Philadelphia, Board of Pensions and Retirement. The Board of Pensions and Retirement (hereinafter referred to as “appellant”) disqualified Rosemary DiLacqua (hereinafter referred to as “appellee”) from receiving pension benefits and terminated benefits under the City of Philadelphia Deferred Retirement Option Plan (hereinafter referred to as “DROP”). DROP is a program whereby eligible city employees may elect to make an irrevocable commitment to separate from civil service and to retire no later than four (4) years after entering the program; employees receive DROP payments upon separation from civil service. The Philadelphia Code § 22-310. Pursuant to Pennsylvania Local Agency Law and the Philadelphia Code, appellee appealed appellant’s decision to disqualify her from retirement benefits because of a conviction of honest services mail fraud, which has since been held to be unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, to the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. 2 Pa.C.S. § 754; The Philadelphia Code § 22-1201; §1202. A hearing was held in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on February 7, 2012 wherein appellant’s decision to disqualify appellee from retirement benefits was overruled by the court.

On February 27, 2012, appellant filed this timely appeal. The court ordered appellant to file a concise [502]*502statement of matters complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) (“1925(b) statement”). On March 14, 2012, appellant timely filed a response wherein appellant raises the following issues on appeal:

1. This court should have affirmed the board’s conclusion that Rosemary DiLacqua’s (“DiLacqua”) criminal actions directed that she be disqualified from receipt of pension benefits under Pennsylvania law.
2. This court should have affirmed the board’s conclusion that DiLacqua’s criminal actions directed that she be disqualified from receipt of pension benefits under the Philadelphia Code.
3. This court should have rejected DiLacqua’s attempts to lodge a collateral attack on her criminal conviction before the board and before this court.
4. This court should have ruled that DiLacqua’s criminal conviction for the federal crime of mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1341 & 1346, is substantially the same as the state crime of theft by deception, 18 Pa. C.S. § 3922, as set forth in the State Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act, 43 P.S. § 1311 et seq.
5. This court should have ruled that the criminal conviction DiLacqua incurred in her role as president of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Academy Charter School, a public charter school in Philadelphia, should result in the forfeiture of her pension.
6. This court should have respected the factual findings and credibility determinations of the fact-finder, the board, rather than making its own factual [503]*503findings and credibility determinations.
7. For the foregoing reasons, this court should have affirmed the board’s decision and upheld DiLacqua’s disqualification from receipt of pension benefits.
8. The board reserves the right to raise additional issues to the extent such additional issues are presented by this court’s opinion.

After careful review, the court finds these claims without merit. As appellant’s paragraphs 5, 7 and 8 are redundant, the court will address the remaining five (5) paragraphs. 1925(b) Statement. First, the court finds that appellant committed an error of law when it decided to disqualify and terminate Appellee’s pension benefits based on a guilty plea and conviction which has since been deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. Appellant terminated appellee’s pension benefits because she plead guilty to honest services mail fraud, which appellant determined triggered the disqualification of appellant from receiving her pension under the Philadelphia Code. In June of 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States held that convictions of honest services mail fraud outside of bribeiy and kickbacks are unconstitutional. The United States Supreme Court’s holding fundamentally altered the analysis that appellant must take in deciding whether an employee is disqualified from receiving their pension under the Philadelphia Code. Appellant denied appellee’s appeal of her disqualification in April of 2011, which was after the United States Supreme Court’s June 24, 2010 decision. Based on the change in intervening law, the appellant’s decision to terminate appellee’s benefits was an error of law.

[504]*504Second, and similarly, this court finds that appellant committed an error of law when it decided to disqualify and terminate appellee’s pension benefits based on a now unconstitutional federal conviction for honest services mail fraud. Appellant determined that appellee’s guilty plea and conviction for honest services mail fraud was substantially similar to an enumerated section of the Pennsylvania Forfeiture Act, namely the crime of theft by deception. The Supreme Court of the United States held that convictions of honest services mail fraud are limited to bribes and kickbacks; any conviction for honest services mail fraud beyond bribes and kickbacks is unconstitutional as of June 2010. Appellant terminated Appellee’s benefits in April of 2011. The United States Supreme Court’s holding fundamentally altered the analysis for which crimes are substantially similar to the Pennsylvania Forfeiture Act. Appellant denied appellee’s appeal of her pension forfeiture in April of 2011, which was after the United States Supreme Court’s June 24, 2010 decision.

Based on the change in intervening law, the appellant’s decision was in error. The salient facts in this matter are as follows:

II. Facts

Appellee was employed as a full time police officer with the City of Philadelphia from 1984 to 2009. Certified Record (09/06/2011) (“Findings of the Board of Pensions and Retirement”). During that period, she was promoted to the rank of detective. Id; brief of appellant (10/04/2011). Simultaneously, from the year 2000 to 2008, appellee served as the president of the Board of Directors of [505]*505the Philadelphia Academy Charter School (hereinafter referred to as “Charter School”); this was an unpaid volunteer position at the school where appellee’s autistic son was a student. Certified record (09/06/2011 )(“Findings of the Board of Pensions and Retirement”); Brief of Appellant (10/04/2011). As board president, appellee was responsible for overseeing the Charter School’s operations, including approving major expenditures and employee salaries. Certified Record (09/06/201 l)(“Findings of Board of Pensions and Retirement”). While serving on the Charter School’s board, appellee entered into three (3) financial arrangements with the founder of the school. Brief of appellant (10/04/2011). Flowever, appellee did not disclose those financial arrangements to the board of the Charter School of which she was President. Id.

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Bluebook (online)
25 Pa. D. & C.5th 500, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dilacqua-v-city-of-philadelphia-pactcomplphilad-2012.