Doctors Osteopathic Hospital v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board

374 A.2d 1277, 473 Pa. 407, 1977 Pa. LEXIS 737, 96 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2489
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 8, 1977
DocketNo. 111
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 374 A.2d 1277 (Doctors Osteopathic Hospital v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doctors Osteopathic Hospital v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, 374 A.2d 1277, 473 Pa. 407, 1977 Pa. LEXIS 737, 96 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2489 (Pa. 1977).

Opinion

OPINION

MANDERINO, Justice.

Pursuant to a Petition for Representation filed with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (“Board”) by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (“Union”), hearings were held and an election was conducted to determine the exclusive representative of the employees of appellant, Doctors Osteopathic Hospital (“Hospital”).

The election resulted in 125 votes in favor of representation by the Union, 100 votes for no representation, and 36 ballots challenged by appellant. The Board conducted a hearing, and took testimony as to the challenged ballots. On October 18, 1973, the Board certified the Union as the exclusive representative of Hospital’s employees, [409]*409excluding confidential, supervisory and management level employees, and guards. Appellant’s exceptions to the Board’s order were dismissed on January 17,1974.

On February 14, 1974, appellant appealed to the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County, which, on October 3, 1974, affirmed the Board’s order. Appellant then filed a “Petition for Reargument and Reconsideration”, and on October 8, 1974, the Erie County court issued the following Order:

“ORDER
AND NOW, this 8 day of October, 1974, it is hereby ordered that the parties are directed to show cause why the Opinion and Order of October 3, 1974, should not be reconsidered and revised pursuant to the Petition for Reargument and Reconsideration. The parties may submit briefs in support of their respective positions on or before Nov. 18, 1974, and oral argument on the Motion will be heard Nov. 27, 1974. At 9:30 A. M.”

Briefs were submitted and oral argument heard pursuant to this order. The Court then issued the following:

“ORDER OF COURT
AND NOW, December 4, 1974, it is ordered and decreed as follows:
On October 3, 1974 an Opinion and Order were filed dismissing the Appeal and Petition for Review filed by Doctors Osteopathic Hospital.
A Petition for Reargument and Reconsideration was later filed asserting a change in Federal Law plus the case of BROWNSVILLE v. P.L.R.B. [15 Pa.Cmwlth. 428] 325 A.2d 662, 1974, holding that a hospital (perhaps such a hospital as Doctors Osteopathic) is not a ‘public employer’ under Pennsylvania’s Act 195 and [410]*410hence challenging the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board in this matter.
The Court understands that the Brownsville decision may be before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for a definitive decision.
Finding this Court in a limbo world and being unsure of both the status of the law and the Court’s power in this situation, I believe the proper remedy would be to dismiss the case and permit Doctors Osteopathic Hospital to file an appropriate appeal.
ORDER
AND NOW, December 4, 1974, the Petition for Reargument and Reconsideration, filed by Doctors Osteopathic Hospital, is dismissed.”

On December 20, 1974, Hospital appealed to the Commonwealth Court. In response, the Board filed a Motion to Quash, alleging that the appeal was not timely filed. The Commonwealth Court dismissed the appeal as untimely. Drs. Ostpthc. Hos. v. Pa.L.R.B., 22 Cmwlth. 41, 347 A.2d 499 (1975). Hospital’s Petition for Reargument was then denied. On March 22, 1976, we granted Hospital’s Petition for Allowance of Appeal and this appeal followed.

Initially, appellant argues that the Commonwealth Court erroneously dismissed its appeal as untimely filed. For the reasons that follow, we agree. We therefore vacate the Commonwealth Court’s order quashing Hospital’s appeal, and remand the case to the Commonwealth Court for consideration of the merits of that appeal. In addition, the Commonwealth Court is to consider the Motion to Dismiss (on mootness grounds) filed by the Board.

The Commonwealth Court dismissed Hospital’s appeal stating:

“By opinion and order dated October 3, 1974, [the Erie County] court dismissed the appeal. On October [411]*4117, 1974, appellant petitioned the Erie County court for reargument. However, appellant neither requested nor was granted a stay of the proceedings pending the lower court’s decision on the merits of appellant’s petition. Thereafter, on December 4, 1974, reargument was denied. The instant appeal was filed with this Court on December 20, 1974, a date beyond the thirty day appeal period (as measured from the date of entry of the lower court’s order dismissing the appeal, or October 3, 1974) mandated by the Appellate Court Jurisdiction Act of 1970. [Act of July 31, 1970, P.L. 673, § 502, as amended, 17 P.S. § 211.502] This factor precipitated the filing of a motion to quash, for untimeliness, by the PLRB.
Our disposition of the motion to quash is clearly controlled by our recent decision in Bucher v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, [21 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 602, 347 A.2d 497 (1975) ]. There, we were confronted with the question of whether the mere filing of a petition for reargument, which is subsequently denied, effects a tolling of the thirty day appeal period. There, we were cognizant of the Supreme Court’s decision in Alco Parking Corporation v. Pittsburgh, 453 Pa. 245, 307 A.2d 851 (1973), rev’d on other grounds, 417 U.S. 369, 94 S.Ct. 2291, 41 L.Ed.2d 132 (1974), in which the Court held that the granting of a petition for reargument within the thirty day appeal period acted as a tacit stay of the proceedings and, thus, tolled the thirty day appeal period pending a resolution after reargument. Finally, there, we distinguished Aleo and found that neither the Supreme Court’s holding nor its rationale had any application where a petition for reargument is denied. This case is Bucher “revisited”, and it merits identical treatment.”

The Commonwealth Court’s opinion states that the appellant’s petition for reargument was filed on October 7, [412]*4121974, and denied on December 4, 1974. The opinion implies that nothing occurred between the dates of October 7, 1974 and December 4, 1974. As we have indicated, however, in the recitation of the history of the case, after the appellant filed its petition for reargument on October 7, 1974, the Court of Common Pleas issued its order of October 8, 1974, which is not referred to in the Commonwealth Court opinion. Following the October 8, order, briefs were submitted and oral argument heard pursuant to the October 8 order. Only after the consideration of the briefs submitted and the oral argument did the Court of Common Pleas issue its order of December 4, 1974.

We conclude that the Common Pleas court’s order of October 8, 1974, can be reasonably interpreted only as a grant of Hospital’s petition for reargument.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hook v. Athens Area School District
413 A.2d 1151 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
374 A.2d 1277, 473 Pa. 407, 1977 Pa. LEXIS 737, 96 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doctors-osteopathic-hospital-v-pennsylvania-labor-relations-board-pa-1977.