Frailey Township School District v. Wetzel

29 Pa. D. & C. 607, 1937 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 322
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Schuylkill County
DecidedFebruary 23, 1937
Docketno. 2
StatusPublished

This text of 29 Pa. D. & C. 607 (Frailey Township School District v. Wetzel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Schuylkill County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frailey Township School District v. Wetzel, 29 Pa. D. & C. 607, 1937 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 322 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1937).

Opinion

Hicks, P. J.,

Statement of the pleadings

On October 6, 1936, plaintiff school district filed its bill in equity for an injunction against the membership of the board of road supervisors of the township and the secretary of the board. It is averred in the bill that defendants, their agents and employes, are constructing a 13-foot wall on plaintiff’s property which, if completed, will divide the athletic field of the school district from the bleachers, will obstruct the passageway of the school children going to and from the school building, and make a dangerous and unsafe place for the said school children; that the erection or construction of the wall will necessitate the removal of the grandstand by plaintiff from the site where it is now located to another location at a great expense; and that defendants are placing huge boulders, rock, sand, and dirt on said property of plain[608]*608tiff, rendering the same unfit for athletic purposes and causing irreparable damage. The prayer is, inter alia, for an injunction to issue, restraining defendants, their agents and employes, and each of them, from constructing a wall over plaintiff’s property, or from interfering in any manner with plaintiff’s property.

An answer was filed in which defendants aver that they are merely the sponsors of the project which is being directed, constructed and supervised by the Works Progress Administration, a governmental unit of the United States of America.

A preliminary injunction having been granted, a hearing was thereon held and continued. The parties agreed that the testimony which was taken should be considered as taken on final hearing.

Issues

Has the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County jurisdiction to issue an injunction against the board of road supervisors and its secretary, defendants herein, restraining them from assisting in, and cooperating with, the Works Progress Administration in the construction of a wall on plaintiff’s property, which was initiated by defendants, and from interfering in any manner with plaintiff’s property?

From the pleadings filed and the testimony taken, we make the following

Findings of fact

1. Frailey Township School District is a school district within the County of Schuylkill, Pa.

2. Defendants Fred Wetzel, John Hoverocker, and Milton Morgan are the supervisors of Frailey Township and James Opie is the secretary of the board of supervisors.

3. In Donaldson, the school district has erected and maintains a school building and playground, the latter being 30 feet by 145 feet with an iron fence surrounding it.

[609]*6094. In the rear of the enclosed playground and immediately adjoining it, is a baseball and football field used by the school district. This athletic field has been used by the school district for more than 30 years, and eight years ago the board of directors constructed bleachers thereon, of steel framework, with wooden seats, on concrete piers.

5. Under date of January 10, 1936, defendants, as the Board of Road Supervisors of Frailey Township, presented to and executed with the Works Progress Administration a project proposal to provide additional playground space at the school playground in Donaldson, including the removal of the present grandstand of the school district.

6. Of the estimated project cost, the board of supervisors, defendants, were to pay for materials and supplies, equipment rentals, and other direct costs, $1,476.50, and the Works Progress Administration, out of Federal funds, $8,845.40.

7. Although the board of school directors of the plaintiff district refused to approve the project upon request of defendants and the Works Progress Administration, defendants, in the project proposal, represented that plaintiff’s recommendation was unnecessary.

8. Defendants would not have proceeded with this work without the additional financial assistance provided in the project.

9. If the amount of $8,845.40 provided through Federal funds would not complete the project, defendants, as board of supervisors, assumed responsibility for its completion.

10. The Works Progress Administration is under no obligation to complete the project. It does not cover work for which local funds are currently appropriated, or work generally included in the normal governmental operations of the township road supervisors, or work generally included in the normal governmental operations of the [610]*610supervisors, nor will it result in the displacement of regular employes of theirs.

11. Prior to and at the time of the presentation of the bill in this case, the enlargement of the school playground was so proceeded with, against the disapproval and will of plaintiff school district, that a stone wall 13 feet high and 2½ to 3 feet thick was being built at the southeast corner of the present school wall.

12. This wall will cut off the bleachers or grandstand from the school playing field and necessitate its removal closer to.the playing field, narrowing it.

13. The erection of the wall will compel the school children to go around a square to get to the athletic field, make it more dangerous to the school children and cause plaintiff to expend funds of the taxpayers to put the athletic field in proper shape for use again.

14. The removal of the bleachers, constructed as they are, will damage them greatly and require the expenditure of funds for repairs which are not provided for by defendants or through Federal funds.

15. Defendants are solely responsible for the beginning and carrying on of the work upon plaintiff’s property, to which it has expressly dissented prior to the beginning of the work.

16. Defendants not only agreed to purchase and provide certain materials, supplies, and equipment in the carrying on of the work but, by resolution adopted, authorized the secretary, one of defendants, to arrange for the same.

17. According to the supervisors Morgan and Hove-rocker, defendants are supervising the work and, with the assistance of the Works Progress Administration, are doing the work.

18. The responsibility for the execution and supervision of the project is with the supervisor of operations of the Works Progress Administration and the employes are under his supervision.

[611]*61119. As far as the direction of the project is concerned, defendants have nothing to do with it at the present moment but are required to supply the materials and to cooperate with the Works Progress Administration supervisor as the latter directs the job, and their failure to do so is enough for the Works Progress Administration to suspend the job and close it down.

20. The Works Progress Administration is on this job because of defendants, contrary to the will of plaintiff.

21. The work would cease if defendants did not cooperate with the Works Progress Administration and provide the materials, supplies, and equipment which they promised.

22. Defendants are doing the work in cooperation with the Works Progress Administration.

23. Defendants have and are interfering with the property of plaintiff. j

Discussion

No findings of fact or conclusions of law were suggested, by either party to the chancellor.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 Pa. D. & C. 607, 1937 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frailey-township-school-district-v-wetzel-pactcomplschuyl-1937.