Garrettson v. Commonwealth

405 A.2d 1146, 46 Pa. Commw. 136, 1979 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1994
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 20, 1979
DocketNo. 19 T.D. 1975
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 405 A.2d 1146 (Garrettson 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
Garrettson v. Commonwealth, 405 A.2d 1146, 46 Pa. Commw. 136, 1979 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1994 (Pa. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinions

Opinion by

Judge MacPhail,

George W. Garrettson, Jr. (Plaintiff) filed a complaint in equity against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Commonwealth), the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (Board), The Graphic Hand, Inc., and the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. Plaintiff sought an injunction to prevent the Defendants from distributing a State Liquor Store price list with Plaintiff’s picture on the cover and compensatory and punitive damages for injury caused Plaintiff by distribution of the list. The Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County issued an injunction against Defendants The Graphic Hand, Inc. and the, Delaware County Chamber of Commerce. The remainder of the suit was transferred to this Court by order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County on March 19,1974.

By the time of transfer, Plaintiff’s request for an injunction was moot because on January 8, 1974,- the Chairman- of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board ordered the front and back covers containing Plain[138]*138tiff’s picture removed from all the State Store price lists and sent to Harrisburg for disposal. From the time this case appeared in this Court in 1974, then, Plaintiff’s plea for relief has been limited to damages caused by an alleged invasion of privacy.

When this case was before us initially in 1974, Defendants Commonwealth and Board filed preliminary objections to the complaint on the basis of sovereign immunity. This Court, per Judge Mencer, sustained the preliminary objections and dismissed the complaint against Defendants Commonwealth and Board.1 Garrettson v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, 22 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 331, 348 A.2d 453 (1975). Plaintiff appealed this Court’s decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which reversed our prior decision on the basis of Mayle v. Pennsylvania Department of Highways, 479 Pa. 384, 388 A.2d 709 (1978) and remanded the case to us “for further proceedings.” Garrettson v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, 479 Pa. 416, 388 A.2d 724 (1978).

On remand, Plaintiff raises three issues for our consideration: (1) whether the Board is an independent Commonwealth agency, and, therefore, not provided with a sovereign immunity defense, (2) whether, if the Board is provided with a sovereign immunity defense, said defense should apply to the facts of this case2 and (3) whether sovereign immunity is available as a defense to a Commonwealth agency where that [139]*139agency allegedly is engaged in proprietary activity beyond its authorized governmental function.

It has long been held by the Courts of Pennsylvania that the Liquor Control Board is not an independent agency but is an integral part of the Commonwealth, and until the recent Supreme Court decision in Mayle, supra, the Board was afforded the full sovereign immunity protection provided for the Commonwealth in general. In Merchants’ Warehouse Co. v. Gelder, 349 Pa. 1, 7-8, 36 A.2d 444, 448 (1944), our Supreme Court stated, “The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is an agency of this Commonwealth created by it for the purpose of carrying out a state function and for this reason is clothed with immunity from suit.” (Footnote omitted.) In Biello v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, 454 Pa. 179, 301 A.2d 849 (1973), the Supreme Court reaffirmed its holding in Gelder. This Court, too, has reached similar results. See McCoy v. Liquor Control Board, 9 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 107, 305 A.2d 746 (1973), aff’d per curiam, 457 Pa. 513, 326 A.2d 396 (1974). The Supreme Court decision in Mayle, supra, overruled all of the above cited cases insofar as they extended sovereign immunity protection to the Commonwealth. Those parts of the decisions rendered in Gelder, Biello, and McCoy which held the Board to be part of the Commonwealth rather than an independent agency, however, were unaffected by the decision in Mayle, supra, and are still valid today.

Plaintiff calls our attention to the Supreme Court’s decision in Specter v. Commonwealth, 462 Pa. 474, 341 A.2d 481 (1975) in which the Court held that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (Commission) was an independent agency not entitled to the Commonwealth’s sovereign immunity protection. We refused to extend the holding in Specter to the General [140]*140State Authority in The General State Authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Pacific Indemnity Co., 24 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 82, 354 A.2d 56 (1976) and we refuse to extend it to the Board here.

The Court in Specter stated that whether a state agency is part of the Commonwealth depends upon the nature of the agency and its relation to other statewide governmental bodies. In making such a determination, we are to be guided by the legislative acts creating the agency and defining its purposes and powers and by the judicial decisions in which the status of the agency was at issue. Specter, supra, 462 Pa. at 479, 341 A.2d at 483. We have already reviewed the judicial decisions relating to the Board’s status and have found that they have been entirely consistent in holding the Board to be a part of the Commonwealth. In contrast, the Specter Court found that the judicial decisions relating to the Commission had waivered between holding it to be an independent agency and a part of the Commonwealth. Id., 462 Pa. at 483-93, 341 A.2d at 485-90.

The legislative acts relating to the Board’s purposes and powers also make clear that the Board is part of and not independent of the Commonwealth. The clear purpose of the Board as set forth in Section 104 of the Liquor Code, Act of April 12, 1951, P.L. 90, as amended, 47 P.S. §l-104(c) (Code) is “to prohibit the manufacture of and transactions in liquor, alcohol and malt or brewed beverages which take place in [the] Commonwealth” except as prescribed by the Board. The Liquor Code itself is an exercise of the police power of the State and is carried into effect by the Board.

The financial relationship between the Commonwealth and the Board, unlike that between the Commonwealth and the Turnpike Commission, is a close one. In Specter, the Court found that the Common[141]*141wealth and the Commission were financially independent of each other. The Commonwealth neither built nor maintained the turnpike nor was it responsible for the Commission’s debts. Furthermore, the Court found that the turnpike would not become part of the State highway system until all of the Commission’s financial obligations had been met.

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Bluebook (online)
405 A.2d 1146, 46 Pa. Commw. 136, 1979 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1994, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garrettson-v-commonwealth-pacommwct-1979.