PENNSYLVANIA INST. HEALTH SERV. v. Com.

649 A.2d 190, 168 Pa. Commw. 135
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 20, 1994
StatusPublished

This text of 649 A.2d 190 (PENNSYLVANIA INST. HEALTH SERV. v. Com.) 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
PENNSYLVANIA INST. HEALTH SERV. v. Com., 649 A.2d 190, 168 Pa. Commw. 135 (Pa. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

168 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 135 (1994)
649 A.2d 190

PENNSYLVANIA INSTITUTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES INC.; Carl A. Hoffman; John Lesniewski; Edward Russek; Paul F. Phillips; Robert Davis; and Dana Powell, Petitioners
v.
COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; Laurence J. Reid, as Executive Deputy Commissioner, Department of Corrections, Michael H. Hershock, Secretary of the Budget, and David L. Jannetta, Secretary of General Services, Respondents.

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued April 12, 1994.
Decided October 20, 1994.
Reargument Denied November 18, 1994.

*136 Joshua D. Lock and Lee C. Swartz, for petitioners.

Joseph R. Thomas, for respondents.

Before SMITH and PELLEGRINI, JJ., and KELTON, Senior Judge.

*137 KELTON, Senior Judge.

In this equity action addressed to our original jurisdiction, we are asked to decide whether, prior to an administrative hearing, we should (1) declare that a management directive of the Secretaries of Budget and General Services is unconstitutional on its face because of violation of due process principles set forth in Lyness v. State Board of Medicine, 529 Pa. 535, 605 A.2d 1204 (1992); and (2) enjoin further administrative hearings.

Before us are two motions for summary judgment, one filed by Petitioner Pennsylvania Institutional Health Services, Inc. (PIHS), a contractor which had been performing services for the Department of Corrections at the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill (SCIC); and a second filed by Respondent, Department of Corrections. The Department in its December 6, 1993 motion for summary judgment seeks to have this Court 1) determine that Commonwealth contractor PIHS' Petition for Review in the Nature of a Complaint in Equity and for Declaratory Judgment (Petition) has no merit; and 2) enter judgment in favor of the Department as a matter of law.[1] PIHS in its November 30, 1993 application for summary relief seeks to have this Court 1) declare that Management Directive 215.9 (M.D. 215.9) violates Article I, Sections 1, 9 and 11 of the Pennsylvania Constitution; and 2) make our August 25, 1993 preliminary injunction permanent.

By the order which follows, we determine that the management directive does not on its face require a commingling of prosecutorial and adjudicatory functions in violation of Lyness. Therefore we grant the Department's motion for summary judgment, deny the Petitioner's motion, and transfer the matter to an appropriate administrative forum to be determined pursuant to Section 7.c. of M.D. 215.9 (hereinafter discussed).

Background

On June 29, 1990, Governor Robert P. Casey issued Executive Order 1990-3 establishing a Contractor Responsibility *138 Program for Commonwealth contractors. The case before us involves the Department of Corrections' potential debarment of a Commonwealth contractor from Commonwealth contracting pursuant to M.D. 215.9, which implements Executive Order 1990-3 and was jointly promulgated on December 30, 1991 by Secretary of Budget Michael H. Hershock and Secretary of General Services David L. Janetta.[2] The purpose of M.D. 215.9 is as follows:

1. Purpose.
. . . .
b. To ensure that the Commonwealth's contractors are competent and responsible and that the contracting process is free of fraud, waste, and abuse. To identify, declare ineligible, and sanction contractors that have rendered deficient performance or engaged in other activities that adversely affect their fitness to contract with Commonwealth agencies.

(Section 1.b of M.D. 215.9.)

On June 1, 1989, PIHS, comprised of individual doctors and psychiatrists associated or affiliated with PIHS, entered into a four year contract with the Department of Corrections to provide general health care and specialized medical services at SCIC. (Exhibit A to January 25, 1993 Petition; Paragraph 2 of February 1, 1993 Stipulation of Facts.)

The incident giving rise to the Department of Corrections' suspension involved John Edward Powell, a twenty eight year old resident of SCIC who died from dehydration on June 30, 1992. After various investigations, Department of Corrections Executive Deputy Commissioner Laurence J. Reid (Reid) notified PIHS that it was suspended from contracting with the Department of Corrections for an initial period of three months, pending an investigation into Mr. Powell's death and other contract irregularities. (Exhibit C to Petition.)

*139 Pursuant to Section 7.b.(2) of M.D. 215.9, PIHS presented information in opposition to the suspension on September 23, 1992. (Paragraph 4 of Stipulation.) On November 5, 1992, Reid notified PIHS that the suspension imposed on August 5, 1992 was being extended for another three month period, pending completion of the investigation. (Paragraph 5 of Stipulation.)

On January 6, 1993, Reid notified PIHS that the Department was considering whether to debar PIHS from Commonwealth contracting because it was allegedly "engag[ing] in acts or omissions to act which substantially contributed to the death of inmate John Edward Powell, No. BP-4653, at the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill in July of 1992. . . ." (Exhibit E to Petition.)

In response to Reid's January 6, 1993 notification that the Department was considering debarment proceedings, PIHS filed in this Court on January 25, 1993 a Petition for Review in the Nature of a Complaint in Equity and for Declaratory Judgment and requests for preliminary injunctive relief. After considering the Department's February 22, 1993 preliminary objections to the petition and PIHS' preliminary objections to the Department's preliminary objections, this Court on August 31, 1993 overruled the Department's preliminary objections, ordered it to respond within thirty days to PIHS' petition for review and dismissed PIHS' preliminary objections to the Department's preliminary objections.[3]

Now, we consider the Department's December 6, 1993 motion for summary judgment or summary relief and PIHS' November 30, 1993 application for summary relief.[4]

Discussion

Pa.R.A.P. 1532(b) provides as follows:

*140 (b) Summary relief. At any time after the filing of a petition for review in an appellate or original matter the court may on application enter judgment if the right of the applicant thereto is clear. . . .

In Magazine Publishers v. Department of Revenue, 151 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 592, 596 n. 3, 618 A.2d 1056, 1058-9 n. 3 (1992), we noted that

[s]ummary relief is proper where the moving party establishes that the case is clear and free from doubt, that there exist no genuine issues of material fact to be tried and that the movant is entitled to relief as a matter of law.

Here, we must resolve the three issues presented in the motion for summary judgment or summary relief and the application for summary relief: 1) whether PIHS has identified any legally recognized constitutional or statutory rights which would be affected through application of the procedures outlined in M.D.

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649 A.2d 190, 168 Pa. Commw. 135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pennsylvania-inst-health-serv-v-com-pacommwct-1994.