Wetzel & Son, Inc. v. State Board of Undertakers

43 Pa. D. & C. 252, 1941 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 213
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County
DecidedMarch 10, 1941
Docketno. 1077
StatusPublished

This text of 43 Pa. D. & C. 252 (Wetzel & Son, Inc. v. State Board of Undertakers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wetzel & Son, Inc. v. State Board of Undertakers, 43 Pa. D. & C. 252, 1941 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 213 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1941).

Opinion

WlCKERSHAM, J.,

This matter is before us on preliminary objections on the part of defendants to complainant’s bill in equity.

The bill sets forth, inter alia, that complainant is a licensed undertaker conducting its business at 4710-12 North Fifth Street, Philadelphia, and that on different occasions complainant employs the use of the chapel in the home of Walter Wetzel at 6902 Rising Sun Avenue, Philadelphia, for the conduct of funeral services; that both addresses are listed under complainant’s name in the classified section of the Philadelphia telephone directory; that complainant has been notified by defendant board to correct its telephone listing by omitting 6902 Rising Sun Avenue from the said listing in the [254]*254next issue of the telephone directory, and a refusal to do so will cause the suspension or revocation of its license. The bill also avers complainant has had branch establishments since January 5, 1925; that the order of defendant above mentioned is discriminatory and deprives it of the benefit of the equal protection of the laws of this Commonwealth guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States; and that sections 6 and 13 of the Act of June 10,1931, P. L. 485, section 13(a) of the amending Act of June 21, 1935, P. L. 398, and section 14(a) of the amending Act of July 19, 1935, P. L. 1324, are unconstitutional since they violate article III, sec. 3, of the Constitution of the Commonwealth because in none of the acts aforementioned is the purpose to prohibit the issuance of branch licenses clearly expressed in the titles. The bill prays for an injunction restraining defendant board from interfering with its business and its telephone listing.

Defendants filed preliminary objections to the bill of complaint alleging complainant is not entitled to the relief sought because every legal question raised has been decided by the appellate courts of this Commonwealth; that the facts set forth in the bill are not sufficient to sustain the prayers thereof; and under authority of Grime et al. v. Department of Public Instruction et al., 324 Pa. 371, Buffalo Branch, Mutual Film Corp. v. Breitinger, 250 Pa. 225, and Commonwealth v. Markmann, 114 Pa. Superior Ct. 29, the bill should be dismissed.

Discussion

The only question here raised seems to be whether the State Board of Undertakers has the authority under its enabling acts to direct the discontinuance of the advertising by a funeral director of a place of business for which said funeral director does not hold a branch license.

[255]*255The bill avers in paragraph 10 that the place of business of complainant is 4710-12 North Fifth Street, Philadelphia, and in paragraph 11 states: . . only on different occasions your complainant employs the chapel in the premises 6902 Rising Sun Avenue for the conduct of funeral services.” Nowhere is it averred that complainant has a branch office license for the Rising Sun Avenue address, or that the said place is being used in the funeral directing business of the complainant by virtue of any legal right so to do.

The said Act of 1931 provides in section 6:

“Original licenses . . . shall be granted only to individuals . . . and shall specify by name the person to whom it is issued, and shall designate the particular place at which the business or profession of undertaking shall be carried on. A license so issued shall authorize the conduct of such business or profession at the particular place of business so designated and no other . . .”

And section 13 provides:

“The provisions of this act shall not be construed as preventing the conducting of the business or profession of undertaking by a corporation heretofore licensed ; . . . and no branch licenses shall hereafter be granted any corporation.”

It is apparent from the above quotations from the Act of 1931 that individuals or corporations cannot carry on their business in any place other than the place specifically designated on the actual license, and no branch licenses shall be granted any corporation. In Grime et al. v. Department of Public Instruction et al., 324 Pa. 371, it was held:

“Under the Act of 1931, the board is without authority to issue a branch license to one who was duly licensed as an undertaker before the passage of the Act but who did not then possess a branch office license; a renewal license carries with it only such branch office [256]*256rights as were acquired under the old license prior to the passage of the Act of 1931.

“The latter part of section 6 of the Act of 1931, which provides that the section shall not apply to persons heretofore conducting business under a fictitious name, refers only to the prior provision in the section that any undertaker granted a license shall conduct a business under no name other than the one appearing on the license.

“Where a business is subject to legislative regulation under the police power, no person possesses an absolute right to engage in such business.

“Section 6 of the Act of 1931, in prohibiting the granting of future branch licenses, is not unconstitutional on the grounds that it is unreasonable, arbitrary, and does not bear a relation to its purpose to regulate the business of undertaking for the protection of the public health.

“The Act of 1931, in denying branch licenses only to those who had not obtained them prior to the passage of the Act, is not discriminatory and does not deprive such persons of rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution.”

It was further stated (p. 383) :

“Although such branch offices may be conducted in some instances without injury to the public health, the business is replete with possibilities for the evasion of the licensing provisions or conduct thereunder. The legislature is acting within its power in prohibiting it. A thing not in itself injurious may nevertheless fall under the ban of legislative prohibition because it affords opportunities for the frustration of a purpose well within the admitted governmental power. ... So long as there is some relation between the prohibition against the licensing of new branch offices and the [257]*257regulation of the business of undertaking to protect the public health, the legislature has the power to determine whether or not such prohibition is desirable.”

There are numerous authorities which indicate that administrative bodies which are concerned with the public health have a right to enforce the evident intention of the legislature in order that the community may best be served. In Buffalo Branch, Mutual Film Corp. v. Breitinger, 250 Pa. 225, it was held:

“Nothing but a clear violation of the Constitution— a clear usurpation of power prohibited — will justify the judicial department in pronouncing an act of the legislative department unconstitutional and void.

“The police power of the Commonwealth extends to all regulations affecting the health, good order, morals, peace and safety of society, and under it all sorts of restrictions and burdens may be imposed, and when they are not in conflict with any constitutional principles, they cannot be successfully assailed in a judicial tribunal.”

In Commonwealth v. Markmann, 114 Pa. Superior Ct. 29, it was held:

“The Act of June 10, 1931, P. L.

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Related

Grime v. Department of Public Instruction
188 A. 337 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1936)
Com. of Pa. v. Markmann, Jr.
174 A. 6 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1934)
Buffalo Branch, Mutual Film Corp. v. Breitinger
95 A. 433 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1915)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
43 Pa. D. & C. 252, 1941 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wetzel-son-inc-v-state-board-of-undertakers-pactcompldauphi-1941.