GERMANTOWN CAB CO., Respondent v. PHILADELPHIA PARKING AUTHORITY, Petitioner

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania2011-02-23No. No. 103 EM 2010

609 Pa. 6415 A.3d 44

Summary · law.co

Holding. The Supreme Court reversed the Commonwealth Court's order vacating the automatic supersedeas, holding that the Commonwealth Court failed to meet the required legal standard for removing an automatic stay under appellate procedure rules.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court converted the Germantown Cab Company's appeal petition into a petition for review and reversed a Commonwealth Court decision that had vacated an automatic supersedeas. Under appellate rules, filing an appeal from a Commonwealth Court decision automatically triggers a supersedeas that stays enforcement of the lower court's judgment. The Commonwealth Court had removed this automatic stay, but the Supreme Court found this action was improper because the Commonwealth Court had not based its decision on adequate proof that the taxi company would suffer irreparable harm or that maintaining the supersedeas would harm other parties or the public interest.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

Automatic supersedeas triggered by appeal filing
Standards for vacating supersedeas
Irreparable harm and public interest considerations

Procedural posture

The Philadelphia Parking Authority petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for review of a Commonwealth Court order that had vacated an automatic supersedeas in a case involving Germantown Cab Company.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion · public domain

majority opinion

ORDER

PER CURIAM.

AND NOW, this 23rd day of February, 2011, the Petition for Allowance of Appeal filed by Respondent is hereby DEEMED a Petition for Review. The Petition is GRANTED, and the Order of the Commonwealth Court at 1252 C.D. 2009, dated July 2, 2010, which granted the Application to Vacate, Modify or Clarify Supersedeas, for Grant of Writs of Prohibition and Mandamus, and for Ancillary Jurisdiction Relief, is REVERSED. Petitioner’s filing of a Petition for Allowance of Appeal from the Commonwealth Court’s decision in Germantown Cab Co. v. Philadelphia Parking Authority, 993 A.2d 933 (Pa.Cmwlth.2010), (en banc), implicated the automatic supersedeas of Rule of Appellate Procedure 1736(b). See Pa.R.A.P. 1736(b). The Commonwealth Court’s decision to subsequently vacate that supersedeas was not premised upon adequate evidence that Respondent would suffer irreparable harm if the supersedeas continued, or that removal of the supersedeas would not substantially harm the interested parties or adversely affect the public interest. See DER v. Jubelirer, 531 Pa. 463, 614 A.2d 199, 203 (1989); Rickert v. Latimore Twp., 960 A.2d 912, 923 (Pa.Cmwlth.2008), appeal denied, 601 Pa. 705, 973 A.2d 1008 (2009).