Chester Upland Sch. Dist. v. Rossi

275 A.3d 1117

CHESTER UPLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT and Chichester School District, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Petitioners

v.Michael ROSSI, in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and Cathy J. Fetter, in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and Jonathan K. DelCollo in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County, Pennsylvania, and Robin G. Patton in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Blair County, Pennsylvania, and Dawn Close in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Bradford County, Pennsylvania and Judith Reiss in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Kelly Ferrari in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Butler County, Pennsylvania, and Lisa Crynock in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, and Mary Grace Olay in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Cameron County, Pennsylvania, and Kayla M. Semmel in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Carbon County, Pennsylvania, and Jeremy S. Breon in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County, Pennsylvania, and Debbie Bookman in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and Jeffrey Hines in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Clarion County, Pennsylvania, and Brian K. Spencer in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and Cynthia A. Love in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Clinton County, Pennsylvania, and Barbara N. Silvetti in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Columbia County, Pennsylvania, and Emmy Arnett in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, and Dale E. Sabadish in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and Mary J. Walk in the official capacity as the Director of Office of Judicial Support of the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and Nina Capuzzi Frankhouser in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and Dawn M. Millin in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Forest County, Pennsylvania, and Timothy Sponseller in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and Patty Fix in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Fulton County, Pennsylvania, and Susan K. White in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Greene County, Pennsylvania, and Kay Coons in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, and Randy Degenkolb in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, and Tonya S. Geist in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, and Lori A. Ferry in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Juniata County, Pennsylvania, and Mauri B. Kelly in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, and Jim Haddock in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and Thomas D. Heap in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, and Laura Isadore in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of McKean County, Pennsylvania, and Tammy Stuck in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, and George Warden in the official capacity as The Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Monroe County, Pennsylvania, and Susan N. Kauwell in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Montour County, Pennsylvania, and Holly Ruggiero in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and Jamie Saleski in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, and Zoe Burd in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Perry County, Pennsylvania, and Denise Fitzpatrick in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Pike County, Pennsylvania, and Bridget Miller in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and Stephanie Wolf in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Snyder County, Pennsylvania, and Angie G. Svonavec in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and Kellie Carpenter in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, and Marie Seymour in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, and Diane Miller in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Union County, Pennsylvania, and Paula M. Palmer in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Venango County, Pennsylvania, and Jen Phillips in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Warren County, Pennsylvania, and Laura Hough in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Washington County, Pennsylvania, and Edward Sandercock in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Wayne County, Pennsylvania, and Christina O'Brien in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and Cindy Adams in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, and Allison Blew in the official capacity as the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of York County, Pennsylvania, Respondents

No. 133 M.D. 2021

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued March 10, 2022

Decided April 29, 2022

Marc A. Zaid, King of Prussia, for Petitioners.

Devin J. Chwastyk, Harrisburg, for Respondents.

Eric J. Schreiner, Philadelphia, for Respondent Mary J. Walk in the official capacity as the Director of Office of Judicial Support of the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

BEFORE: HONORABLE PATRICIA A. McCULLOUGH, Judge, HONORABLE LORI A. DUMAS, Judge, HONORABLE MARY HANNAH LEAVITT, Senior Judge

OPINION BY JUDGE McCULLOUGH

On April 26, 2021, Chester Upland School District and Chichester School District (Petitioners) initiated this putative class action under Rules 1701 - 1717 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure ( Pa. R.Civ.P. 1701 - 1717 ) on behalf of themselves and all political subdivisions similarly situated by filing a petition for review¹ against the Director of the Office of Judicial Support (OJS) of the County of Delaware² and fifty-two prothonotaries of courts of common pleas in counties of the second class A, the third through eighth classes, and home rule counties, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and monetary damages for allegedly overcharging court fees in excess of the limitations contained in what is commonly referred to as the Prothonotary Fee Act, 42 P.S. §§ 21071,³ 21075⁴ (for third through eighth class counties and home rule counties) and 42 P.S. §§ 21161,⁵ 21165⁶ (for second class A counties). Presently before the Court are preliminary objections (POs) filed by the Prothonotaries of Beaver, Bedford, Berks, Blair, Bradford, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Crawford, Cumberland, Fayette, Forest, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Juniata, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, McKean, Mifflin, Monroe, Montour, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Pike, Schuylkill, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland, Wyoming and York Counties (collectively, Respondents).

I. Background

Petitioners are two political subdivisions located in Delaware County. (Amended Petition, ¶¶ 2-3.) Petitioners seek to represent a proposed class of all political subdivisions, as defined by 101 Pa. Code § 23.226 ("school districts, municipalities, and counties, as applicable"), throughout the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which have in the preceding four years filed a document in any of the Respondents’ Courts of Common Pleas and which were charged fees "in excess of the statutorily set fees." Id. ¶¶ 64, 70. There are in excess of 3,000 members in the proposed class definition. Id . ¶ 72.

Each of the parties constituting a Respondent is a Prothonotary, or counterpart, of a home rule county or county of the second class A or of the third to eighth class. Id . ¶ 65. Petitioners assert that

66. Pursuant to Pennsylvania law relating to a county of Class 2 A through Class 8, the maximum fee to be charged to the Commonwealth or a political subdivision for any one of the services provided herein shall be $10. 42 P.S. § 21075 ; 42 P.S. § 21165.

67. Upon information and belief, during the period of time from the respective effective dates of 42 P.S. § 21075 (during 1982) and 42

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