Case ID: a3d_166/html/0304-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM JUSTICE BAER,", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

ALDERWOODS (PENNSYLVANIA), a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Service Corporation International, t/a Burton L. Hirsch Funeral Home, Appellant v. PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION, the Honorable Gladys M. Brown, Chairman, the Honorable Andrew G. Place, Vice Chairman, the Honorable John F. Coleman, Jr., Commissioner, the Honorable Robert F. Powelson, Commissioner, the Honorable David W. Sweet, Commissioner, and Duquesne Light Company, Appellees
    No. 30 WAP 2017
    Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
    August 3, 2017
   ORDER

PER CURIAM

AND NOW,. this 3rd day of August, 2017, the Notice of Appeal is quashed.

Justice Baer files a Concurring' Statement.

JUSTICE BAER,

concurring

I join the decision of the Court insofar as it rejects the filing of a case in the Commonwealth Court’s original jurisdiction and a direct appeal therefrom as a way to bring an appellate issue properly subject to discretionary consideration before this Court as of right.

I write separately to express serious doubt as to whether the trial court and Public Utility Commission (PUC) were correct in having the PUC determine the utility’s liability in this case. That issue has nothing to do with the PUC’s expertise as a regulator of utilities. Indeed, the question of liability strikes me as a typical one that trial courts and juries in this Commonwealth answer every day. Thus, if this case was properly before the Court, my inclination would be to reverse.