IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Clarence B. Turns, Jr., as :

Administrator of the Estate of :

Mary E. Turns, Deceased, :

 Appellant :

:

v. :

:

Dauphin County and Central : No. 340 C.D. 2020

Dauphin School District :

:

:

Clarence B. Turns, Jr., as :

Administrator of the Estate of :

Mary E. Turns, Deceased :

:

v. :

:

Dauphin County and Central :

Dauphin School District, : No. 341 C.D. 2020

Appellants : Submitted: December 30, 2021

BEFORE: HONORABLE RENÉE COHN JUBELIRER, Judge1

HONORABLE ANNE E. COVEY, Judge

HONORABLE CHRISTINE FIZZANO CANNON, Judge

OPINION 

BY JUDGE FIZZANO CANNON FILED: March 22, 2022

Clarence B. Turns, Jr., as Administrator of the Estate of Mary E. Turns 

(Designated Appellant), and Dauphin County and Central Dauphin School District 

(Taxing Authorities) cross appeal from the December 4, 2019 order (Order) of the 

Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County (trial court) that granted, in part, and 

1 This case was assigned to the opinion writer before January 7, 2022, when Judge Cohn 

Jubelirer became President Judge.
2

denied, in part, Designated Appellant’s “Petition for Recovery of Assets and 

Imposition of Constructive Trusts” (Petition). Upon review, we affirm.

The facts of this matter, while unique, are relatively straightforward and 

not in dispute. On September 10, 1973, Mary E. Turns (Decedent) and her husband 

Clarence Turns, Sr. purchased a 3.9-acre tract of land purportedly located in Middle 

Paxton Township, Dauphin County (Purported Property), for $450 at a judicial tax 

sale. See Trial Court Memorandum Opinion dated March 4, 2020 (Trial Court 

Opinion) at 1. Prior to the tax sale, the Dauphin County Office of Tax Assessment 

had published the location and size of the Purported Property on Dauphin County 

Tax Map 43-40,2 which identified the Purported Property as a square, landlocked 

tract of land located near Mehaffie Lane south of Fishing Creek Valley Road in 

Middle Paxton Township. See Trial Court Opinion at 1-2. Also prior to the tax sale, 

the Office of Tax Assessment had assigned a fair market value to the Purported 

Property and assessed real estate taxes based on that value, taxes which the prior 

owner presumably failed to pay, resulting in the Purported Property being listed for 

the tax sale. See id. at 2. Upon purchasing the Purported Property at the tax sale, 

Decedent and her husband received a Tax Claim Bureau Deed,3 which listed the 

prior owner as unknown and described the Purported Property simply by its tax 

parcel number without a metes and bounds description or any other legal description 

thereof. See id.

2 Specifically, the Purported Property was Tax Parcel 43-40-006. See “Petition for 

Recovery of Assets and Imposition of Constructive Trusts” (Petition) at 5. 

3 As in all such tax sales, Decedent and her husband acquired no warranty of title for the 

Purported Property. See Trial Court Memorandum Opinion dated March 4, 2020 (Trial Court 

Opinion) at 2.
3

Between 1974 and 2014, Middle Paxton Township assessed, and 

Decedent and her husband4 paid, real estate taxes on the Purported Property totaling 

$3,612.80. See Trial Court Opinion at 2. Upon Decedent’s death, the Purported 

Property passed to Designated Appellant, individually,

5 who questioned the 

Purported Property’s $11,000 tax assessment valuation. See id. The Office of Tax 

Assessment investigated the matter and discovered the Purported Property did not, 

in fact, exist. See id. Accordingly, on October 22, 2014, the Office of Tax 

Assessment sent Designated Appellant a letter explaining that the Purported Parcel 

did not exist and would be removed from the mapping and tax roll. See id.

Designated Appellant filed the Petition on June 12, 2018. See Trial 

Court Opinion at 2. Designated Appellant sought relief based on alleged unjust 

enrichment by Taxing Authorities for holding property tax monies received 

inequitably. See Trial Court Opinion at 2; Petition at 11-14. Designated Appellant 

further sought an accounting of the total tax funds paid by Decedent and her husband 

on the Purported Property and requested that the funds be held in a constructive trust 

for the benefit of Decedent’s estate, together with pre-judgment interest, 

compounded over the 41 years during which Decedent paid real estate taxes. See

Trial Court Opinion at 2; Petition at 14-17. Finally, the Petition alleged that, by 

assessing and collecting real estate taxes on a nonexistent property, Taxing 

4 Decedent’s husband passed away in 1999. See Trial Court Opinion at 1.

5 We note that, in addition to being the sole heir to Decedent’s estate, Clarence Turns, Jr. 

is also the administrator of Decedent’s estate and thus Designated Appellant herein, as indicated 

supra.
4

Authorities violated the Pennsylvania Constitution’s Uniformity Clause.6 See Trial 

Court Opinion at 2; Petition at 17-19. 

Taxing Authorities filed preliminary objections to the Petition alleging 

that the claims of the Petition were barred by the doctrine of caveat emptor. See

Trial Court Opinion at 2-3. The trial court overruled Taxing Authorities’

preliminary objections determining that an exception to the doctrine of caveat 

emptor applied in this case because the Purported Property did not lie within 

Dauphin County, as required for the application of caveat emptor. See Trial Court 

Opinion at 2-3 (citing Section 1 of the Act of April 21, 1856, P.L. 477, as amended,

72 P.S. § 5931). 

Thereafter, Taxing Authorities filed an answer to the Petition (Answer) 

asserting the affirmative defenses of, inter alia, laches, failure of Decedent to 

mitigate damages, and unclean hands. See Trial Court Opinion at 3. Taxing 

Authorities filed a separate motion to disqualify Designated Appellant from 

representing Decedent’s estate (Motion to Disqualify), to which Designated 

Appellant filed preliminary objections, which also included preliminary objections 

to the Answer. See id. Additionally, on October 12, 2018, Designated Appellant

filed a petition seeking payment of attorney’s fees. See id. By order dated December 

3, 2018, the trial court overruled Designated Appellant’s preliminary objections to 

the Answer and the Motion to Disqualify. See id. By separate orders both dated 

December 17, 2018, the trial court denied the Motion to Disqualify and dismissed 

the estate’s motion for attorney’s fees with prejudice. See id. 

6 Article VIII, section 1 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, known as the Uniformity Clause, 

provides that “[a]ll taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects, within the territorial 

limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws.” Pa. 

Const. art. VIII, § 1.
5

Following the submission of briefs, proposed findings of fact, and 

conclusions of law, and after conducting oral argument, the trial court granted the 

Petition, in part, and denied the Petition, in part. See Trial Court Opinion at 3; see 

also Order. The Order provided, in relevant part:

The [trial c]ourt concludes that the conveyance to [] 

Decedent of what was described as Tax Parcel No. 43-40-

006 by Tax Claim Bureau dated January 10, 1974 and 

recorded on January 15, 1974 in Deed Book “M”, Volume 

60, page 0500 is VOID, ab initio by reason of the parties’

mutual mistake.

[Designated Appellant] is awarded the original purchase 

price of $450.00 and real estate taxes paid in the amount 

of $3,612.80.

The [trial c]ourt rejects [Designated Appellant’s] claim 

under the Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania 

Constitution [and] the Equal Protection and Due Process 

Clauses of the United States Constitution[, U.S. Const. 

amend. XIV]. Further, the [trial c]ourt declines the 

invitation to award compound interest on the purchase 

price and real estate taxes for Decedent[’s] laches but does 

not find [Designated Appellant] guilty of unclean hands or 

a failure to mitigate damage[s].

Trial Court Opinion at 3; Order at 1. Designated Appellant sought reconsideration, 

which request the trial court denied on December 24, 2019. See id. Designated 

Appellant then timely appealed7 on December 31, 2019, and Taxing Authorities

cross appealed on January 10, 2020. See Trial Court Opinion at 3-4; see also

“Petitioner’s Notice of Appeal Pursuant to the Provisions of Rules 702, 902, 903, 

7 Designated Appellant originally appealed to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, which 

transferred the matter to this Court by order filed February 18, 2020.
6

904 and 905 P[a].R.A.P.” dated December 31, 2019;

8 Taxing Authorities’ “Notice 

of Appeal Pursuant to Rule 903(b)” dated January 10, 2020. 

On appeal,9 Designated Appellant claims that the trial court committed 

an error of law and an abuse of discretion by ruling that the tax sale of the Purported 

Property was void ab initio by reason of mutual mistake. See Designated 

Appellant’s Brief at 23-26. Designated Appellant further claims that Taxing 

Authorities were unjustly enriched by having collected purchase monies to which 

they had no right and taxation amounts not owed to them because the property on 

which those amounts were received did not exist. See id. at 16-23. Further, 

Designated Appellant claims the trial court committed an error of law by 

determining that laches prevented Decedent’s estate from attaining equitable relief. 

See id. at 26-28. Finally, Designated Appellant alleges that the trial court erred 

and/or abused its discretion by failing to award attorney’s fees in this matter. See id.

at 28-30. In their cross appeal, Taxing Authorities claim that the trial court erred by 

granting Designated Appellant the purchase price and taxes paid on the Purported 

Property because the rule of caveat emptor applies in this case. See Taxing 

Authorities’ Brief at 11-14.

8 Designated Appellant sought reconsideration of the December 4, 2019 order (Order), 

which the trial court denied by order dated December 24, 2019. In addition to the Order, 

Designated Appellant also purported to appeal the December 24, 2019 order denying the 

reconsideration request. See Notice of Appeal dated December 31, 2019, at 1-2. An order denying 

a motion for reconsideration, however, is not an appealable order. See Hetherington v. Rogers, 6 

A.3d 6, 8 n.3 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2010).

9 This Court’s standard of review in a tax claim matter “is limited to determining whether 

the trial court abused its discretion, rendered a decision lacking supporting evidence, or clearly 

erred as a matter of law.” Santarelli Real Est., Inc. v. Tax Claim Bureau of Lackawanna Cnty., 

867 A.2d 717, 721 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2005).
7

Initially, “[i]t is well settled that land purchased at a tax sale comes with 

no guarantee of title” and that “[t]he rule of caveat emptor, i.e.[,] let the buyer 

beware, applies to property sold at real estate tax sales.” Plank v. Monroe Cnty. Tax 

Claim Bureau, 735 A.2d 178, 183 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1999). As a result, purchasers are 

generally not entitled to a refund of losses incurred in tax sales based on faults in 

title, such losses having resulted from purchasers’ own “failure to take reasonable 

steps to protect themselves prior to making their bid at the sale.” Id. at 184. 

However, the General Assembly has expressly stated that the rule of caveat emptor 

does not apply to the public sale of land in cases “where the lands do not lie within 

the county[.]” 72 P.S. § 5931.10

Here, the sale and purchase of the Purported Property at the 1973 tax 

sale was predicated on the mistake that the Purported Property did, in fact, exist. 

However, it is undisputed that the Purported Property does not exist. As such, the 

Purported Property cannot therefore, by definition, lie within Dauphin County, and 

the rule of caveat emptor does not apply to the 1973 tax sale. As the trial court 

explained:

10 Specifically, Section 1 of the Act of April 21, 1856, P.L. 477, as amended, provides:

In all public sales of land hereafter made by the treasurer or 

commissioners of the several counties of this commonwealth, in 

pursuance of the laws of this commonwealth the rule of caveat 

emptor shall apply, except in cases of double assessment, or where 

the taxes on which the sale is made shall have been previously paid, 

or where the lands do not lie within the county; and neither said 

treasurer nor commissioners shall be required to refund the purchase 

money, costs or taxes paid upon any tract or tracts of land so sold as 

aforesaid.

72 P.S. § 5931 (emphasis provided).
8

In this case, the land described by Dauphin County as Tax 

Parcel 43-40-006, and upon which [Taxing Authorities] 

had charged taxes against the prior (unknown) owner, 

were lands that “did not lie within the county,” inasmuch 

as the lands were later determined to not lie anywhere. 

Thus [] to the extent that caveat emptor expressed in [72 

P.S.] 5931 applied, the exception cited therein – that the 

property must lie within the county – negated its 

application.

Trial Court Opinion at 5. We find no error or abuse of discretion in this 

determination by the trial court.

Further, Pennsylvania courts have long held that “[a] contract is void if 

it relates to a subject matter contemplated by the parties as existing at the time 

the contract was made, but which in fact did not exist[.]” McDonald v. Kimmell, 70 

Pa. Super. 282, 288 (1918). No argument is forwarded in this case that the Purported 

Property either actually exists currently or actually existed at the time of the 1973 

tax sale. Therefore, the sale was void ab initio, and Taxing Authorities had no right 

to collect either the purchase price or taxes on the nonexistent property thereafter.

The tax sale was also void based on the related reason of mutual mistake 

of the parties. “A mutual mistake exists if, at the time a contract is executed, both 

parties thereto are mistaken as to the existing facts.” A.S. v. Off. for Disp. Resol. 

(Quakertown Cmty. Sch. Dist.), 88 A.3d 256, 266 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2014). As the 

Superior Court of Pennsylvania has explained:11

The doctrine of mutual mistake of fact serves as a defense 

to the formation of a contract and occurs when the parties 

to the contract have an erroneous belief as to a basic 

assumption of the contract at the time of formation which 

11 Although not binding, Superior Court decisions are persuasive authority in this Court. 

See Lerch v. Unemployment Comp. Bd. of Rev., 180 A.3d 545, 550 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2018).
9

will have a material effect on the agreed exchange as to 

either party. A mutual mistake occurs when the written 

instrument fails to set forth the true agreement of the 

parties. The language on the instrument should be 

interpreted in the light of subject matter, the apparent 

object or purpose of the parties and the conditions existing 

when it was executed.

Murray v. Willistown Twp., 169 A.3d 84, 90 (Pa. Super. 2017) (quoting Voracek v. 

Crown Castle USA Inc., 907 A.2d 1105, 1107-08 (Pa. Super. 2006), appeal denied, 

919 A.2d 958 (Pa. 2007)). “Mutual mistake regarding an essential term of a contract 

may provide a basis for the contract’s rescission if (1) the mistake relates to an 

essential fact which formed the inducement to the contract, and (2) the parties can 

be placed in their former position with reference to the subject matter of the 

contract.” Id. (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted); see also Blygh v. 

Samson, 20 A. 996, 997 (Pa. 1891) (“A contract entered into in a mutual mistake as 

to an essential fact which formed the inducement to it, may be rescinded on 

discovery of the mistake, if the parties are placed in their former position with 

reference to the subject[] matter of it[.]”). Ordinarily, in land transfers, proof of 

mutual mistake in the deed of a transferred property permits the equitable 

reformation of the deed. See Baltimore v. Freed (Pa. Cmwlth., No. 330 C.D. 2014, 

filed Nov. 5, 2014),12 slip op. at 10 (citing Regions Mortgage Inc. v. Muthler, 889 

A.2d 39 (Pa. 2005)). 

There can be no more fundamental mistake in a land transfer than the 

actual nonexistence of the land purportedly transferred. While we appreciate that 

12 Pursuant to Commonwealth Court Internal Operating Procedure Section 414(a), 210 Pa. 

Code § 69.414(a), unreported panel decisions of this Court issued after January 15, 2008, may be 

cited for their persuasive value.
10

land purchased at a tax sale comes with no guarantee of title, and that the purchaser 

may thereafter need to bring an action to quiet title to the property in question, we 

observe that, at a minimum, in the absence of fraud,13 a land sale implies that the 

property in question exists to be sold. Therefore, we find that where the parties to 

a property sale are mutually mistaken as to the actual existence of the property 

purported to be sold, as here, then the contract is invalid and, therefore, void ab 

initio.

14

 Accordingly, in addition to being void ab initio due to the Purported 

Property’s nonexistence, the tax sale is also void based on the mutual mistake of the 

parties.

Additionally, the 1973 tax sale was predicated on the failure of the 

unknown previous owner to pay taxes thereon. Because the Purported Property did 

not exist, Taxing Authorities had no right to collect taxes thereon, and the resulting

1973 tax sale was therefore void ab initio for this third reason. See Section 9 of the 

Act of May 29, 1931, P.L. 280, 72 P.S. § 5971i (“No sale shall be valid where the 

taxes and interest . . . are not legally due and collectible.”).

We do not agree with Taxing Authorities’ assertion that the Purported 

Property’s existence on paper somehow means that this nonexistent property should 

be viewed as a legal property capable of transfer. See Taxing Authorities’ Brief at 

13-14. The assignment to the Purported Property of a tax parcel identification 

number and the appearance of the Purported Property on tax maps did not magically 

transmute the Purported Property into physical existence or somehow confer legal 

13 No party alleges fraud in the 1973 tax sale at which Decedent and her husband acquired

the Purported Property.

14 We note that deed reformation is not an option in situations where the property 

purportedly sold does not exist, due to the impossibility of conforming the purported property’s 

deed to the expectations of the parties.
11

status upon the nonexistent Purported Property. If anything, these errors compound 

the fundamental mistake regarding the existence of the Purported Property.

Designated Appellant’s argument that Taxing Authorities were unjustly 

enriched by accepting and retaining the Purported Property’s purchase price or the 

taxes erroneously collected is also unconvincing. See Designated Appellant’s Brief 

at 16-23. As this Court has explained:

Unjust enrichment is shown by benefits conferred on 

defendant by plaintiff, appreciation of such benefits by 

defendant, and acceptance and retention of such benefits 

under such circumstances that it would be inequitable for 

defendant to retain the benefit without payment of value. 

The application of this doctrine depends on the particular 

factual circumstances of the case at issue. In determining 

if the doctrine applies, our focus is not on the intention of 

the parties, but rather on whether the defendant has been 

unjustly enriched.

Filippi v. City of Erie, 968 A.2d 239, 242 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2009) (internal citation and 

quotation marks omitted). 

Here, the collection of the purchase price and the taxes was a mutual 

mistake, as discussed supra. The return of these amounts placed the parties back in 

their former position with reference to the Purported Property. In denying 

Designated Appellant’s unjust enrichment claim, the trial court noted that it found 

the tax sale void ab initio and fashioned a remedy that directed Taxing Authorities

to return the purchase price of the Purported Property and all taxes collected thereon, 

which was the remedy sought by Designated Appellant in its unjust enrichment 

claim before the trial court. See Trial Court Opinion at 7-8. We discern no error in 

this determination. See Est. of Marra v. Tax Claim Bureau of Lackawanna Cnty., 

95 A.3d 951 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2014) (affirming trial court order requiring the 
12

reimbursement of purchase price and all subsequent taxes paid on property where 

tax sale ruled void ab initio as a result of defective notice under the Real Estate Tax 

Law, Act of July 7, 1947, P.L. 1368, as amended, 72 P.S. §§ 5860.101-5860.803 

(RETSL)).

Additionally, we find unpersuasive Designated Appellant’s argument 

that Decedent’s estate is entitled to 15% compound interest on the Purported 

Property purchase price and taxes paid over the past 41 years.15 See Designated 

Appellant’s Brief at 20-23. In addition to being barred from such recovery by laches, 

as discussed supra, the trial court determined that no legal grounds exist to apply a 

compounded 15% rate of interest – or any other rate of interest, for that matter – to 

a sovereign that mistakenly collects taxes not due. See Trial Court Opinion at 7. We 

find no error in the trial court’s conclusion and note that the legal authorities cited 

by Designated Appellant – cases from the 1800s involving the administration of 

trusts,16 a case involving the interest/payment amount of an acknowledged debt,17

and sections of the RETSL concerning rights of redemption not at issue in this 

matter18 – are inapposite and not supportive of the claimed entitlement to 15% 

15 Designated Appellant claims entitlement to the staggering windfall of $476,922.64 on 

the Purported Property’s $450 purchase price and the approximately $3,600 of taxes paid over the 

decades based on computations made factoring in a compounded 15% interest. See Trial Court 

Opinion at 7; Designated Appellant’s Brief at 21-23.

16 In re Harland’s Accts., 5 Rawle 323, 1835 WL 2752 (Pa. 1835); Appeal of Roberts, 92 

Pa. 407, 407 (1880). See Designated Appellant’s Brief at 22.

17 In re Est. of Braun, 650 A.2d 73, 75 (Pa. Super. 1994). See Designated Appellant’s Brief 

at 22-23.

18 Sections 9 and 15 of the Act of May 29, 1931, P.L. 280, as amended, 72 P.S. §§ 5971o 

and 5971i, respectively. See Designated Appellant’s Brief at 23.
13

compounded interest. We find no error in the trial court’s refusal to award the 

claimed interest on the Purported Property’s purchase price and taxes paid.

Further, to the extent Designated Appellant argues that the trial court 

erred by finding the equitable defense of laches applicable to the present matter, we 

disagree. See Designated Appellant’s Brief at 26-28. As this Court has explained:

The doctrine of laches is an equitable bar to the 

prosecution of stale claims and is the practical application 

of the maxim that those who sleep on their rights must 

awaken to the consequence that they have disappeared. A 

claim is barred by laches where the party failed to exercise 

due diligence, which resulted in prejudice to the opposing 

party. The test for due diligence is not what a party knows, 

but what he might have known by the use of information 

within his reach. Prejudice may be found where there has 

been some change in the condition or relations of the 

parties which occurs during the period the complainant 

failed to act.

Slack v. Slack, 256 A.3d 472, 482 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2021), reargument denied (May 26, 

2021 (internal citations, quotation marks, and brackets omitted). The trial court 

explained the application of laches to this matter as follows:

The facts and circumstances of this case revealed that the 

property purchased at the tax sale by [Decedent] and [her 

husband] in 1973 listed the prior owner as unknown and 

lacked a property description other than a tax parcel 

number. The Turns, and later [Decedent] alone, made no 

effort in over 41 years to quiet title to a property with such 

obvious deficiencies and clearly establish their right and 

accurate title to the parcel. This lack of due diligence in 

confirming their title was further revealed when the Turns 

twice tried to sell the property during their lifetimes but no 

buyer was interested because there was no legal 

description. This lack of due diligence prejudiced [Taxing 
14

Authorities’] ability to remedy the problem and return the 

purchase price and taxes paid without incurring decades 

worth of interest payments. 

Trial Court Opinion at 7 (internal record citation omitted). We find no error or abuse 

of discretion in this determination.

Finally, we find no merit in Designated Appellant’s argument that the 

trial court erred by not awarding costs and attorney’s fees.19 See Designated 

Appellant’s Brief at 28-30. Designated Appellant claims that he is entitled to receive 

attorney’s fees under 42 Pa.C.S. § 250320 because Taxing Authorities engaged in 

19 The trial court questioned whether Designated Appellant had properly and timely 

appealed the denial of the request for attorney’s fees, costs, and expenses noting that Designated 

Appellant requested attorney’s fees not in the Petition, but in a separate filing denied by a separate 

order. See Trial Court Opinion at 6 n.1. The trial court notes that both parties appealed from the 

order denying the Petition, which does not address Designated Appellant’s request for attorney’s 

fees, and not the separate order denying Designated Appellant’s separate request for attorney’s 

fees. See id. While we appreciate the trial court’s observation, we note that “an appeal of a final 

order subsumes challenges to previous interlocutory decisions[.]” Betz v. Pneumo Abex, LLC, 44 

A.3d 27, 54 (Pa. 2012); see also Sunoco Partners Mktg. & Terminals, L.P. v. Clean Air Council, 

219 A.3d 280, 295 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2019) (quoting Betz); Franciscus v. Sevdik, 135 A.3d 1092, 1093 

n.1 (Pa. Super. 2016) (“[O]nce a final, appealable order has been appealed, any prior interlocutory 

order can be called into question.”). Accordingly, we will review the claim. Further, we note that,

even if the trial court was correct and Designated Appellant’s attorney’s fee claim was waived, our 

resolution of the claim herein would render any mistake in reviewing the claim harmless. 

20 Specifically, Designated Appellant claims entitlement to attorney’s fees, costs and 

expenses under subsections 6, 7 & 9 of Section 2503, which provide, in pertinent part:

The following participants shall be entitled to a reasonable counsel 

fee as part of the taxable costs of the matter:

. . . .

(6) Any participant who is awarded counsel fees as a sanction 

against another participant for violation of any general rule which 

expressly prescribes the award of counsel fees as a sanction for 

dilatory, obdurate or vexatious conduct during the pendency of any 

matter.
15

dilatory, obdurate, and vexatious conduct by raising affirmative defenses in the 

underlying matter that were irrelevant and/or not supported by a sound basis in law 

and fact. See Designated Appellant’s Brief at 28-30. The trial court denied 

Designated Appellant’s request for fees, costs, and attorney’s fees, determining: (1) 

that no evidence existed that Taxing Authorities had engaged in dilatory, obdurate, 

vexatious, or arbitrary conduct; (2) that Taxing Authorities raised no irrelevant 

defenses; and (3) that, instead and in fact, “[a]ll issues raised by [Taxing Authorities] 

were of arguable merit and within the bounds of litigation.” Trial Court Opinion at 

6. Our review of the record confirms the trial court’s assessment of Taxing 

Authorities’ conduct and defenses/claims raised throughout this litigation. Taxing 

Authorities would have risked waiving the affirmative defense of laches (which the 

trial court determined had merit) and the application of certain statutory immunities 

had they not raised the same. These defenses were of arguable merit and raising 

them in no way amounted to dilatory, obdurate, vexatious, or arbitrary conduct 

entitling Decedent’s estate to an award of attorney’s fees, costs, or expenses. 

Accordingly, Designated Appellant’s claim fails.21

(7) Any participant who is awarded counsel fees as a sanction 

against another participant for dilatory, obdurate or vexatious 

conduct during the pendency of a matter.

. . . .

(9) Any participant who is awarded counsel fees because the 

conduct of another party in commencing the matter or otherwise was 

arbitrary, vexatious or in bad faith.

42 Pa.C.S. § 2503(6), (7) & (9).

21 To the extent Designated Appellant attempts to relitigate his claim for attorney’s fees in 

an application for relief filed with this Court on December 27, 2021, and entitled “Application for 

Relief Pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 123 of Designated Appellant Clarence B. Turns, Jr., as Administrator 
16

For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the trial court’s December 4, 

2019 order and deny Designated Appellant’s “Application for Relief Pursuant to 

Pa.R.A.P. 123 of Designated Appellant Clarence B. Turns, Jr., as Administrator of 

the Estate of Mary E. Turns, Deceased[,] in the Nature of a Motion for Attorney’s 

Fees, Costs and Expenses Pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 2744,” filed on December 27, 2021.

__________________________________

CHRISTINE FIZZANO CANNON, Judge

of the Estate of Mary E. Turns, Deceased[,] in the Nature of a Motion for Attorney’s Fees, Costs 

and Expenses Pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 2744”, we deny the application for the reasons stated above.
IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Clarence B. Turns, Jr., as :

Administrator of the Estate of :

Mary E. Turns, Deceased, :

 Appellant :

:

v. :

:

Dauphin County and Central : No. 340 C.D. 2020

Dauphin School District :

:

:

Clarence B. Turns, Jr., as :

Administrator of the Estate of :

Mary E. Turns, Deceased :

:

v. :

:

Dauphin County and Central :

Dauphin School District, : No. 341 C.D. 2020

Appellants :

O R D E R

AND NOW, this 22nd day of March, 2022, the December 4, 2019 order 

of the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County is AFFIRMED. 

The “Application for Relief Pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 123 of Designated 

Appellant Clarence B. Turns, Jr., As Administrator of the Estate of Mary E. Turns, 

Deceased[,] In the Nature of a Motion for Attorney’s Fees, Costs and Expenses 

Pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 2744” filed on December 27, 2021, is DENIED.

__________________________________

CHRISTINE FIZZANO CANNON, Judge