Court Opinion

ID: 9699421
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:23:11.755684+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:50.126735
License: Public Domain

POMEROY, Justice,
dissenting.
Article I, Section 11 of the Pennsylvania Constitution provides in pertinent part:
“Suits may be brought against the Commonwealth in such manner, in such courts and in such cases as the Legislature may by law direct.”
*409The majority today holds that this constitutional provision does not mean what it says, and purports to abolish what it calls the “doctrine” of sovereign immunity. I respectfully dissent.
The majority’s description of the lack of foundation in public policy for the continuance of the doctrine of sovereign immunity in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the 20th Century is unexceptionable. Indeed, what the Court states in this regard is essentially a restatement of what has been quite clear to both courts and commentators for years. See generally, in addition to the authorities cited in the Court’s opinion, Laughner v. Allegheny County, 436 Pa. 572, 576, 261 A.2d 607 (1970) (Pomeroy, J., dissenting). I would have no difficulty in joining the Court’s abolition of sovereign immunity, and indeed would do so with enthusiasm, were I able to conclude that this Court is free to take such action. But I cannot so conclude. As I wrote in Brown v. Commonwealth, 453 Pa. 566, 574-75, 305 A.2d 868, 873 (1973) (concurring opinion):
“When by their Constitution the people of Pennsylvania have expressly delegated to the legislative branch of government the task of determining in what manner and in what court and in what cases the Commonwealth may be subjected to suit (and, implicitly, to the liability that may result therefrom), I fail to see how this Court can properly hold that it has a right to preempt this legislative function. A proposition that had its ancient origin in the common law of England and colonial America was elevated to constitutional status in Pennsylvania as long ago as 1790. To ignore this development would be to warp the plain meaning of the Constitution to suit societal ends which now, one hundred and eighty-three years later, the entire membership of this Court thinks are much to be desired. We may lament the legislative failure to correct before the present date an inequitable situation, but impatience should not cause us to upset the balance of power in our tripartite system of government by making the correction ourselves.”
*410I remain of this view, and I am not persuaded to the contrary by the majority’s historical discussion. As the Court concedes, we do not have the benefit of any of the debates during the 1790 convention to guide us to determining the intent of the drafters. Thus I doubt that the majority’s historical speculation is sufficient to change what has long been the accepted construction of the constitutional provision — a construction which has been relied upon by the other branches of Pennsylvania government. But I believe that discussion on this point is in any event irrelevant, for it is well settled that a court should undertake an examination of a constitutional provision’s historical setting only if the wording of the provision itself is ambiguous. See, e. g., Firing v. Kephart, 466 Pa. 560, 565, 353 A.2d 833 (1976); compare Statutory Construction Act of 1972, § 1921(c), 1 Pa.C.S. § 1921(c) (Supp.1978). I cannot find such an ambiguity in the constitutional provision.
Today’s decision contains a further irony. After numerous decisions in which this Court has called upon the Legislature to take the comprehensive action necessary to deal with the problem of the Commonwealth’s immunity in tort,1 e. g., Brown v. Commonwealth, supra, 453 Pa. at 572, 305 A.2d at 871; id. at 576-77, 305 A.2d at 874 (Pomeroy, J., concurring), such action is now apparently forthcoming. After lengthy study, the General Assembly’s Joint State Government Commission has issued a report2 recommending legislation that would permit negligence actions against the Commonwealth *411in eight specific areas but require that immunity be retained in all other areas. In addition, suits would be permitted only for causes of action arising on or after July 1, 1979.3
Having for a number of years invited the Legislature’s attention to this subject and being now advised that a definitive response has been proposed after serious study, for this Court to inform the Legislature, as it does today, that the Commonwealth is liable to suit by any person on any cause of action (for the reach of today’s decision cannot be limited to torts) comes with ill grace and without the justification of some compelling new reason.
For the reasons above stated, I dissent.
EAGEN, C. J., and O’BRIEN, J., join in this dissenting opinion.

. As the Court’s opinion indicates, the Legislature has over the years provided a means of redress for those with claims other than those founded on negligence against the Commonwealth. Act of April 13, 1782, § 1, 2 Sm.L. 19. See also Act of March 30, 1811, P.L. 145, 5 Sm.L. 228; Fiscal Code, Act of April 9, 1929, P.L. 343, art. IV, § 405, 72 P.S. § 405 (1949). But the Legislature has also been careful to refuse to authorize suits of other types. Appellate Court Jurisdiction Act, Act of July 31, 1970, P.L. 673, § 401(c), 17 P.S. § 211.401(c) (Supp.1978); Judicial Code §§ 761(c), 5101(b), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 761(c), 5101(b) (Special Pamphlet, 1977) (not yet effective).

. See the booklet “Sovereign Immunity”, published by the Joint State Government Commission, Harrisburg, Pa., May, 1978.

. The bill proposed by the Joint State Government Commission was introduced into the House of Representatives on April 19, 1978 with broad sponsorship as H.B. 2437 (Printer’s No. 3435) and referred to the Committee on Judiciary. It has since been reported by the House Judiciary Committee to the floor for consideration by the full House. Pa.L.J., June 19, 1978, at 7.