Court Opinion

ID: 9746677
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:33:14.827833+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:15.761543
License: Public Domain

KAUFFMAN, Justice,
dissenting.
The Yellow Cab Company of Philadelphia (“Yellow Cab”), operating as a debtor-in-possession under Chapter XI of the Federal Bankruptcy Act, received permission from the Bankruptcy Court to sell one of its operating certificates. On July 9, 1980, Yellow Cab entered into an agreement of sale to transfer the certificate to Duke Cab Company (“Duke”). One day later, a joint application was filed with the Public Utility Commission (“P.U.C.”), requesting (1) approval by expedited review of the transfer of operating rights, and (2) temporary authority for Duke to operate under one of Yellow Cab’s certificates pending final decision by the P.U.C. Through its counsel, the P.U.C. refused to *529state when the application would be considered or acted upon. On July 19, 1980, Yellow Cab filed a complaint in equity in the Commonwealth Court requesting a mandatory preliminary junction ordering the P.U.C. to: (1) immediately issue temporary operating authority to Duke, and (2) process the application for transfer of operating rights in an expedited fashion.1 The Commonwealth Court issued an injunction requiring only that the P.U.C. make a decision on the application to transfer operating rights by September 1, 1980.2
“The scope of review on an appeal from a decree either granting or denying a preliminary injunction is to examine the record only to determine if there were any apparently reasonable grounds for the action of the court below.. .. ” New Castle Orthopedic Association v. Burns, 481 Pa. 460, 463-64, 392 A.2d 1383, 1385 (1978) (citations omitted). Proper disposition of the matter before us requires adherence to this very limited scope of review.
For a preliminary injunction to be appropriate, it must be established:
first, that it is necessary to prevent immediate and irreparable harm which could not be compensated by damages; *530second, that greater injury would result by refusing it than by granting it; and third, that it properly restores the parties to their status as it existed immediately prior to the alleged wrongful conduct.... And unless the plaintiffs right is clear and the wrong is manifest, a preliminary injunction will not generally be awarded.
Id. (Citations omitted)
Irreparable harm was stipulated by the parties in Commonwealth Court. It was thus conceded by the P.U.C. that Yellow Cab had no adequate remedy at law. If denied injunctive relief, Yellow Cab effectively had no means of ensuring that the transfer would be considered at any particular time in the future, and no means of obtaining compensation for damages resulting from delay.
Implicit in the above is satisfaction of the second requirement, that refusal of the injunction would cause substantially greater harm than the grant thereof. For the P.U.C., an expedited review would cause, at worst, administrative inconvenience. Even this is speculative since the P.U.C. failed to introduce any evidence of harm that it might suffer if the preliminary injunction were granted. The majority makes no suggestion that any substantia] harm, much less irreparable harm, would result from a grant of injunctive relief.
Yellow Cab offered uncontradicted evidence that if Duke were not granted temporary operating rights in the interim, any delay in administrative proceedings would cause a corresponding decrease in the value of the certificate. The majority blithely assumes that “similar harm would attend delays in processing for all applicants ...” (Majority opin. p. 666). It is irresponsible, however, to ignore Yellow Cab’s critical financial condition. A solvent business, or one about to begin operation, can and ordinarily does allow for bureaucratic delay in licensing and other matters as a cost of doing business. The orderly function of the business enterprise can, in fact, be staggered to accommodate delays of this nature so that they cost little or nothing. Yellow Cab, however, is in no position to make allowances for the unhurried pace of the P.U.C.’s administrative proceedings. As *531Yellow Cab is currently operating under Chapter XI of the Federal Bankruptcy Act, the continuous decline in the value of one of its principal assets may threaten its status as an ongoing business entity, to the extreme detriment not only of the company but of the public as well. Yellow Cab has no means of suspending the decline in value of the certificate in order to preserve its own financial condition while awaiting the deliberations of the P.U.C. The P.U.C. refused to make any assurance whatsoever of any specific limit on the time required to process the applications. It is possible, if not probable, that Yellow Cab’s ability to reorganize under the supervision of the Bankruptcy Court would collapse long before the P.U.C. finds the opportunity to render a decision.
In consequence, and contrary to the simplistic assertion of the majority, it is far from “fiction” to suggest that a mandatory preliminary injunction would restore or maintain the “status quo,” the third requirement for the issuance of injunctive relief. The order was designed to forestall any further wasting of Yellow Cab’s assets attributable to administrative delay. It was the only way to ensure that Yellow Cab’s viability would not be adversely affected thereby. The “status quo” is altered with each day that passes while Yellow Cab’s resources dwindle unchecked. If Yellow Cab is no longer in existence when the P.U.C.’s decision is rendered, the “status quo” will have been effectively destroyed. The narrow view of the majority simply ignores the fiscal background against which this transfer application occurred. To evaluate the “status quo” by focusing solely on routine administrative transactions is hopelessly short-sighted.
The majority summarily dismisses the pertinence of authority to the effect that a party may obtain relief against undue or improper delay in the action of an administrative agency, reasoning that Yellow Cab could not have suffered undue delay in view of the fact that it filed its complaint in equity only 8 days after the joint application for transfer.3 *532An injunction, however, is always prospective in effect. It is always a prophylactic measure, whether or not the harm in question includes past activity. The very purpose of its availability is the avoidance of harm which has not yet occurred but which, as here, is determined by a Court in Equity to be inevitable in the absence of prospective relief.
Moreover, under the reasoning of the majority’s opinion, it would not matter in the slightest whether Yellow Cab had waited 8 weeks or even 8 months. The opinion notes, in support of the supposed fairness of the P.U.C.’s approach to the matter at hand, that some applications date back to 1975. It is thus hard to imagine when, if ever, Yellow Cab would be able successfully to assert a claim of unreasonable delay under the rationale of the majority.
The P.U.C. made it abundantly clear that Yellow Cab’s application would not be considered before the end of 1980, and made no guarantee that it would be processed soon thereafter. In the face of its own financial deterioration, Yellow Cab had no choice but to initiate immediate remedial procedures necessary to prod the P.U.C. into acting without delay. The very promptness of Yellow Cab’s action lends credence to the urgency of the situation, and supports, rather than weakens, the complaint in equity. It evidences the fragile nature of the “status quo” from Yellow Cab’s viewpoint. Surely, the majority would not suggest that Yellow Cab should wait until it teeters on the brink of disintegration before praying for relief. In view of the fact that irreparable harm was stipulated by the parties, a mandatory injunctive remedy would be useless unless invoked by immediate, preventive action.
The premise which underlies the majority’s entire argument is that Yellow Cab made no demonstration of a “right to relief,” which, although not an enumerated requirement, is a linchpin for the availability of an injunctive remedy. But a “right” to relief in equity is frequently evanescent. It is, by definition, not an explicit legal right. It need not be *533found in an external source such as statutory or common law. The “right” to injunctive relief can grow out of the circumstances by which the enumerated requirements are satisfied. The majority, however, comes to the unacceptable conclusion that the complainant in equity here must suffer irreparable harm, the existence of which has been stipulated, without a remedy.
I would concede that in the present case Yellow Cab has requested extraordinary treatment. The case for a “right” to such treatment can only be made out of the potential consequences flowing from the denial thereof. The P.U.C. is not, of course, responsible for the current insolvency of Yellow Cab. But as the agency legislatively designated responsible for the improvement of taxicab service in Philadelphia, the P.U.C. would clearly fail in its mandate if it were to expedite the demise of the largest cab company in the city. In truth, the remedy obtained below should have been unnecessary. The P.U.C.’s inexplicable intransigence in the face of Yellow Cab’s financial difficulties, however, effectively passed responsibility for the adequacy of Philadelphia’s taxi service into the hands of the Commonwealth Court. The Court’s only means of fulfilling that responsibility was to find a right to relief and fashion an equitable remedy, consisting of nothing more than an order ensuring review within a reasonable time.
The majority pays lip service to the extremely narrow scope of our review of such an order, but has evaluated Yellow Cab’s claim as if de novo. The Commonwealth Court, in considering the full scope of this matter, decided that the case for relief was sufficient to make its order proper and necessary. Whether any member of this Court would have found otherwise in similar circumstances is not the question here. If we can find any reasonable grounds for the decree, we must not interfere with the decision of the lower court.
The Commonwealth Court made a realistic and fair assessment of the competing interests here. As the basic requirements for injunctive relief are clearly present, under our *534narrow standard of review, the wisdom of the Commonwealth Court should remain undisturbed. Accordingly, I would affirm the order below.4

. Yellow Cab averred in its complaint that it contemplated selling, with the permission of the Bankruptcy Court, up to 300 additional operating rights in order to raise immediate operating capital and to satisfy existing creditors. The operating rights were appraised at the hearing to have a value of $14,000 to $16,000 each. Uncontradicted testimony in the record indicated that without a rapid and substantial infusion of cash, Yellow Cab could not continue in operation. Extension of credit and other financial relief were, however, asserted to be forthcoming if the transfer in this test case was approved.
It was represented at oral argument and substantiated by testimony at the hearing that Yellow Cab’s creditors and lienholders regarded the disposition of the matter before us as a test case. Without expedited approval of the transfer herein, it was assumed that the diminished likelihood of Yellow Cab’s survival would preclude the release of further operating funds, thus virtually ensuring its demise.

. An application for Stay was brought to this Court by the P.U.C. In order to permit consideration of this matter by the full Court, Mr. Justice Nix extended the date for P.U.C. action until October 1, 1980.
On October 2, 1980 we extended the Stay until further order, with leave for the P.U.C. to proceed on the application in the interim.

. This analysis overlooks the fact that prior to Yellow Cab’s efforts to obtain injunctive relief, the P.U.C. rejected its reasonable requests *532to adopt a definite schedule for the consideration and disposition of its application.

. Testimony in the record indicated that the time required to process a similar application ordinarily would be no more than 47 days and, as the actual substantive review requires only 4 to 6 days, could be significantly reduced with little difficulty. The Commonwealth Court Order was filed July 22, well over 47 days ago, and the P.U.C. has been free to begin its disposition of this matter. As the deadlines for decision imposed by both the initial order and our original extension, respectively September 1 and October 1, have now passed, I would at this time mandate complete review of Yellow Cab’s application within 30 days of the date of this opinion.