Court Opinion

ID: 9711473
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:32:46.229277+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:05.305290
License: Public Domain

LARSEN, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the determination that the Department of Public Welfare is an indispensable party to this litigation and that, therefore, the Commonwealth Court has exclusive original jurisdiction under the standards enunciated in Scherbick v. Community College of Allegheny County, 479 Pa. 216, 387 A.2d 1301 (1978).
However, I cannot join in that portion of the majority opinion addressing the so-called “second issue”, the adequacy of the traditional formulation of the indispensable party *320doctrine. The lengthy analysis employed by the majority expresses criticism of the traditional approach. Primarily, this criticism is predicated upon the application of that approach to situations wherein an indispensable party is absent from the litigation. As this situation does not exist in the instant case, I consider the reasoning of the majority on the “second issue” to be dicta.
I express no opinion on the merits on the “second issue” analysis. I would decline to address this issue until the proper “absent-indispensable party” case arises.