Court Opinion

ID: 9734661
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:41:34.542581+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:50.065597
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING OPINION BY
Judge FRIEDMAN.
Like the majority, I would affirm the order of the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas (trial court) sustaining the Dauphin County Office of the Coroner’s (the Coroner) preliminary objections and dismissing Denise Chadwick’s (Chadwick) action in mandamus; therefore, I concur in the result reached by the majority. However, I write separately to express my concern with the majority’s conclusion that mandamus will never lie where an exercise of discretion is involved.
The majority states that “[a]s a high prerogative writ] mandamus writs are rarely issued and never where the plaintiff seeks to interfere with a public official’s exercise of discretion.” (Majority op. at 603) (emphasis added). Thus, the majority concludes that mandamus will not he here because “The County Code1 has ‘clothed [the Coroner] with discretionary powers’ to decide the extent of an investigation and to decide the cause of death.” (Majority op. at 605) (quoting Anderson v. City of *607Philadelphia, 348 Pa. 583, 587, 36 A.2d 442, 444 (1944)). In support of its conclusion, the majority cites cases standing for the proposition that one cannot challenge a public official’s discretionary act through an action in mandamus and that once the discretion is exercised, no individual has the ability, and no court has the authority, to compel the public official to exercise that discretion in a particular way.2 While I agree that, generally, the court may not control the manner in which discretion is exercised and may not interfere with an official’s judgment, I cannot agree with the majority’s suggestion that this is a per se rule that allows for no exceptions. In fact, in one of the cases cited by the majority, we acknowledged that “we will review a public official’s discretion where its exercise is arbitrary or fraudulent or is based upon a mistaken view of the law.” Nader v. Hughes, 164 Pa.Cmwlth. 434, 643 A.2d 747, 753 (1994).
There are certain situations where, as here, a public official is required to exercise discretion in order to perform a statutorily mandated duty.3 In these situations, the arbitrary or improper exercise of an official’s discretion may prevent the public official from properly performing his or her mandatory duties in accordance with the law, and an individual may utilize a writ of mandamus to challenge such action. Although the majority asserts that one would “search in vain for such a holding,” (majority op. at 604), I cannot agree. The case law contains many such examples. See, e.g., Commonwealth ex rel. Davis v. Pennsylvania Board of Parole, 484 Pa. 157, 398 A.2d 992 (1979) (holding that a proceeding in mandamus is available to compel a public official to correct a mistake in applying the law when interpreting commitment papers); Brown v. Department of Corrections, 686 A.2d 919 (Pa.Cmwlth.1996) (holding that a writ of mandamus can be used to compel an official to compute a prisoner’s prison sentence properly, but may not be used to compel an illegal act); Bald Eagle Area School District v. County of Centre, Board of Assessment Appeals, 745 A.2d 689 (Pa.Cmwlth.1999) (holding that the Board’s arbitrary exercise of discretion resulted in its failure to perform its statutorily mandated duty), appeal denied, 568 Pa. 620, 792 A.2d 1254 (2000). Admittedly, Chadwick’s mandamus action differs from these cases, but that does not excuse the majority’s failure to acknowledge their existence.
Therefore, while I agree that Chadwick cannot prevail here, I cannot accept and adopt the majority’s per se rule.

. Act of August 9, 1955, P.L. 323, as amended, 16 P.S. §§ 101-3000.

. Maxwell v. Board of School Directors of the District of Farrell, 381 Pa. 561, 112 A.2d 192 (1955); Tanenbaum v. D’Ascenzo, 356 Pa. 260, 51 A.2d 757 (1947); Nader v. Hughes, 164 Pa.Cmwlth. 434, 643 A.2d 747 (1994); Bradley v. Casey, 119 Pa.Cmwlth. 180, 547 A.2d 455 (1988).

. Pursuant to sections 1237 and 1238 of The County Code, a coroner has the mandatory duty to: (1) investigate the facts and circumstances of certain deaths; (2) if unable to determine the cause and manner of death based on the investigation, perform or order an autopsy to be performed to determine the cause and manner of death; and (3) based on the investigation and autopsy, determine cause and manner of the death. 16 P.S. §§ 1237, 1238. In performing the mandatory duty of determining the cause and manner of death, a coroner exercises his discretion to come to the factual conclusion as to what the actual cause and manner of death is.