Court Opinion

ID: 9707323
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 02:08:36.991155+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:41:08.495294
License: Public Domain

BYER, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result. The September 15, 1989 letter cannot be construed as an adjudication, because section 9-1107(3) of the ordinance provides for further review at the local agency level.
If the commission failed to grant Wortman his right to further review after a proper request under the ordinance, then Wortman’s remedy would be a civil action-mandamus to compel the commission to comply with its duties under the ordinance.1
If Wortman failed to make a proper request for further review, then he has failed to exhaust the administrative *624procedures necessary in order to obtain an adjudication appealable under the local agency law, and the court of common pleas should quash the appeal.
The problem is that the record on appeal is unclear with respect to precisely what transpired. Therefore, I agree that we should remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings.
If the trial court determines on remand that Wortman failed to make a proper request for further review under section 9-1107(3), it should quash the appeal. However, if the trial court determines that Wortman made a proper request for further review, but that the commission has failed to comply with its duty, then the trial court, pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. § 708(b),2 should treat the appeal as if it were a complaint in a civil action-mandamus and enter judgment compelling the commission to comply with its duty under section 9-1107(3) of the ordinance.

. See Gorton v. State Civil Service Commission, 35 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 319, 385 A.2d 1026 (1977); O’Peil v. State Civil Service Commission, 13 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 470, 320 A.2d 461 (1974).

. 42 Pa.C.S. § 708(b) provides:
If an appeal is improvidently taken to a court under any provision of law from the determination of a government unit where the proper mode of relief is an action in the nature of ... mandamus ..., this alone shall not be a ground for dismissal, but the papers whereon the appeal was taken shall be regarded and acted on as a complaint or other proper process commenced against the government unit ... as if filed at the time the appeal was taken.