Court Opinion

ID: 9697054
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:04:44.923438+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:28.867704
License: Public Domain

CAPPY, Justice,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent from the majority’s decision.
The question accepted by this court for review is whether section 333 of the JARA Continuation Act of 1980(JCA), Act of October 5, 1980, P.L. 693, as amended, 42 P.S. § 20043,1 the statutory venue provision governing actions for claims brought against local agencies, applies to the situation where a local agency is joined as an additional defendant or applies only to the situation where the local agency is an original defendant in the action. The majority holds that section 333 of the JCA applies in both instances. I disagree and would find that section 333 of the JCA applies only in the instance where the local agency is an original defendant in the action.
The analysis used by the majority shows a misapprehension of joinder procedure under the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure (Pa.R.C.P.) which leads the majority to erroneously conclude that section 333 of the JCA is applicable to an “action” to join a local agency as an additional defendant. I disagree with the majority’s determination that the joinder *564proceeding was an “action” within the purview of section 333 of the JCA. I therefore cannot join the majority’s conclusion that Chen v. Philadelphia Electric Co., 661 A.2d 25 (Pa. Cmwlth.1995), appeal dismissed, 545 Pa. 231, 680 A.2d 1156 (1996), was wrongly decided and should not have been followed by the Commonwealth Court in the instant appeal. To the contrary, I find the reasoning in Chen not only valid but also clearly applicable to the question before us and would affirm the Commonwealth Court’s decision in the present matter on the basis of Chen.
The instant litigation arose in January of 1992, after Appellee Galina Ribnicky was involved in an automobile collision with Appellant Richard Yerex (Yerex), who allegedly was driving the wrong way on a one-way street in the City of Allentown, Lehigh County. Appellee Galina Ribnicky and her husband Appellee Richard Ribnicky (collectively, Appellees) commenced a negligence action in 1993 against Yerex, MCI Telecommunications Corporation, which was Yerex’s employer, and U.S. Fleet Leasing, Inc., which owned the truck Yerex was driving (collectively Appellants/Original Defendants). Appellees brought the action in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, which is undisputedly an appropriate forum, rather than in Lehigh County, which also would have been an appropriate forum. See Pa.R.C.P. 1006; 2179. Importantly, Appellees chose not to sue Appellant City of Allentown (Allentown) in their action.
Appellants/Original Defendants unsuccessfully sought a transfer of venue to Lehigh County for the convenience of the parties and the witnesses. Appellants/Original Defendants also commenced joinder proceedings, by means of a writ of summons, to join Allentown as an additional defendant in Appellees’ action. After being joined as an additional defendant in the action, Allentown succeeded on its petition to transfer venue to Lehigh County pursuant to section 333 of the JCA in May of 1994. On appeal, the Commonwealth Court turned to its prior decision in Chen for guidance in interpreting section 333 of the JCA, since Chen had involved a similar statutory venue issue.
*565In Chen, Benedict Chen was injured in a construction accident in Delaware County and subsequently died. Mr. Chen’s successor-in-interest filed a civil complaint in the Philadelphia County Common Pleas Court against a number of defendants. The plaintiff in Chen chose not to sue the Commonwealth Department of Transportation (PennDOT). As in the present case, there was no dispute in Chen that venue in Philadelphia County was proper. One of the original defendants in Chen, however, joined PennDOT as an additional defendant by means of a writ of summons. PennDOT filed preliminary objections on the ground of improper venue. The Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas granted Penn-DOT’s preliminary objections and ordered the matter transferred to Delaware County on the basis of section 8523 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 8523.2
On appeal, the Commonwealth Court in Chen examined the question of whether section 8523 of the Judicial Code applies to the situation in which the Commonwealth is joined as an additional defendant or applies only in the situation where the Commonwealth is originally sued by the plaintiffs. Applying section 1921(c)(6) of the Statutory Construction Act, 1 Pa.C.S. § 1921(c)(6), the Chen court reasoned that if section 8523 applied in the situation where the Commonwealth is made an additional defendant to the plaintiffs action, the joinder of the Commonwealth as an additional defendant would deprive the plaintiff of venue in the forum he or she originally selected. The Commonwealth Court in Chen stated:
Although the plaintiff here never brought an action against [the Commonwealth], now, as a matter of law, [the Commonwealth] controls where the entire action shall be conducted. This result occurs without regard for any rights in the choice of a forum the plaintiff had against the other *566defendants he sued. As a practical matter, any defendant could obtain a change of venue by the simple act of joining [the Commonwealth] as an additional defendant on a simple and perhaps insupportable allegation of negligence by [the Commonwealth]. We cannot conclude that the legislature intended such a result.
Chen, 661 A.2d at 28 (footnote omitted).
The Commonwealth Court in Chen accordingly ruled that the plain meaning of section 8528 of the Judicial Code is that the venue statute applies only to the situation where the action is commenced by the plaintiffs against the original defendants.
Relying upon Chen, the Commonwealth Court in the case sub judice held that section 333 of the JCA applies only in the situation where the local agency is originally sued by the plaintiffs and does not apply where the local agency was joined by the original defendants in the action as an additional defendant. The Commonwealth Court accordingly reversed the trial court’s grant of Allentown’s petition for transfer of venue.
The majority subscribes to an incorrect interpretation of joinder procedure in Pennsylvania in concluding that, by joining Appellant Allentown by means of a writ of summons, Appellants/Original Defendants commenced an “action” against Allentown, thus triggering section 333 of the JCA. It is clear from our rules of civil procedure regarding joinder of additional defendants, see Pa.R.C.P. 2251 et seq., that the “action” which is contemplated by our joinder rules is the action which was initially commenced by the plaintiffs. See Pa.R.C.P. 2252.3 The procedure in place in Pennsylvania *567governing the joinder of additional defendants is a dual object procedure, which has been explained as follows:
The dual object procedure ... permit[s] a direct recovery by the plaintiff against the additional defendant whenever such liability is proven. The original defendant is allowed to bring in an additional defendant upon the ground that the latter is either (1) liable over to the original defendant or (2) directly liable to the plaintiff. The action becomes a combination of a suit of the plaintiff against the original defendant, a suit of the original defendant against the additional defendant, and a suit of the plaintiff against the additional *568defendant. The judgments entered in this three-cornered proceeding finally determine the rights of the parties inter se.
The practice of joining all such parties in one action reduces costs and saves the time of the litigants and the courts. It reduces the hazard of loss of evidence between actions, the possibility of death, absence, or insolvency of the third person, and the possibility of inconsistent findings by two juries. The Rules, which refer to the “plaintiffs cause of action,” are broadly construed, with these purposes in mind.
Goodrich-Amram 2d § 2252:1 (footnotes omitted).
The majority regards the writ of summons procedure, which was used to join Appellant Allentown, as commencing a second, separate action, as opposed to regarding the situation as the joinder of the additional defendant in the action which was commenced by the plaintiffs. It is this conclusion with which I strongly disagree. Ultimately, this incorrect view of what constitutes the “action” in question leads the majority to erroneously conclude that section 333 of the JCA applies to the proceeding for joining additional defendants. Consistent with our rules of civil procedure, I would agree with the Chen court and interpret the “action” to which section 333 of the JCA is applicable as the action commenced by the plaintiffs against the original defendants.
Moreover, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the Chen court improperly elevated the plaintiffs’ interest in litigating in the forum of their choice. This court has recently reaffirmed the importance of plaintiffs forum choice in a court’s consideration of a motion to transfer venue pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 1006(d)(1). See Cheeseman v. Lethal Exterminator, Inc., et al., 549 Pa. 200, 701 A.2d 156 (1997). As the Chen court observed, if the Commonwealth or a local agency is made an additional defendant to an action through joinder proceedings, there is nothing which would preclude the Commonwealth or a local agency from obtaining a transfer of *569venue pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 1006(d)(1) where a transfer is warranted. See Cheesemcm, supra.
As I would conclude the majority’s analysis of the plain meaning of section 333 of the JCA is based on a misapprehension of joinder procedure and disagree with its rejection of Chen, I would affirm the decision of the Commonwealth Court, based on Chen, that section 333 of the JCA applies only in the instance where the local agency is made an original defendant in the action by the plaintiffs.
Thus, I respectfully dissent.

. Section 333 of the JCA provides in pertinent part:
Actions ... for claims against a local agency may be brought in and only in a county in which the local agency is located or in which the cause of action arose or where a transaction or occurrence took place out of which the cause of action arose.
42 Pa.C.S. § 20043.

. Section 8523 of the Judicial Code provides in part:
Actions for claims brought against a Commonwealth party may be brought in and only in a county in which the principal or local office of the Commonwealth party is located or in which the cause of action arose or where a transaction or occurrence took place out of which the cause of action arose.
42 Pa.C.S. § 8523(a).

. Pa.R.C.P. 2252 provides in pertinent part:
(a) ... any defendant or additional defendant may join as an additional defendant any person, whether or not a party to the action, who may be
(1) solely liable on the plaintiff’s cause of action, or
(2) liable over to the joining party on the plaintiff's cause of action, or
(3) jointly or severally liable with the joining party on the plaintiff's cause of action, or
*567(4) liable to the joining party on any cause of action arising out of the transaction or occurrence or series of transactions or occurrences upon which the plaintiff's cause of action is based.
(b) If the person sought to be joined is not a party to the action the joining party may file as of course a praecipe for a writ or a complaint.
(1) If the joinder is by writ the joining party shall file his complaint within twenty days from the filing of the praecipe for the writ. If the joining party fails to file his complaint within the required time, the plaintiff or the additional defendant joined may seek a rule to file the complaint and an eventual judgment of non pros in the manner provided in Rule 1037(a) for failure to file a complaint.
(2) The complaint, in the manner and form required of the initial pleading of the plaintiff in the action, shall set forth the facts relied upon to establish the liability of the joined party and the relief demanded.
(c) The writ to join an additional defendant shall be directed to him and shall be substantially in the following form:
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
County of_
[Caption]
To._:
NAME OF ADDITIONAL DEFENDANT
You are notified that_
NAME(S) OF DEFENDANT(S)
has (have) joined you as an additional defendant in this action, which you are required to defend.
Date_
Seal of Court
NAME OF PROTHONOTARY (CLERK)
By-
DEPUTY
Pa.R.C.P. 2252 (emphasis added).