Opinion
Argued September 14, 1988.
January 11, 1989.
Judge BARRY concurred in the result only.
Argued September 14, 1988, before President Judge CRUMLISH, JR., and Judges CRAIG, DOYLE, BARRY, COLINS, PALLADINO and McGINLEY.
Appeals Nos. 2128 C.D. 1985, 1821 C.D. 1987, 1822 C.D. 1987 and 1823 C.D. 1987, from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County in the case of John R. Mulholland, et al. v. Henry Joseph Palmen, et al., No. 84-11623; in the case of William Henry Coleman, III and Kathleen Coleman v. Henry Joseph Palmen, et al., No. 85-01532; and in the case of Layne B. Bartle v. Henry Joseph Palmen, et al., No. 84-18649, dated July 8, 1987.
Complaints in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County against motor vehicle operator, municipality and police officer. Municipality and police officer filed preliminary objections to each complaint, raising a demurrer and challenging certain damages claims. Demurrers overruled in part and sustained in part. Amended complaints filed. Municipality and police officer filed motions for summary judgment. Motions denied. BRODY, J. Municipality and police officer appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Appeal quashed.
Christopher M. Kerns, McNeily Rosenfeld, with him, George C. Zumbano, Gawthrop, Greenwood Halsted, for appellants/appellees, John R. Mulholland and Martha Jane Mulholland.
Charles W. Craven, with him, Maria Zulick, Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman and Goggin, and Robert J. Kearns, for appellants, Upper Gwynedd Township and Donald Bailey.
Thomas H. Talbott, Sullivan Talbott, with him, Joseph M. Melillo, Angino Rovner, P.C., for appellees, William Henry Coleman, III and Kathleen Coleman.
Upper Gwynedd Township and Police Officer Donald Bailey, defendants in consolidated personal injury actions, seek to appeal a Montgomery County Common Pleas Court order denying their summary judgment motion. We quash this appeal.
Separate actions were commenced in the common pleas court by John Mulholland, Henry Coleman and Layne Bartle for injuries sustained in a car accident and were consolidated. The appeals in these matters are likewise consolidated and are docketed at No. 1821 C.D. 1987 (Mulholland), No. 1822 C.D. 1987 (Coleman), and No. 1823 C.D. 1987 (Bartle).
Also in this Court is a related appeal in No. 2128 C.D. 1985, taken by Mulholland from an earlier trial court order striking portions of Mulholland's complaint. On April 8, 1986, this appeal was stayed, pending a verdict or final order in the trial court, and was later consolidated with the aforementioned appeals by the township and Bailey. We note that the parties have not briefed the merits of this appeal. Nonetheless, in light of our disposition of the township and Bailey's appeals, Mulholland's appeal at No. 2128 C.D. 1985 remains stayed pursuant to our April 8, 1986 Order.
Officer Bailey engaged his police department vehicle in a fifteen minute high-speed chase of a vehicle driven by Henry Palmen. During the chase, Palmen's vehicle collided with a vehicle driven by Henry Coleman in which John Mulholland and Layne Bartle were passengers.
Coleman, Mulholland and Bartle initiated these actions against the township and Bailey, alleging essentially that Bailey's negligent commencement and continuation of a dangerous high-speed chase caused their injuries. The township and Bailey asserted, by way of new matter, governmental immunity as affirmative defenses, 42 Pa. C. S. §§ 8541-8564.
The township and Bailey moved for summary judgment, contending, inter alia, that the plaintiffs' actions were barred because they were not within a statutory immunity exception. The trial court denied their motion.
For the reasons set forth in Bollinger v. Obrecht, 122 Pa. Commw. 562, 552 A.2d 359 (1989), we quash this appeal.
ORDER
The appeals of Upper Gwynedd Township and Donald Bailey at Nos. 1821, 1822 and 1823 C.D. 1987 are quashed. The appeal at No. 2128 C.D. 1985 remains stayed pursuant to our April 8, 1986 order.
Judge MacPHAIL did not participate in the decision in this case.
Judge BARRY concurs in the result only.