Opinion
Argued March 5, 1982
December 6, 1982.
Highways — Commonwealth responsibility — Liability of municipality.
1. Exclusive responsibility for the repair and maintenance of state roads rests with the Commonwealth. [245]
Argued March 5, 1982, before President Judge CRUMLISH, JR. and Judges BLATT and DOYLE, sitting as a panel of three.
Appeal, No. 36 T.D. 1981, from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County in case of Thomas Shollar v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation, Clark Whitzell, Hulmeville Borough, Bucks County and Mark Shappcott, Jr., No. 79-617-13-2.
Complaint in the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County seeking damages for personal injuries. Mayor and municipality filed motions for judgment on the pleadings. Motions granted. BIEHN, J. Plaintiff appealed to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Case transferred to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Affirmed.
Paul R. Beckert, Jr., Jackson, Sullivan Beckert, for appellant.
Diane S. Hudachek, Deputy Attorney General, with her Walter F. Froh, for appellee, Department of Transportation.
Nicholas A. Leonard, with him Victor Jaczun, Jaczun, Grabowski Leonard, for appellees, Hulmeville Borough and Mark Shappcott, Jr.
The Bucks County Common Pleas Court granted Hulmeville Borough's motion for judgment on the pleadings. Thomas Shollar appeals. We affirm.
The mayor of Hulmeville Borough also motioned for judgment on the pleadings which was also granted by the trial court. We also affirm that grant by our Opinion today.
Shollar was riding a bicycle when he struck a large hole around an open storm drain in the road surface. The road is a state road within Hulmeville Borough. Shollar now alleges that the Borough and its officers should be held liable for failure to correct the hazardous condition. We disagree.
We also note that Shollar's complaint acknowledges that the Commonwealth received repeated notice of the hazard. The Commonwealth, in its brief in support of Shollar's appeal, alleges that Hulmeville should be held accountable for the condition of a state road within its borders, even though the Department of Transportation had received repeated requests to have the situation corrected. We find this assertion to be without merit both under the clear statutory mandates and the case law of this Commonwealth.
In companion opinions filed today, we have concluded that the law is well settled that the exclusive responsibility for the repair and maintenance of state roads rests with the Commonwealth. See also Swank v. Bensalem Township, 68 Pa. Commw. 520, 449 A.2d 837 (1982).
We affirm the grant of the Borough's motion for judgment on the pleadings.
ORDER
The Bucks County Common Pleas Court order, No. 79-617-13-2 dated December 22, 1980, is hereby affirmed.
Judge MENCER did not participate in the decision in this case.