Rule 320 - Appeals from State and Local Agencies. 1(A)Applicability. The Office of Judicial Records shall maintain a special docket for appeals from the determinations of state and local agencies ("statutory appeals"). Statutory appeals (and matters ancillary thereto) shall be presented to and determined by the Supervising Judge of Appeals ("Supervising Judge").(B)Manner of Taking Appeal. An appeal may be commenced by filing a Notice of Appeal with the Office of Judicial Records. The Notice of Appeal shall be in substantially the following form: See www.courts.phila.gov/forms for the current version of the Notice of Appeal.
(C)Procedure on Appeal. The Supervising Judge shall publish a standing case management order for each agency whose determinations are appealed on a regular basis ("agency-specific orders"). For agencies whose determinations are seldom appealed, the Supervising Judge shall publish a standing order of a generic nature. The Office of Judicial Records shall provide appellant(s) with an agency-specific (or generic) standing order whenever a notice of appeal is filed. Every appeal (and matter ancillary thereto) shall be governed by the aforesaid standing order and any supplemental order, which may be issued by the Supervising Judge.(D)Manner of Service. The persons to be served, and the manner of making service, shall be specified in the standing order.(E)Parties. (a) The following persons shall be deemed parties opposed to the appeal unless they opt out by filing a praecipe with the Office of Judicial Records within 60 days of service of the Notice of Appeal:(1) the person(s) who initiated the proceedings before the agency below;(2) the City of Philadelphia, but only in appeals involving local agencies;(3) the School District of Philadelphia, but only in appeals involving school taxes; and(4) the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but only in appeals involving state agencies.(b) Others may obtain party status by intervening in accordance with the procedures set forth in the standing order.1Rule 320. Statutes authorizing appeals from state agencies (and some local agencies) often require the appeal to be commenced by "petition." See, e.g., 47 P.S. §4-464 (appeals involving the Liquor Control Board). Statutory requirements of this sort usually predate the constitutional remodeling of 1968 but, in any event, may be ignored. See, e.g., Appeal of Borough of Churchill, 575 A. 2d 550, 554 (Pa. 1990) (legislative bodies may not dictate civil procedure to Pennsylvania Courts). See also Albrechta v. Borough of Shickshinny, 565 A.2d 198, 201 (Pa. Commw. 1989) (improper appeal process may be transformed into valid process), appeal denied, 577 A.2d 891 (Pa. 1990).
Former Rule 146; adopted by The Board of Judges, originally General Court Regulation 81-7, July 30, 1981. Amended by General Court Regulation 81-8, September 9, 1981, General Court Regulation 88-2, February 18, 1988, and Administrative Docket 4 of 93, December 30, 1993. Former rule rescinded and new rule adopted May 23, 1997, effective 7/1/1997.