77 Pa. Commw. 381 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1983
Opinion by
Before this Court are a petition for review by The Baltimore and Ohio Roalroad Company (B & 0) from a decision and order of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) and a motion to quash said petition by the PUC.
With respect to the timeliness of those aspects of B & O’s petition for review filed November 27, 1981, which challenge the substance of the July 14, 1981 order of the PUC, it is well settled that a request for modification to the PUC does not toll the running of
As for the order of October 28, 1981, this Court’s scope of review of a refusal to modify an order by the PUC is to determine whether the PUC has committed an abuse of discretion by so refusing. Borough of Platea v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 14 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 478, 322 A.2d 780 (1974). While the B & O’s petition for review herein does not specifically state as much, and is instead couched primarily in terms challenging the order of July 14, 1981 as being unsupported by substantial evidence, we do not find it to be so wholly deficient as to warrant quashing that aspect which pertains to the October 28, 1981 order. The essential elements of a petition for review as set forth in Pa. R.A.P. 1513, i.e. a statement of jurisdiction, identification of the parties including the government unit making the decision for which review is sought, reference to the appropriate order (that of October 28, 1981) and a general state
Having denied the PUC’s motion to quash as to the appeal from the order of October 28, 1981, we are confronted with the merits of that appeal. B & 0 asserts that, in rendering our decision as to whether the PUC abused its discretion in its refusal to modify, we must focus on the merits of the order of July 14. We disagree. To proceed as B & 0 would have us would be to permit a collateral attack on the merits of a final and otherwise unappealable order with the only effective difference being the scope of review employed by this Court.
Order
Now, October é, 1983, tbe Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s motion to quasb tbe petition for review in tbe above captioned matter of Tbe Baltimore and Obio Railroad Company is hereby granted in part and denied in part consistent witb tbe opinion above. Tbe order of tbe Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, dated October 28, 1981, A.102036, denying tbe petition for modification -by Tbe Baltimore and Obio Railroad Company is affirmed.
See also Section 703(g) of 'title 'Public Utility Oode, 66 Pa. C. S. §703(g).
The petition, if granted, would bave effectively reinstated the Initial Decision in this matter in which an administrative law judge for the PUC directed that 'the Township be liable for 100% of the contested costs.
These cases specifically addressed petitions brought pursuant to the authority afforded the PUC by Section 1007 of the Public Utility Law, Act of May 28, 1937, P.L. 1053, as amended, 66 P.S. §1397. Section 1007 was repealed by Section 2 of the Act of July 1, 1978, P.L. 598. Similar provisions are now found in Section 703(g) of the Public Utility Code, 66 Pa. C. S. §703(g). It is this section pursuant to which the current action was brought.
Whether there hag been an abuse of discretion by the PUC as opposed to whether there was substantial evidence to support the PUC’s decision.