20 A.2d 283 | Pa. | 1941
Frank Gerson, plaintiff, filed an application with the Civil Service Commission of the City of Philadelphia on March 17, 1937, to take the examination for the position of hoseman in the Bureau of Fire. The schedule for the examination, of which all the applicants had notice, required that they must be not less than twenty-five years of age on March 31, 1937. In his application plaintiff made affidavit that he was born September 21, 1911, and that he was therefore twenty-five years of age. As a result of the examination plaintiff's name was published by the Commission on May 29, 1937, as eligible for appointment, and was included in the list forwarded to the Director of Public Safety on August 17, 1938. Two days later, and before the list had been acted upon, the Commission notified the Director that it recalled Gerson's name pending further investigation. Nevertheless, on September 1, 1938, the Director appointed Gerson and swore him in for duty. At a hearing held September 6, 1938, at which plaintiff appeared and testified, the Commission found that according to his birth certificate he was born, not on September 21, 1911, but on September 21, 1912, and that therefore he had misstated his age; accordingly the Commission instructed the Director to strike his name *554
from the rolls of the Department. On October 25, 1938, plaintiff brought mandamus proceedings against the Commission in Court of Common Pleas No. 1, of Philadelphia County, which issued a peremptory writ ordering the certification to the City Controller of plaintiff's name for the position of hoseman, in order that he might be paid the salary alleged to be due him. The Commission appealed to this court, which reversed the judgment of the court below (Gerson v. Daly,
As his appointment was judicially declared to be "null and void" plaintiff realizes that he cannot claim wages or salary as such; he attempts, however, to accomplish the same result by an action in quasi-contract on the theory that the City should pay for the benefits it received from his services. He rests his case on the principle enunciated in Luzerne Township v.Fayette County,
Judgment affirmed.