74 Pa. Commw. 363 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1983
Opinion by
This case comes before this Court on appeal by Ruth E. Morris, Administratrix of the Estate of Prances Pyott, from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, which sustained the preliminary objections of the appellee, the Montgomery County Geriatric & Rehabilitation Center, and dismissed the appellant’s complaint. We affirm.
The appellant commenced this action in trespass for wrongful death and survival in the court of common pleas against the Montgomery County Geriatric & Rehabilitation Center, a Montgomery County agency (Center), contending that the death of decedent, Frances Pyott, was caused by the Center’s negligence in the care and supervision of its elderly patients. The appellant alleged in her complaint that the decedent, having attended an institution activity on October 14,1979, later on that day was found missing when she apparently wandered off and became lost, and that on the following morning the decedent’s body was found in a wooded area, where she had apparently taken off her clothes, gone to sleep, and died
Unfortunately for appellant, both the attack based on Section 11 of A.rticle I of the Pennsylvania Constitution
The equal protection contention
Accordingly, the order of the court of common pleas dismissing the appellant’s complaint must be affirmed.
Order
And Now, this 19th day of May, 1983 the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, dated October 13, 1981, dismissing the complaint of Euth E. Morris is hereby affirmed.
Act of November 26, 1978, P.L. 1399, as amended, formerly 53 P.S. §§5311.101-5311.803, repealed by Section 333 of the Act of October 5, 1980, P.L. 693. Similar provisions are now found in Sections 8541 through 8564 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa. C. S. §§8541-8564.
Section 201 of .the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, 53 P.S. §6311.201. A similar provision is found in Section 8542 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa. C. S. §8542.
Article I Section 11 of ibhe Pennsylvania Constitution provides as follows:
All courts shall be open; and every man for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation shall have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice administered without sale, denial or delay. Suits may be brought against the Commonwealth in such manner, in such courts and in such cases as the legislature may by law direct.
On an equal protection analysis, absent invidious discrimination or the burdening of a fundamental right, a legislative classification must he sustained unless if is patently arbitrary and bears no rational relationship to a legitimate interest. Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 677 (1973).
Since we affirm the court’s decision below that the appellant’s action is barred by the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, we need not address the appellant's final argument as to whether or not notice of her action was properly given to the municipality as required by Section 1 of the Act of July 1, 1937, P.L. 2547, formerly, 53 P.S. §5301, repealed by Section 2(a) of the Act of April 28, 1978, P.L. 202. A similar provision is now found in Section 5522 of 'the Judicial Code, 42 Pa. C. S. §5522.