CHAPTER 111. TORT CLAIMS LITIGATION
Sec.
111.1. Service of process.
111.2. [Reserved].
111.3. [Reserved].
111.4. Venue.
The provisions of this Chapter 111 issued under 42 Pa.C.S. App. 11, unless otherwise noted.
Local Offices
Offices of Department of Transportation designated by 37 Pa. Code § 111.1 as local offices for service of process are also local offices for venue purposes under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8523(a). Department of Transportation v. Chatzidakis, 492 A.2d 1170 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1985).
Service of Process
In an action begun on January 20, 1982, the provisions of 37 Pa. Code § 111.1, which at that time required that service of process upon the Department be made at the office of Chief Counsel in Harrisburg, in conjunction with the provisions of this section, which at that time provided that venue in actions in trespass against the Commonwealth or Commonwealth parties would lie only in the county where the cause of action arose, the county where a transaction or occurrence took place out of which a cause of action arose, or where an office of the Commonwealth or a Commonwealth party is designated under § 111.1 (relating to service of process), permitted a Luzerne County judge to transfer the action for improper venue, since the cause of action arose in Wyoming County and the Department of Transportation maintenance shed located in Luzerne County was not a ‘‘principal office’’ of the Department. Cortese v. Department of Transportation, 463 A.2d 1293 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1983).
An action against Department of Transportation may be brought where its ‘‘principal office’’ is located or the ‘‘local office’’ which is in the county where the cause of action arose or where a transaction or occurrence took place out of which the cause of action arose. Bortulin v. Harley-Davidson Motor Co., 539 A.2d 906 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1988).
Waiver
An agreement between the plaintiff, the Liquor Control Board and the Attorney General whereby the parties agreed to an extension of time for the Liquor Control Board to file an answer but not preliminary objections to the plaintiff’s complaint, constituted a waiver of this section’s service of process requirements. Leahy v. Liquor Control Board, 551 A.2d 1153 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1989).
This section cited in 37 Pa. Code § 111.4 (relating to venue).
(a) Venue in actions for claims against a Commonwealth party as defined in 42 Pa.C.S. § 8501 (relating to definitions) shall be in the county in which one of the following exists:
(1) The cause of action arose.
(2) A transaction or occurrence took place out of which the cause of action arose.
(3) The principal office of the Commonwealth party is located.
(4) The local office of the Commonwealth party is located.
(b) The principal offices of Commonwealth parties are the same as those offices designated in § 111.1(b) and (c) (relating to service of process).
(c) For purposes of subsection (a)(4), the local office of the Commonwealth party is the local office located in that county where the cause of action arose or where a transaction or occurrence took place out of which the cause of action arose.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to change or alter the judicial discretion granted under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8523 (relating to venue and process) which permits a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County to transfer an action to an appropriate county where venue would otherwise lie, if venue is obtained in the Twelfth Judicial District (Dauphin County) solely because the principal office of a Commonwealth party is located there.§ 111.2. [Reserved].
§ 111.3. [Reserved].
§ 111.4. Venue.
Local Office
For purposes of determining venue within which the Commonwealth may be subject to suit, a ‘‘local office’’ was defined so as to restrict venue to the county where the cause of action arose, not simply any county within which the Commonwealth had an office. Bogetti v. Department of Transportation, 601 A.2d 421 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1991).
Third-Party Proceedings
Section 8523 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 8523, which required actions against a Commonwealth party be brought in and only in a county in which the principal or local office of the party was located, was not applicable to third-party proceedings in which the Commonwealth was joined as a defendant by the original defendants against whom the action was brought. Chen v. Philadelphia Elec. Co., 661 A.2d 25 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1995).
This section cited in 37 Pa. Code § 111.1 (relating to service of process).
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