Rule 1513. Petition for Review.
(a) Caption and parties on appeal.—In an appellate jurisdiction petition for review, the aggrieved party or person shall be named as the petitioner. Unless the government unit is disinterested, the government unit and no one else shall be named as the respondent. If the government unit is disinterested, all real parties in interest shall be named as respondents and the disinterested government unit shall be identified in parentheses after the respondents in the caption.
(b) Caption and parties in original jurisdiction actions.—The government unit and any other indispensable party shall be named as respondents. Where a public act or duty is required to be performed by a government unit, it is sufficient to name the government unit, and not its individual members, as respondent.
(c) Form.—Any petition for review shall be divided into consecutively numbered paragraphs. Each paragraph shall contain, as nearly as possible, a single allegation of fact or other statement.
(d) Content of appellate jurisdiction petition for review.—An appellate jurisdiction petition for review shall contain the following:
(1) a statement of the basis for the jurisdiction of the court;
(2) the name of the party or person seeking review;
(3) the name of the government unit that made the order or other determination sought to be reviewed;
(4) reference to the order or other determination sought to be reviewed, including the date the order or other determination was entered;
(5) a general statement of the objections to the order or other determination, but the omission of an issue from the statement shall not be the basis for a finding of waiver if the court is able to address the issue based on the certified record;
(6) a short statement of the relief sought;
(7) a copy of the order or other determination to be reviewed, which shall be attached to the petition for review as an exhibit; and
(8) the certificate of compliance required by Pa.R.A.P. 127.
No notice to plead or verification is necessary.
Where there were other parties to the proceedings conducted by the government unit, and such parties are not named in the caption of the petition for review, the petition for review shall also contain a notice to participate, which shall provide substantially as follows:
If you intend to participate in this proceeding in the (Supreme, Superior, or Commonwealth, as appropriate) Court, you must serve and file a notice of intervention under Pa.R.A.P. 1531 within 30 days.
(e) Content of original jurisdiction petition for review.—A petition for review addressed to an appellate court’s original jurisdiction shall contain the following:
(1) a statement of the basis for the jurisdiction of the court;
(2) the name of the person or party seeking relief;
(3) the name of the government unit whose action or inaction is in issue and any other indispensable party;
(4) a general statement of the material facts upon which the cause of action is based;
(5) a short statement of the relief sought;
(6) a notice to plead and verification either by oath or affirmation or by verified statement; and
(7) the certificate of compliance required by Pa.R.A.P. 127.
(f) Alternative objections.—Objections to a determination of a government unit and the related relief sought may be stated in the alternative, and relief of several different types may be requested.
Official Note
Paragraphs (a) and (b) reflect the provisions of Pa.R.A.P. 501, Pa.R.A.P. 503, 2 Pa.C.S. § 702 (Appeals), and Pa.R.C.P. 1094 (regarding parties defendant in mandamus actions).
Government units that are usually disinterested in appellate jurisdiction petitions for review of their determinations include:
• the Board of Claims,
• the Department of Education (with regard to teacher tenure appeals from local school districts pursuant to 24 P.S. § 11-1132),
• the Environmental Hearing Board,
• the Office of Open Records,
• the State Charter School Appeal Board,
• the State Civil Service Commission, and
• the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board.
Pa.R.A.P. 1513(a) was amended in 2020 to require that the caption of a petition for review from a determination of a disinterested government unit identify the government unit. Thus, the caption of a petition for review from a determination of a government unit listed above should be in the following form:
John Doe,
Petitioner
v.
Jane Smith (name of disinterested government unit),
Respondent
The provision for joinder of indispensable parties in original jurisdiction actions reflects the last sentence of 42 Pa.C.S. § 761(c), providing for the implementation of ancillary jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Court by general rule.
Paragraphs (d) and (e) reflect the differences in proceeding in a court’s original and appellate jurisdiction, while preserving the need for sufficient specificity to permit the conversion of an appellate document to an original jurisdiction pleading and vice versa should such action be necessary to assure proper judicial disposition. Where it is not readily apparent whether a ‘‘determination’’ under Pa.R.A.P. 1501 is reviewable in the court’s appellate or original jurisdiction, compliance with the requirements of both paragraphs (d) and (e) is appropriate.
The 2014 amendments to Pa.R.A.P. 1513(d) relating to the general statement of objections in an appellate jurisdiction petition for review are intended to preclude a finding of waiver if the court is able, based on the certified record, to address an issue not within the issues stated in the petition for review but included in the statement of questions involved and argued in a brief. The amendment neither expands the scope of issues that may be addressed in an appellate jurisdiction petition for review beyond those permitted in Pa.R.A.P. 1551(a) nor affects Pa.R.A.P. 2116’s requirement that ‘‘[n]o question will be considered unless it is stated in the statement of questions involved [in appellant’s brief] or is fairly suggested thereby.’’
Source The provisions of this Rule 1513 amended through April 26, 1982, effective September 12, 1982, 12 Pa.B. 1536; amended July 7, 1997, effective in 60 days, 27 Pa.B. 3503; amended July 8, 2004, effective 60 days after adoption, 34 Pa.B. 3862; amended April 15, 2011, effective in 30 days, 41 Pa.B. 1991; amended December 2, 2014, effective in 30 days, 44 Pa.B. 7828; amended January 5, 2018, effective January 6, 2018, 48 Pa.B. 461; amended January 7, 2020, effective August 1, 2020, 50 Pa.B. 505. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (389957) to (389959).
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