Commonwealth v. Borriello
Commonwealth v. Borriello
Opinion of the Court
ORDER
Order affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
Because I believe that the Commonwealth Court erred in reversing appellees’ convictions on twenty-six summary violations of building code ordinances, I dissent from this Court’s per curiam affirmance of the Commonwealth Court. Appellees own a vacant, dilapidated movie theater in Donora Borough. A Borough inspector inspected the structure and determined that it was unsafe and unsanitary pursuant to Borough of Donora Ordinance 1244.
Appellees failed to respond to the letter or to make the required repairs to the building. Hence, the Borough issued 26 separate citations charging violations of Ordinance 1244, failure to comply with the BOCA Code.
The trial court imposed fines of $300 plus costs for each summary offense with the provision that the fine would be reduced by 75 percent if the owners razed or repaired the structure in question within thirty days. Appellees filed a direct appeal and the Commonwealth Court, in an order and published opinion, reversed the trial court, holding that the Borough failed to specifically charge violations of sections 302, 303 and 801 of the BOCA Code or otherwise provide appellees proper notice regarding the alleged violations of those sec
Appellant claims that the Commonwealth Court erred by holding that the Borough failed to give proper notice or properly charge appellees with violations of Sections 302, 303 and 801 of the BOCA Code. Because Donora Borough Ordinance 1244 provides for the possibility of imprisonment for a violation of various sections,
[A] citation of the specific section and subsection of the statute or ordinance allegedly violated, together with a summary of the facts sufficient to advise the defendant of the nature of the offense charged.
Pa. R.Crim. P. 53(a)(6). The purpose of the information or citation is to inform the accused of the crimes charged, that is, to give sufficient notice of the charges so as to provide the defendant with the opportunity to prepare a defense, and to define the issues for trial. See Commonwealth v. Diaz, 477 Pa. 122, 125, 383 A.2d 852, 854 (1978). To the extent that a court believes that a citation contains defects, Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 90 provides, inter alia, that a citation cannot be dismissed absent prejudice to the rights of the defendant:
A defendant shall not be discharged nor shall a case be dismissed because of a defect in the form or content of a complaint, citation, summons, warrant or a defect in the procedures of this Chapter, unless the defendant raises the defect before the conclusion of the summary trial and the defect is prejudicial to the rights of the defendant.
Pa. R.Crim. P. 90 (emphasis added).
Appellees have not even argued, much less succeeded in demonstrating, that they were prejudiced by the alleged de
. The Borough of Donora adopted the Building Officials and Code Administrators National Existing Structures Code ("BOCA Code”) as Borough of Donora Ordinance 1244.
. The 26 citations charged respondents with violating various subsections of the BOCA Code, including BOCA subsections ES-106.1.1, ES-110-1, ES-111.1 and ES-300.3.
. See, e.g., Borough of Donora Ordinance 1244, Section Three: § 114.4 ... [a] violation of the provisions ... shall constitute a Summary Offense and any person found guilty ... shall be fined not less than $100.00 nor more than $300.00 and/or sentenced to the Washington County Jail for a period not exceeding ten days....
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.