Coroner v. Monroe County.

• Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania
• Writing for the Court: BALDRIGE, Judge.
• Citation: 154 Pa.Super. 75,35 A.2d 781
• Decision Date: 27 January 1944
• Parties: MARVIN, Coroner, v. MONROE COUNTY.

154 Pa.Super. 75
35 A.2d 781

MARVIN, Coroner,
v.
MONROE COUNTY.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Jan. 27, 1944.

Appeal No. 21, February term, 1944, from the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Monroe County at No. 59, September term, 1942; Samuel E. Shull, Judge.

Action of assumpsit by Francis H. Marvin, Coroner of Monroe County, against Monroe County to recover fees totaling $72.70, for services rendered in making preliminary investigations of the deaths of ten individuals. From a judgment for plaintiff, for $8.10, the plaintiff appeals.

Reversed and judgment entered for plaintiff.

Before KELLER, P.J., and BALDRIGE, STADTFELD, RHODES, HIRT, and KENWORTHEY, JJ.

Kennard Lewis, of East Stroudsburg, for appellant.

George T. Robinson, County Solicitor, of Stroudsburg, for appellee.

BALDRIGE, Judge.

Francis M. Marvin, coroner of Monroe County, brought this action of assumpsit against the county to recover fees totalling

35 A.2d 782

$72.70, for services rendered in making preliminary investigations of the deaths of ten individuals in Monroe County during the year 1942. The county commissioners refused payment of the fees on the ground that the coroner viewed the bodies without sufficient cause and that in none of the ten cases was it deemed necessary to hold an inquest. The court below sustained the county's affidavit of defense raising questions of law, holding that there was no necessity or reason for the coroner's viewing the dead bodies except in one instance, a suicide which the district attorney ordered him to investigate. The court entered judgment for the plaintiff in the amount of $8.10. The case came to this court on appeal.

Attached to the plaintiff's statement of claim was a full, detailed typewritten report of each of the ten deaths investigated and bodies viewed. The following is a typical example of each report: “At 7:10 a.m. o'clock, on Monday April 6th, 1942, the undersigned Coroner received a telephone call from, Chief Arthur Swink of the East Stroudsburg Borough Police advising that a man had just been found dead from a gun shot wound, at his home located at No. 408 King St., that Boro, and known to the police to be the body of Charles Goff. Responding to said call, the undersigned Coroner arrived at the East Stroudsburg Borough Police headquarters and proceeded to accompany Chief Swink and officer Russell Walton to the home of the deceased at the location above designated and there found the body of Charles Goff, aged about 75 years, sitting in a chair and facing the front door of his home, with the whole upper portion of his head blown off by a gun shot blast and with a 16 gauge single barrel shot gun resting at his side. On inquiring I found that the body had first been discovered by Mrs. Mary Armitage, a neighbor and that death had in all probabilities occurred several hours previous to the finding. After examining the corpse and inquiring into all of the surrounding and accompanying circumstances, it is adjudged by me that the said Charles Goff had come to his death by shooting, at his own hand, otherwise termed a suicide and therefore an inquisition was deemed unnecessary and accordingly no inquest was held. (Sig.) Francis M. Marvin (Seal) Coroner.”

Three additional deaths investigated resulted from self-inflicted gun shot or rifle wounds. Three persons died of sudden and acute heart attacks where there had been no medical attendance within a reasonable time prior to death. In one of these instances the body was found on a barn floor, in another a man was discovered in a dying condition on a public street, and in the third case the deceased fell over while eating his mid-day meal in a diner. Two of the reports show that the persons died following unavoidable accidents. One was found with his clothes burned off in...