Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission v. Straw
Decision Date | 08 May 1978 |
Citation | 387 A.2d 75,478 Pa. 463 |
Parties | PENNSYLVANIA HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION, Appellant, v. Marian and Lewis STRAW. . Re |
Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Walter W. Wilt, Harrisburg, for appellee.
Before EAGEN, C. J., and O'BRIEN, POMEROY, ROBERTS, NIX, MANDERINO and LARSEN, JJ.
On July 15, 1971, Deborah J. Wilson filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission charging that Marian and Lewis Straw had refused to rent her an apartment because of her race. Pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, 1 the Commission found that the Straws had unlawfully discriminated against Wilson and ordered the Straws to, among other things, pay Wilson $3,500.00 in order to compensate her for the mental anguish, humiliation, inconvenience and disruption of normal family life. The Straws appealed the Commission's order to Commonwealth Court, which in an opinion written by Judge Harry A. Kramer and filed on August 14, 1973, held that the Commission had no authority to order that compensatory damages be paid. 2 A petition for allowance of appeal to this Court was then filed by the Commission and granted on October 18, 1973.
The Commission raises only the issue of whether it has the authority to order that damages be paid for mental anguish, humiliation, inconvenience and disruption of normal family life suffered as a result of the Straws' unlawful discrimination. In the case of Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission v. Zamantakis, --- Pa. ---, 387 A.2d 70 (1978), we held that our Legislature has not conferred such authority upon the Commission.
Order affirmed.
I cannot agree with the majority that the Commission has no authority to award compensatory damages when such damages have been properly established by the evidence.
Recently in Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission v. St. Joe Minerals Corp., 476 Pa. 302, 382 A.2d 731 (1978) we held that the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission may exercise only those powers which are expressly granted to the Commission or necessarily implied by the legislative grant of authority. St. Joe held that the Commission could not compel answers to interrogatories because such authority was neither expressly conferred upon the Commission nor necessarily implied in the legislative grant.
In this case, like St. Joe, there is no express grant of authority to award damages, but, unlike St. Joe, that authority is necessarily implied in the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.
In 1974, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission Act was amended and a new subsection (c) was added to section 962 of the Act. This new subsection, in my opinion, necessarily implies that the Commission has the authority to award damages. The new subsection (c) reads as follows:
(Emphasis added.)
As amended 1974, ...
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