County of Butler v. Local 585, Service Employees International Union

PELLEGRINI, Judge,

concurring.

I join with the majority in quashing the County’s appeal because the order denying its request for a partial motion for summary judgment is interlocutory, and, as such, is unappealable. I also concur with the majority that the trial court did not err in not dissolving the preliminary injunction enjoining arbitration because there has not been the needed change in *528circumstances since its issuance that would justify dissolution. I, however, disagree with the majority statement in dicta that the facility to be operated by Buckingham was a drug treatment center, a proprietary function, rather than a prison, a governmental one.

First, I do not believe that we should reach this issue because it is unnecessary to do so to resolve the appeal. Once we found that the requisite change in circumstances had not occurred, that alone justifies the trial court’s decision not to dissolve the injunction. Moreover, whether it was a proprietary or governmental function was the issue the County raised in its appeal. Once quashed, it is not even an issue before us. Second, based on the state of the record, Buckingham’s proposed facility appears to be a prison because the inmates have been convicted of a crime, the time in Buckingham’s proposed facility will be counted against their court-imposed sentence, and the core distinction, they are not allowed to leave. Just because they are undergoing drug rehabilitation does not make Buckingham’s facility a drug treatment facility anymore than prison inmates receiving medical care makes a prison a hospital.