Court Upholds Judgments against Unlicensed Pennsylvania Business

Donald Diehl, the owner of Don Diehl Reconditioning (DDR), an automobile refurbishing company in Collegeville, PA appealed a judgment imposed by the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County for failure to pay his Collegeville business license fees.

Diehl had filed for the DDR’s business license in 2006, 2007 and 2008. When he failed to file his 2009 business license, he was ordered to appear in court where he was charged for operating his business without a business license.

In an attempt to appeal his charge, Diehl took the case to The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania arguing that he had applied for an exemption of business license fees in his own name and that exemption should be applied to his business as well.

The judgment by the Montgomery Court was upheld by The Court of Pennsylvania, last Wednesday, and the court affirmed that DDR would have to pay an annual business license fee.

The reasoning is explained in the memorandum by the Judge, “While we recognize that the Township's Code provides for exemptions, Section 95-9 of the Code specifically imposes the burden "upon any person, firm or corporation claiming an exemption from the payment of the [business license] fee imposed hereby to convince the collector of entitlement to such exemption." R.R. at 4 (emphasis added). As DDR did not submit a request for exemption, nor otherwise state a basis of entitlement to said exemption, it is not entitled to exemption. Therefore, the trial court did not err by imposing judgment of sentence on the citation at issue for failure to pay the requisite business license fee.”

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