It only stands to reason, yet it took almost 12 years and
repeated appeals for the final determination by the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court in Meyer v. Community College of Beaver
County, No. 22 WAP 2012, 2014 Pa. LEXIS 1524 (Pa. June 16,
2014), ruling that Pennsylvania's Unfair Trade Practices and
Consumer Protection Law does not apply to community colleges as
political subdivision agencies.
Meyer's appellate rendezvous included two visits to the
Commonwealth Court and two to the Supreme Court. Each appeal
grappled with possible legal rationales for applying—or
not—the UTPCPL to community colleges.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled that a community college is
not a "person" as defined in 73 Pa. Stat. §
201-2(2), and since the UTPCPL is enforceable only against a
person, it does not apply to community colleges. This sensible
outcome avoids imposing the teeth of the UTPCPL, such as treble
damages, cost-shifting and attorney fees, on an institution that
offers an
