Keranko v. Washington Youth Baseball

In Keranko v. Washington Youth Baseball, 136 Pa. Commw. 709, 584 A.2d 1082 (1990), a father and son filed suit against a youth baseball league, which was a non-profit corporation, and challenged its failure to select the son for an all-star team. The youth baseball league filed preliminary objections challenging the father and son's assertion of standing under the term 'or otherwise' in Section 5793(a) of the Nonprofit Law. The Court found that under the doctrine of ejusdem generis, when general expressions are used in a statute, they are restricted to "'things and persons similar to those specifically enumerated in the language preceding the general expressions.'" Id. at 1084. The Court went on to find that the words preceding the term 'otherwise,' "pertain to individuals who have a special relationship to the corporation by virtue of being a member, officer or member of another body." Id. at 1084. Based on our construction of the term 'otherwise,' we concluded the Kerankos lacked standing as none of these categories were "even remotely similar to the Kerankos' situation," and that they were "best described as persons totally foreign to the corporation who may have been injured by its actions." Id.