J-S54027-15

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

DAWN BANCROFT IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF

PENNSYLVANIA

Appellant

v.

KATHY J. KATITS, THE PRUDENTIAL 

INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA, 

AND CENTRAL BUCKS FAMILY YMCA

No. 377 EDA 2015

Appeal from the Order Entered December 30, 2014

In the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County

Civil Division at No(s): 08-13308-27-2

BEFORE: BOWES, J., PANELLA, J., and FITZGERALD, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY PANELLA, J. FILED OCTOBER 21, 2015

Appellant, Dawn Bancroft, appeals from the order granting Appellee, 

Kathy J. Katits’s motion for judgment on the pleadings. As we conclude that 

none of Bancroft’s arguments on appeal merit relief, we affirm.

A prior panel of this Court, in reviewing Bancroft’s appeal from the 

order sustaining preliminary objections to her amended complaint, adopted 

the following factual and procedural history of this matter from the trial 

court:

Plaintiff, Dawn Bancroft (“Bancroft”) was a part-time employee 

of [Central Bucks YMCA], located in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. 

Bancroft worked at the YMCA part-time beginning in January 

____________________________________________

*

Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.
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1999. In August 2007, the YMCA’s Fitness Director, Matt 

Giordano (“Giordano”) became Bancroft’s supervisor, and the 

two shared an office. In March 2008, Bancroft separated from 

her husband, and in August 2008, Bancroft and Giordano began 

a romantic relationship. Bancroft and the YMCA had orally 

agreed that she would begin working full-time in a few months.

In mid-October 2008, Bancroft telephoned Katits, an employee 

of both the YMCA and Prudential. Bancroft’s supervisor, 

Giordano, was in the office at the time of the phone call. 

Bancroft left a voicemail message for Katits regarding the 

microphone in Studio B. Bancroft mistakenly thought she had 

hung up the phone after leaving the voicemail, when she and 

Giordano resumed their personal conversation. Katits’ 

answering machine continued to record the personal 

conversation between Bancroft and Giordano regarding their 

romantic relationship. Their romantic relationship was not 

known to other YMCA employees. On October 27, 2008, 

approximately two weeks after Bancroft’s and Giordano’s 

conversation was unintentionally recorded, Bancroft was 

summoned to the office of YMCA’s Controller and Human 

Resources Director, Virginia Doyle (“Doyle”). Doyle told Bancroft 

that she had not properly hung up the phone after leaving the 

voicemail message for Katits, and that her personal conversation 

with Giordano had been recorded. She further informed Bancroft 

that Katits had played the conversation about Bancroft’s 

relationship with Giordano for other YMCA employees. Finally, 

Doyle informed Bancroft that she and Giordano were terminated, 

effective immediately.

On December 30, 2008, Bancroft filed her original complaint 

against Katits and Prudential. Bancroft asserted three claims: 1) 

violation of Pennsylvania’s Wiretap Act against Katits and 

Prudential, 2) invasions of privacy against Katits and Prudential, 

and 3) intentional interference with contract against Katits 

individually. On February 2, 2009, Bancroft filed an Amended 

Complaint, adding the YMCA as an additional defendant as to the 

Wiretap Act claim only. On March 24, 2009, Katits and the 

YMCA filed Preliminary Objections to Bancroft’s Amended 

Complaint. On March 30, 2009, Prudential filed Preliminary 

Objections to Bancroft’s Amended Complaint. Defendants’ 

Preliminary Objections contend[ed] that Bancroft failed to state a 

cause of action for all her claims, and requested that Bancroft’s 

Amended Complaint be dismissed. Bancroft filed Answers to the 
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Preliminary Objections of all parties. On August 6, 2009, after 

Oral argument, [the trial court sustained all preliminary 

objections.] 

Bancroft v. Katits, 2647 EDA 2009, at 1-3 (filed July 8, 2010) (unpublished 

memorandum) (citation and some formatting marks omitted).

This Court affirmed the trial court’s order in all respects save one. The 

order sustaining the preliminary objection of Katits to Bancroft’s claim for 

intentional interference with contractual relations was vacated and 

remanded. This Court determined that Bancroft had pled that Katits’s action 

had interfered with her prospective full-time employment with the YMCA, 

and therefore had successfully pled a cause of action under existing Superior 

Court precedent. See id., at 5.

On remand, Katits filed an answer with new matter, which asserted in 

relevant part:

8. Katits’s actions and information conveyed to the YMCA were 

in all respects lawful and truthful. Accordingly, Katits was 

privileged in conveying such truthful information and cannot be 

held liable for intentional interference with a prospective 

contractual relationship.

Answer with New Matter, filed 9/27/10, at 6. In her response to Katits’s 

new matter, Bancroft denied that Katits “had any privilege” in bringing this 

information to the YMCA, but did not deny Katits’s assertion that the 

information was lawful and truthful. Answer to New Matter, filed 10/19/10, 

at 2.
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Katits subsequently filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, 

arguing in relevant part that under Walnut Street Associates, Inc. v. 

Brokerage Concepts, Inc., 20 A.3d 468 (Pa. 2011), “conveying truthful 

information to a third party is a valid and absolute defense to a claim for 

tortious interference with a prospective contractual relationship.” Motion for 

Judgment on the Pleadings, filed 9/19/14, at 4. In her response, Bancroft 

stated:

19. Denied. Defendant materially misrepresents to this Court 

the holding of [Walnut Street Associates.] In Walnut Street, 

the court discussed whether there is justification or privilege by 

consideration of the factors under the Restatement (Second) of 

Torts [§] 766. The language cited by Defendant in conveying 

truthful information or honest advice to a third party applies only 

within the scope of a request for advice. It is undisputed 

Defendant YMCA did not request Katits to provide advice.

Answer Opposing Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, filed 10/9/14, at 4. 

The trial court granted Katits’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, and 

this timely appeal followed.

On appeal, Bancroft seeks to raise three separate arguments. First, 

she argues that the trial court erred in concluding that she had not denied 

that the information provided by Katits to the YMCA was true. Second, 

Bancroft contends that the trial court misapplied Walnut Street 

Associates, as she believes it only applies in the context of responding to a 

request for advice. Third, she argues that the trial court erred in applying 

Walnut Street Associates to this case “retroactively.”
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In general, issues may not be raised on appeal in the first instance. 

See Pa.R.A.P. Rule 302(a). Rule 302 has been consistently applied by the 

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to require that issues be raised in front of 

the trial court before an appeal has been filed. See, e.g., Scalice v. 

Pennsylvania Employees Benefit Trust Fund, 883 A.2d 449, n.10 (Pa. 

2005). Here, a review of the record reveals that Bancroft’s first and third 

arguments were raised for the first time in her 1925(b) statement to the trial 

court after filing her notice of appeal. As a result, these issues are waived.1

In her only preserved issue on appeal, Bancroft contends that the trial 

court misapplied Walnut Street Associates. Bancroft specifically argues 

that under that case, truth is a defense only in the context of information 

supplied in response to a request for advice. However, the Supreme Court 

explicitly held that “Section 722 provides that it is not improper interference 

____________________________________________

1

In any event, we conclude that neither argument would merit relief. 

Regarding her first issue, we note that Bancroft admits, in her appellate 

brief, that she “is not alleging that the voicemail Katits played has been 

altered in any way or is fabricated.” Appellant’s Brief, at 12. This, combined 

with the pleadings reviewed above sufficiently support the trial court’s 

conclusion that there is no dispute as to the truthfulness of the information 

communicated by Katits to the YMCA. Turning to Bancroft’s argument 

against retroactivity, the Supreme Court in Walnut Street Associates

stated that “[O]ur holding does not amount to an adoption of an entirely 

new rule of law[,]” and therefore rejected the argument that its holding 

should not apply retroactively. Walnut Street Associates, 20 A.3d at 

479. Furthermore, the previous panel of this Court did not address Katits’s 

defense of truth, as the issue was not before it. Therefore, the “law of the 

case” did not prevent the trial court from granting judgment on the 

pleadings. See In re Estate of Elkins, 32 A.3d 768, 776 (Pa. Super. 

2011).
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if the defendant is merely giving the third person (a) truthful information, or

(b) honest advice within the scope of a request for advice.” Id., at 478 

(emphasis supplied) (internal quotation marks omitted). The use of the 

disjunctive “or” defeats Bancroft’s argument on appeal. We therefore find 

no merit in Bancroft’s argument.

We conclude that none of Bancroft’s arguments on appeal merit relief. 

We therefore affirm the order granting judgment on the pleadings to Katits.

Order affirmed. Jurisdiction relinquished.

Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.

Prothonotary

Date: 10/21/2015