Court Opinion

ID: 9764045
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:08:40.057248+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:52.822235
License: Public Domain

*427CAVANAUGH, Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent on the basis of our en banc opinion per curiam in Ceresini v. Valley View Trailer Park, Ephrata, Inc., 380 Pa.Super. 416, 552 A.2d 258 (1988) which held that new Rule 238 “applies to all actions pending at the trial level, or on appeal, in which the issue of delay damages has been preserved and not finally determined, as in this case.”
The majority opinion now holds that where the defendant against whom delay damages have been awarded has appealed, and the plaintiff having received delay damages does not appeal, then Ceresini should not be followed and there should be no remand for the determination of delay damages in accordance with new Rule 238.
The majority states that the plaintiff did not appeal from the award of delay damages and is therefore not entitled to relief under Arcidiacono v. Timeless Towns of the Americas, Inc., 368 Pa.Super. 528, n. 2, 526 A.2d 804, 806 n. 2 (1987). That case is inapplicable as it held that the appellee could not raise the issue of contributory negligence because she had not filed a cross appeal and therefore, could not raise issues not raised by the appellant. In the case sub judice, the defendant did raise the issue of the propriety of the entry of delay damages. That was the only issue before this court. (Indeed the verdict has been paid and the consequent judgment has been satisfied.) The propriety of the award of delay damages was already on appeal and at the time there was no clear standard for the calculation of delay damages as the new rule had not been promulgated at the time the appeal was taken. The plaintiff should not be faulted for lacking prescience. Since the solitary issue on appeal is whether the trial court correctly applied Craig v. Magee Memorial Rehabilitation Center, 512 Pa. 60, 515 A.2d 1350 (1986) there is no point in asserting a cross appeal to raise precisely the same issues.
The majority opinion cites Staats v. Noll, 381 Pa.Super. 162, 553 A.2d 85 (1989) and Miller v. Wise Business Forms, Inc., 381 Pa.Super. 236, 553 A.2d 448 (1989). Both of these cases relied on Ceresini, supra, which the majority now disapproves and overrules to the extent that Ceresini v. *428Valley View Trailer Park, Ephrata, Inc., supra, is inconsistent with the present majority opinion. The instant case and Ceresini, supra, involved an appeal by the defendant where delay damages had been entered. The issue in both cases was whether the entry of delay damages was proper. The majority states that new Rule 238 is applicable to cases pending on appeal as of the effective date of the Rule, November 7, 1988, where the resolution of the issue of delay damages has been properly preserved and presented by the appellant, but nevertheless, reaches the anomalous result of affirming an award of delay damages based on former Rule 238. A fundamental difference exists in both rules in the calculation of the amount of delay damages, and the rules are discrete in other respects. If we are correct that the revised Rule 238 applies to cases where the issue has been preserved on appeal, then there is no reason to emasculate the rule and apply it only in part.
The majority, in effect, has ruled that delay damages were properly awarded, albeit in an incorrect amount, and fails to remand for a proper determination under new Rule 238 because the plaintiff below did not file a cross appeal on the basis of the new Rule which did not exist at the time the appeal was taken.
The majority opinion conflicts with Modrick v. B. F. Goodrich Co., 383 Pa.Super. 498, 557 A.2d 363, (1989) which involved an appeal by the defendant from the imposition of delay damages. We found the award of delay damages to have been proper but not in conformity with new Rule 238, and accordingly, remanded. The plaintiff in Modrick did not file a cross appeal, and none was required since both parties contemplated that the appeal would resolve the issue of delay damages in its entirety.
In Baker v. S. & L. Service Co., 381 Pa.Super. 637, 554 A.2d 565 (1989) the plaintiff appealed although delay damages were imposed in her favor. Neither party disputed the imposition of delay damages, although the appellant challenged the date on which the delay damages should commence running. We remanded for the assessing of delay damages under new Rule 238.
*429The majority result works an unfair economic hardship to plaintiffs who have not filed meaningless cross appeals. If, as should be done, the case is remanded for calculation of delay damages under the revised Rule 238 the plaintiff (who did not take this appeal) would be entitled to delay damages under the newly provided standard upon the court’s recalculation.
I would also point out that under Ceresini, and presumably the present majority, new Rule 288 applies only to those cases pending on appeal on November 7, 1988. This represents a constantly dwindling number of cases and the majority’s apparent reluctance to remand for a proper determination of delay damages seems unjustified in view of this fact.
Finally, I dissent because the matter is moot. Both parties to the dispute have moved to withdraw the appeal as they have reached an amicable resolution. As we recently noted in our en banc decision in Sonder v. Sonder, 378 Pa.Super. 474, 482, 549 A.2d 155, 159 (1988): “existence of actual controversy is essential to appellate jurisdiction and if an event occurs rendering it impossible for appellate court to grant any relief, issue is moot.”
OLSZEWSKI, J., joins.