Court Opinion

ID: 9642239
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:52:53.091298+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:45.127323
License: Public Domain

LARSEN, Justice,
dissenting.
The majority sets forth two “critical facts” upon which its resolution of this case turns: 1) that “there was nothing before the trial court on the 19th, when it authorized the ex parte trial, establishing that counsel for appellee was aware of the new trial date”; and 2) that “there is nothing to indicate that counsel for appellee sought any unreasonable relief from the pending trial date.” At 1168. If the record in this case supported these conclusions, I would join in the majority opinion. However, the majority arrives at its first conclusion only after considering an issue which was not preserved for appellate review or raised by the parties; and improperly considering an affidavit which was not part of the record in the court of common pleas and which the parties never brought to this Court’s attention. The majority arrives at its second conclusion by misapplying this Court’s decision in Budget Laundry Company v. Munter, 450 Pa. 13, 298 A.2d 55 (1972) to the facts of this case. Accordingly, I dissent.
*439With respect to the first “critical fact,” no issue of lack of notice was ever raised by appellee in the trial court, in the Superior Court, or in briefs filed with this Court. Since this issue was never raised, it was not properly preserved for appellate review. See Rule 302(a), Pa.R.A.P. (“Issues not raised in the lower court are waived and cannot be raised for the first time on appeal.”); Commonwealth v. Piper, 458 Pa. 307, 328 A.2d 845 (1974) (majority opinion by Roberts, J.).
“We have repeatedly held that where a claim of error is not properly preserved for review, an appellate court must not consider that claim on appeal.” Benson v. Penn Central Transportation Company, 463 Pa. 37, 41, 342 A.2d 393, 395 (1975) (majority opinion by Roberts, J.) (footnote citing cases omitted). See also Commonwealth v. Branham, 467 Pa. 605, 607-08, 359 A.2d 766, 767 (1976).
This Court has also held that appellate courts may not consider issues not presented, but rather should resolve an appeal on the basis of the issues raised by the parties. Wiegand v. Wiegand, 461 Pa. 482, 485, 337 A.2d 256, 257-58 (1975) (opinion for unanimous Court by Roberts, J.). See also Reed v. Sloan, 475 Pa. 570, 575 n.4, 381 A.2d 421, 423 n.4 (1977).
The majority’s raising and consideration of the issue of lack of notice can only be characterized as an unwarranted and unreasoned departure from precedent; I do not, therefore, concur in the majority’s treatment of it.
Further, I object to the majority’s reliance upon the affidavit of appellant’s counsel which was signed in January, 1977, one year after the trial in this case, for the purpose of bolstering its conclusion that Ms. Harkins had no notice of the January 19 trial date.1 Counsel’s affidavit was made *440part of appellant’s brief before the Superior Court;2 it was never made part of the record in the trial court, and it was never presented to this Court by either party. The majority has, nevertheless, sought out this affidavit and relied upon it in this appeal, even though such reliance would not be permissible if the parties had presented the affidavit directly to this Court.
This Court has discussed its reasons for refusing to consider the contents of a document filed by an appellant initially with this Court on appeal:
The scope of our review on the question under discussion is whether or not the lower court abused its discretion .... That issue must be resolved on the basis of the facts before the lower court and in the record upon the date the court rendered its decision. ... To permit the proposed addition to the record at this late date would be grossly unfair and establish a very dangerous precedent.
Kilian v. Allegheny County Distributors, Inc., 409 Pa. 344, 348-49, 185 A.2d 517, 519 (1962). See also Commonwealth v. Young, 456 Pa. 102, 114-15, 317 A.2d 258, 264 (1974) (majority opinion by Roberts, J.); In re England's Estate, 414 Pa. 115, 122, 200 A.2d 897, 900-01 (1964) (opinion for unanimous Court by Roberts, J.).
In light of this precedent and for the additional reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in In re: County Investigating Grand Jury of June 1, 1979, Appeal of Richard Drapczuk, 495 Pa. 186, at 206-210, 433 A.2d 5, at 15-16, 17 (1981) (Larsen, J., dissenting), I do not join in the majority’s willingness to rely upon a factual statement which was not in the trial court record and which neither party ever submitted to this Court.
*441With respect to the second “critical fact,” the majority’s conclusion is incredible. The majority opinion shifts the responsibility for Ms. Harkins’ absence from trial to Doth the trial court and opposing counsel. It assumes that appellant’s counsel never notified Ms. Harkins that he had replaced appellant’s previous counsel, and implies that counsel had an obligation to do so; it disapproves of the trial court’s reading of Ms. Harkins’ letter of January 14 to opposing counsel; 3 and it misquotes the content of appellee’s “exceptions,” stating that Ms. Harkins expressed, in one “exception,” the belief that an appropriate continuance would be entered.4
Yet the responsibility for counsel’s absence from trial and for the resulting judgment against appellee must be borne by Ms. Harkins herself, and in this case counsel failed to act responsibly and failed to make a satisfactory excuse for her inability to attend the trial as scheduled known to the court at the earliest possible moment.5 Ms. Harkins did not read *442the Legal Intelligencer, in which this case was officially noticed on numerous dates. On January 14, when Ms. Harkins learned from opposing counsel, who apparently had no trouble ascertaining the date of trial and proceeding accordingly, that trial was just two days away, she did not follow the procedures listed in the Legal Intelligencer and Rule 216 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure for obtaining a continuance. Ms. Harkins did not place a call to the trial court to warn of the conflict, nor did she telephone opposing counsel to notify him that there was a scheduling problem. Rather, two days before trial, Ms. Hawkins wrote a letter to opposing counsel, with only a carbon copy to the court, asking opposing counsel to obtain a continuance of several weeks, and then dropped that letter into the U. S. Mail, where it remained for two days until its delivery to the court after the scheduled hour for the commencement of trial. It was not until January 16, on the morning of trial, that Ms. Harkins finally telephoned the trial court, after which the trial court continued the case until January 19.
In view of Ms. Harkins’ course of conduct, she was fortunate that the trial court granted any continuance. Yet on January 19, when trial was again scheduled to begin and when Ms. Harkins had again failed to appear, the trial judge noted on the record that he had still not heard directly from her.
*443Despite Ms. Harkins’ mishandling of this matter, the majority relies upon this Court’s decision in Budget Laundry Company v. Munter, supra, to justify affirming the order of the Superior Court granting appellee a new trial. Budget Laundry applies to parties who have done everything possible, yet have remained unable, to resolve scheduling conflicts. In Budget Laundry, this Court required the granting of a continuance to remedy a conflict in one attorney’s schedule. That decision was based upon the facts that counsel had informed the court promptly of scheduling conflicts and of the unavailability of substitute counsel, that the requested continuance was only for a period of several days, that opposing counsel did not object to a continuance, and that no prejudice would result from the granting of a continuance,6 The facts of this case clearly do not come within the requirements of Budget Laundry, and the majority’s application of that decision to this case only serves to put attorneys on notice that they are no longer bound to follow rules of procedure concerning the scheduling of civil trials.
In view of counsel’s repeated failure to appear for trial and to inform the trial court of scheduling conflicts in a timely fashion, I would hold that the trial court in this case did not abuse its discretion, and I would reverse the order of the Superior Court.

. That affidavit purports to establish at least one fact upon which the trail court record is silent, namely, the fact that the trial court imposed upon appellant’s counsel the duty of notifying opposing counsel of the new trial date of January 19. Since neither party nor the author of the majority opinion has provided the members of this Court with copies of counsel’s affidavit, this writer has never actually seen the complete affidavit and has, in the formulation of this *440dissent, relied solely upon those portions of the affidavit quoted in the majority opinion.

. This Court does not routinely receive copies of trial or intermediate appellate court briefs in connection with pending appeals. Superior Court briefs, if not provided to the members of this Court by the parties, are available only from the Superior Court prothonotary or in the paperbook collections kept in libraries throughout the state.

. That letter stated that “[t]he main witness for the defense in this matter ... is now employed out of state and it will be necessary for me to secure his appearance, a task which might require several weeks notice to him.” (Emphasis supplied.) The majority, however, ignores the very language of the letter and concludes in its opinion that while
counsel for appellee did allude to the possibility that it might take “several weeks” for her to obtain the presence of appellee’s “main witness,” ... nothing in her correspondence suggested that she sought a continuance that would assure the availability of the witness. To the contrary, counsel for appellee requested a date certain.
At 1168. The trial court interpreted this letter correctly when it determined that Ms. Harkins desired a continuance of several weeks,

. This “exception” reads:
The Court erred in that despite direct advice from Defendant’s counsel to the Court’s secretary that Defendant’s counsel was on trial in Montgomery County on Friday, January 16, 1976 and that the case may well have been continued onto January 19, 1976, which in fact it was, and despite defense counsel’s request for a continuance to a date certain, a judgment was, nevertheless, entered pursuant to a verdict rendered after trial at which no defense evidence or argument was heard.

. Rule 218, Pa.R.C.P. governs cases like the present one in which one party is not prepared for trial. That rule provides:
*442When a case is called for trial, if one party is ready and the other is not ready, without satisfactory excuse being made known to the court, ... the plaintiff may proceed to trial, as the case may be
This Court has defined at least one circumstance which constitutes a “satisfactory excuse” within the meaning of Rule 218, and the manner in which that excuse must be made known to the trial court.
As a general rule a previous court commitment of an attorney which requires his presence before another tribunal, if made known to the court before which a continuance or an extension is sought, would constitute a “satisfactory excuse” within the meaning of Rule 218. ... However, regardless of the legitimacy of the circumstances which provide the basis for the delay it is to be expected that the conflict should be communicated to the court, before which the continuance is sought, at the earliest possible moment. See e. g. Pa.R.C.P. 216(C).
Dublin Sportswear v. Charlett, 485 Pa. 633, 638, 403 A.2d 568, 570 (1979) (emphasis added; citations and footnote omitted).

. On January 19, appellant’s counsel did state on the record that appellant had incurred “significant expenses” in having two of its witnesses present in court and prepared for trial on both January 16 and January 19.