Court Opinion

ID: 9951629
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-18 16:11:13.903643+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:41:51.452953
License: Public Domain

J-A29007-23

 NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

 LORRAINE DILLE WILLIAMS AND                :   IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
 ROBERT NICHOLS FLINT DILLE                 :        PENNSYLVANIA
                                            :
                    Appellant               :
                                            :
              v.                            :
                                            :
 LOUISE A. GEER, DANIEL HERMAN,             :
 EILEEN SABRINA HERMAN, GEER &              :
 HERMAN, P.C., AND HERMAN AND               :
 GEER COMMUNICATIONS, INC.,                 :   No. 128 WDA 2023
 D/B/A HERMES PRESS                         :

             Appeal from the Order Entered December 30, 2022
     In the Court of Common Pleas of Lawrence County Civil Division at
                             No(s): 10889-21

BEFORE: BOWES, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and MURRAY, J.

MEMORANDUM BY BOWES, J.:                          FILED: MARCH 18, 2024

      Lorraine Dille Williams and Robert Nichols Flint Dille (“Beneficiaries”)

appeal from the order that dismissed their civil complaint with prejudice on

the basis that the orphans’ court had exclusive jurisdiction over their claims.

While we agree with the trial court that orphans’ court is the proper venue for

this litigation, dismissal with prejudice was not the proper response to the civil

division filing. Therefore, we vacate the order and remand with instructions

for the trial court to transfer the action to the orphans’ court division pursuant

to 42 Pa.C.S. § 5103(c).

      The parties to this appeal have been involved in protracted litigation

concerning the administration of the Dille Family Trust (“DFT”) by trustee

Louise A. Geer. We offer the following summary for purposes of the instant
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appeal. The DFT was settled by Beneficiaries’ parents in California in 1979.

Robert C. Dille, Beneficiaries’ father, subsequently assigned to it his interest

in the intellectual property rights of the Buck Rogers comic strip.1 The situs

of the trust was later moved to Illinois. In 2011, after the settlors’ deaths,

and after all successor trustees designated by the DFT either resigned or

declined the position, Ms. Geer accepted Beneficiaries’ request to become

successor trustee.        In that capacity, she opened a trust account in

Pennsylvania and administered the DFT from her offices at Geer & Herman,

P.C., in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania.

       As the DFT trustee, Ms. Geer litigated claims against the Nowlan Family

Trust (“NFT”) for the United States intellectual property rights to Buck

Rogers.2 As the litigation costs exceeded the DFT’s income, Ms. Geer, without

consulting with Beneficiaries, elected to file for bankruptcy on behalf of the

DFT. As this Court explained:

            During the bankruptcy action, Ms. Geer and her husband,
       Daniel Herman, acting as individuals, together with the NFT
____________________________________________

1 For a colorful description of the “multi-year, multi-lawsuit, multi-party war

being fought over the rights to the fictional world of comic character Buck
Rogers,” see Dille v. Geer, CV 20-924, 2020 WL 7624835 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 22,
2020) (dismissing Beneficiaries’ tort claims against, inter alia, Daniel Herman
and Geer & Herman, P.C., but permitting counts of breach of fiduciary duty,
constructive fraud/fraudulent concealment, and negligence to proceed against
Ms. Geer).

2 The DFT’s U.S. trademarks for Buck Rogers had expired at the time Ms. Geer

began administering the trust, but it still had trademark rights in some other
jurisdictions. See In re Dille Family Trust, 305 A.3d 998, 2023 WL
6121850, at *3 (Pa.Super. 2023) (non-precedential decision).

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      submitted a joint offer to the Bankruptcy Court to purchase all of
      the DFT assets, including any trademark and intellectual rights
      that the DFT might own with regard to Buck Rogers. Their offer
      was rejected. On February 20, 2019, the bankruptcy action was
      dismissed on the grounds that the DFT was not a business trust
      and therefore was not eligible for Chapter 11 relief.

            Shortly after the bankruptcy dismissal, the DFT and the NFT
      resolved their dispute. On February 28, 2019, Ms. Geer, acting
      as Trustee of the DFT, signed a settlement agreement with the
      NFT. Pursuant to the terms of the settlement agreement, Ms.
      Geer entered into an asset purchase agreement, conveying any
      and all trademark and intellectual property rights owned by the
      DFT to [a company controlled by the NFT] for $300,000.00. As a
      result of this transaction, the federal action between the NFT and
      the DFT was voluntarily dismissed.

In re Dille Family Trust, 305 A.3d 977, 2023 WL 5843798 at *1-2

(Pa.Super. 2023) (non-precedential decision).

      In April 2019, Beneficiaries filed an action in California seeking

confirmation that Ms. Geer never properly became the DFT trustee and lacked

the authority to act on behalf of the trust, as well as compelling her to turn

over all trust property and records. Approximately two weeks later, Ms. Geer

filed a petition in the orphans’ court division of the court of common pleas of

Lawrence County, seeking approval of her proposed distribution of the trust’s

assets.   Beneficiaries opposed the petition on the bases raised in their

California action.   The California court dismissed that action for lack of

jurisdiction over the DFT or Ms. Geer.

      Thereafter, the Lawrence County orphans’ court entered a December 6,

2019 order providing that, “until further order of court, there is to be no

disbursement, distribution, or encumbrance of any asset of the DFT.” Id. at

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*2. The orphans’ court entered a subsequent order in October 2020 providing

that it had “exclusive jurisdiction to decide whether or not Ms. Geer was

appointed [t]rustee of the DFT and whether or not Ms. Geer continues to be

the lawful [t]rustee of the DFT.     All parties will be bound by this court’s

decision.” Id. at *3.

      Nonetheless, Beneficiaries filed another petition in California, without

divulging the pendency of the Lawrence County proceedings, and without

providing notice to Ms. Geer or the NFT. This time, Beneficiaries asked the

California court to allow the waiver of an accounting of the DFT’s

administration, to declare that all trust assets were distributed to Beneficiaries

retroactive to February 2019, before Ms. Geer’s settlement agreement with

the NFT, and to approve termination of the DFT.            The California court

ultimately dismissed the petition with prejudice.

      In the Pennsylvania orphans’ court matter, Ms. Geer requested that the

court find Beneficiaries in contempt of its December 2019 and October 2020

orders.    The orphans’ court held an evidentiary hearing, found that

Beneficiaries intentionally violated the orders, and sanctioned them by, inter

alia, requiring their payment of the reasonable attorney fees incurred by Ms.

Geer and the DFT. This Court affirmed that order on September 11, 2023.

See id. at *17.

      While that collateral matter was on appeal, litigation continued in the

orphans’ court.   Following hearings in April 2021, and findings that were

reconsidered and amended, the orphans’ court on January 11, 2022, held that,

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pursuant to 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 711(3) and (12), it had “exclusive jurisdiction over

questions relating to Ms. Geer’s administration of the DFT, Ms. Geer’s

distribution of the DFT assets, over the question of Ms. Geer’s status, and all

accountings and issues relating to surcharges.”3 In re Dille Family Trust,

305 A.3d 998, 2023 WL 6121850 (Pa.Super. 2023) (non-precedential

decision) (cleaned up). Further, the orphans’ court declared that Ms. Geer

lawfully became the trustee of the DFT on June 6, 2011. Id. at *7. The court

then scheduled further hearings to resolve the remaining issues, such as

Beneficiaries’ claims that Ms. Geer should be surcharged. This Court affirmed

those rulings on September 19, 2023. Id. at *12, 19.

       Between the time that the orphans’ court issued its initial findings

concerning Ms. Geer’s status and the filing of its amended ruling, Beneficiaries

filed a complaint in civil action in the civil division of the Lawrence County

Court of Common Pleas seeking compensatory and punitive damages from

Ms. Geer, Mr. Herman, and their law firm, as well as against their daughter,

Eileen Sabrina Herman, and her printing company, Herman and Geer

____________________________________________

3 As this Court noted, the orphans’ court referenced 20 Pa.C.S. § 711(2),
which pertains to testamentary trusts, but subsection (3) of that statute,
which references inter vivos trusts, is implicated here because the DFT took
effect during the settlors’ lifetimes. See In re Dille Family Trust, 305 A.3d
998, 2023 WL 6121850, at *5 n.7 (Pa.Super. 2023) (non-precedential
decision). In either case, the exclusivity of the jurisdiction of the orphans’
court is the same.

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Communications, Inc., d/b/a Hermes Press (“Hermes Press”).4             Therein,

Beneficiaries alleged that Hermes Press reprinted Buck Rogers comics starting

in 2011, resulting in royalty payments that should have been paid to

Beneficiaries by virtue of their status as beneficiaries of the DFT. They claimed

that they never received any of these royalties because Ms. Geer “caused . . .

said profits to be deposited into an account held by the DFT and subsequently

divert[ed] the profits to an account held in the name of Geer & Herman, P.C.”

Complaint, 11/12/21, at ¶ 24.

       The complaint also alleged that Beneficiary Williams loaned money to

the DFT through Ms. Geer to fund the trust’s trademark litigation, and Ms.

Geer “caused to be drafted” twelve notes totaling $230,000 to secure the

loans, which she then confessed judgment upon using an unwitting attorney

to carry out a fraudulent scheme.5 Id. at ¶¶ 25-35. Additionally, Beneficiary

Williams asserted that she paid more than $360,000 to Ms. Geer and Geer &

Herman, P.C., “for what Defendant Geer alleged were costs of litigation related

to the DFT[.]” Id. at ¶ 36.

____________________________________________

4 According to the complaint, Ms. Geer testified in connection with some piece

of the litigation among the parties that she and Mr. Herman jointly owned
Hermes Press from its inception in 2000 until 2019, at which time Ms. Geer
transferred her interest to Ms. Herman for $1. See Complaint, 11/12/21, at
¶¶ 14-18. The portions of the transcripts referenced in the complaint and
purported to be attached thereto either contain insufficient information to
discern their context or were omitted from the filing.

5 According to the trial court, litigation concerning the confessed judgments

was pending in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania at the time of the instant
proceedings. See Trial Court Opinion, 12/30/22, at 13.

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      Finally, the complaint averred misdeeds in connection with the DFT’s

bankruptcy litigation and settlement with the NFT. In particular, Beneficiaries

cited missteps noted by the bankruptcy court regarding filings and information

supplied by the DFT under Ms. Geer’s stewardship and alleged that Ms. Geer

initiated the proceedings to facilitate her acquisition of the DFT’s intellectual

property licenses. For his part, Beneficiary Dille contended that he was not

notified, let alone in agreement with, the filing of the bankruptcy action on

behalf of the DFT. Id. at ¶¶ 38-61.

      Upon these factual allegations, Beneficiary Williams stated claims of

fraud against Ms. Geer, Mr. Herman, and their law firm for allegedly inducing

her to give money to the attorneys to fund other litigation and confessing

judgment against the DFT upon a forged signature. She also averred that all

the defendants engaged in a civil conspiracy to commit fraud. Additionally,

Beneficiaries stated counts of conversion and civil conspiracy against all the

defendants, contending that they kept royalties belonging to Beneficiaries that

Hermes Press realized from the sale of Buck Rogers comics.

      While Hermes Press filed an answer and new matter, all other

defendants filed preliminary objections. Pertinent to this appeal, Ms. Geer,

Mr. Herman, and Geer & Herman, P.C., objected on the basis that the claims

raised in Beneficiaries’ complaint, which were in the nature of requests for an

accounting, directly related to the administration of the DFT, and therefore

were within the mandatory and exclusive jurisdiction of the orphans’ court

pursuant to 20 Pa.C.S. § 711(12). See Preliminary Objections, 1/21/22, at

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¶¶ 18-27 (Mr. Herman and Geer & Herman, P.C.); Preliminary Objections,

2/10/22, at ¶¶ 18-27 (Ms. Geer).

      As for the remaining defendants, Hermes Press asserted in its new

matter that it reached an initial five-year agreement with the DFT in 2008 to

publish and sell books of Buck Rogers reprints, and that the contract provided

for an initial lump sum of $5,000 followed by payments of ten percent of gross

sales to the DFT. A new five-year agreement was executed in 2012, providing

for another $5,000 initial lump sum and eight percent of sales.          Both

agreements provided for payments to the DFT, not to Beneficiaries, which

Hermes Press asserted that it did. Hermes Press thus maintained, inter alia,

that Beneficiaries lacked standing or authority to sue it to enforce the DFT’s

rights. See Answer and New Matter, 1/21/22, at ¶¶ 130-57. For her part,

Ms. Herman first objected to improper service, but her counsel, who was also

counsel for Hermes Press, subsequently accepted service on her behalf and

filed a responsive pleading asserting the same new matters as Hermes Press.

See Answer and New Matter, 3/17/22, at ¶¶ 130-59.

      After Beneficiaries answered the new matters of Hermes Press and Ms.

Herman (“the Hermes defendants”), the Hermes defendants moved for

judgment on the pleadings arguing that: (1) because the fraud claims were

not alleged against them, but only against Ms. Geer, Mr. Herman, and Geer &

Herman, P.C., the Hermes defendants could not be liable for conspiracy to

commit fraud; (2) the complaint failed to state a claim of conversion against

the Hermes defendants because Beneficiaries were not entitled to any direct

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payment from them and did not allege that the Hermes defendants failed to

pay the DFT in accordance with the licensing agreements; (3) Beneficiaries

lacked standing to enforce the DFT’s claims against the Hermes Defendants;

and (4) the claim for punitive damages failed as a matter of law. See Motion

for Judgment on the Pleadings, 4/18/22, at 6-11.

      The trial court heard oral argument on the preliminary objections and

motion for judgment on the pleadings after it provided the opportunities for

Beneficiaries to respond and for all parties to submit briefs. Thereafter, the

court sustained the objections to subject matter jurisdiction, concluding “that

sole and complete jurisdiction for the litigation of the matters set forth in

[Beneficiaries’ c]omplaint shall be resolved in the Orphan’s Court litigation set

forth at No. 43 of 2019, O.C.” Order, 12/30/22, at ¶ 1. Accordingly, the trial

court declined Beneficiaries’ request to amend the complaint and dismissed it

with prejudice without examining the remaining preliminary objections. Id.

at ¶¶ 1-2. The court addressed the Hermes defendants’ motion as follows:

      As to [the Hermes defendants’] motion for judgment on the
      pleadings, based upon the court’s determination that exclusive
      jurisdiction for resolution of the claims set forth by [Beneficiaries],
      all of which pertain to and relate back to the administration of the
      [DFT] by [Ms. Geer], the court will grant the [motion] in its
      entirety, and the claims set forth in [the] complaint versus [the
      Hermes defendants] are hereby dismissed, with prejudice.

Id. at ¶ 3 (cleaned up).

      Beneficiaries filed a timely notice of appeal.     The trial court directed

them to file a Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement of errors complained of on appeal,

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and they complied.     Beneficiaries present the following questions for this

Court’s determination:

      1.    Whether the orphans’ court possesses statutory,
      exclusive/mandatory jurisdiction over the instant matter?

      2.    Whether the orphans’ court has exclusive jurisdiction over
      the instant matter pursuant to order of court?

      3.    Whether the instant action should be dismissed upon a
      finding that the civil division of the Lawrence County Court of
      Common Pleas lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the instant
      matter and that sole and complete jurisdiction lies with the
      Lawrence County orphans’ court?

Beneficiaries’ brief at 5-6 (unnecessary capitalization omitted).

      We begin with the governing legal principles:

      Our standard of review of an order of the trial court overruling or
      sustaining preliminary objections is to determine whether the trial
      court committed an error of law.           When considering the
      appropriateness of a ruling on preliminary objections, the
      appellate court must apply the same standard as the trial court.

R.A. Greig Equip. Co. v. Mark Erie Hosp., LLC, 305 A.3d 56, 59 (Pa.Super.

2023) (cleaned up).      Here, the trial court sustained preliminary objections

based on a lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In this vein, we observe:

      Jurisdiction over the subject matter is conferred solely by the
      Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth. The test for whether
      a court has subject matter jurisdiction inquires into the
      competency of the court to determine controversies of the general
      class to which the case presented for consideration belongs. Thus,
      as a pure question of law, the standard of review in determining
      whether a court has subject matter jurisdiction is de novo and the
      scope of review is plenary.

Mazur v. Trinity Area Sch. Dist., 961 A.2d 96, 101 (Pa. 2008) (cleaned up).

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        Our General Assembly has provided that, “[e]xcept where exclusive

original jurisdiction of an action or proceeding is by statute or by general rule

. . . vested in another court of this Commonwealth, the courts of common

pleas    shall   have   unlimited   original    jurisdiction   of   all   actions   and

proceedings[.]” 42 Pa.C.S. § 931(a). Further, pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. § 952:

        The divisions of a court of common pleas are administrative units
        composed of those judges of the court responsible for the
        transaction of specified classes of the business of the court. In a
        court of common pleas having two or more divisions each division
        of the court is vested with the full jurisdiction of the whole court,
        but the business of the court may be allocated among the divisions
        of the court by or pursuant to general rules.

Id. Our High Court has observed that “it is now recognized that the divisions

of the common pleas courts are established essentially for purposes of

administrative convenience, and that each division is vested with the full

jurisdiction of the whole court.” In re Estate of Hall, 535 A.2d 47, 59 (Pa.

1987).

        Concerning the jurisdiction of an orphans’ court division, § 711 of the

Pennsylvania Probate, Estates, and Fiduciaries Code (“PEF Code”) states that,

with exceptions not pertinent here:

        [T]he jurisdiction of the court of common pleas over the following
        shall be exercised through its orphans’ court division:

              (3) Inter vivos trusts.--The administration and
              distribution of the real and personal property of inter vivos
              trusts, and the reformation or setting aside of any such
              trusts, whether created before or after the effective date of
              this chapter, except any inter vivos trust jurisdiction of
              which was acquired by the court of common pleas prior to
              January 1, 1969 unless the president judge of such court

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            orders the jurisdiction of the trust to be exercised through
            the orphans’ court division.

                    ....

            (12) Fiduciaries.--The appointment, control, settlement of
            the accounts of, removal and discharge of, and allowance to
            and allocation of compensation among, all fiduciaries of
            estates and trusts, jurisdiction of which is exercised through
            the orphans’ court division, except that the register shall
            continue to grant letters testamentary and of administration
            to personal representatives as heretofore.

20 Pa.C.S. § 711. A trustee is a fiduciary. See 20 Pa.C.S. § 102.

      Additionally, § 712 of the PEF Code explains that the concurrent

jurisdiction of the court of common pleas may be, but is not required to be,

exercised through its orphans’ court division under certain circumstances.

Specifically, § 712 states in relevant part as follows:

      § 712. Nonmandatory exercise of jurisdiction through
      orphans’ court division

            The jurisdiction of the court of common pleas over the
            following may be exercised through either its orphans’ court
            division or other appropriate division:

                           ....

                    (3) Other matters.--The disposition of any case
                    where there are substantial questions concerning
                    matters enumerated in section 711 and also matters
                    not enumerated in that section.

20 Pa.C.S. § 712.

      Our High Court has explained that “§ 712 confers upon the orphans’

court division broad residual and discretionary jurisdiction over all matters

that are subject to resolution by courts of common pleas generally.” In re

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Estate of Hall, 535 A.2d at 59 (cleaned up). Hence, § 712(3) provides that

the orphans’ court division may exercise jurisdiction when a controversy

implicates items enumerated in § 711, such as those involving the

administration of a trust, yet also involves claims that are not enumerated in

that section, such as an ejectment action. See Estate of Hull v. Showman,

303 A.3d 738, 2023 WL 4363981 (Pa.Super. 2023) (non-precedential

decision).

      With these precepts in mind, we consider Beneficiaries’ arguments. At

the outset, they assert that the orphans’ court does not have mandatory

jurisdiction over the instant action because the complaint does not “seek to

administer or distribute the real or personal property of the DFT” or “seek to

appoint, control, settle the account of, remove, discharge, or allow the

allocation of compensation to a fiduciary[.]” Beneficiaries’ brief at 21. They

further contend that, since they are not pursuing compensation for losses they

sustained from Ms. Geer’s lack of due care, they are not seeking surcharges

as contemplated by the orphans’ court’s January 2022 order that invoked that

court’s   “exclusive   jurisdiction   over   questions   relating   to   Ms.   Geer’s

administration of the DFT, Ms. Geer’s distribution of the DFT assets, . . . and

all accountings and issues relating to surcharges.”          Id. at 22.        Rather,

Beneficiaries maintain that they are pursuing damages for the intentional torts

of fraud and conversion against Ms. Geer, plus defendants who are not parties

to the orphans’ court action. Id. at 23. Finally, they argue that if their action

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was filed in the wrong division, the case should have been transferred rather

than dismissed. Id. at 29-30.

       From our recitation of the history of these parties’ interactions, and in

particular the allegations of Beneficiaries’ complaint, it is plain that their claims

against Ms. Geer concern her administration of the DFT as its fiduciary.

Consequently, those claims are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the

orphans’ court pursuant to § 711(3) and (12) of the PEF Code.6 As the trial

court aptly stated:

       having a different source of their request for relief in this suit
       compared to the other simply does not remove this case from its
       companion at No. 43 of 2019, O.C., where the sum and substance
       of the entirety of the allegations relate back to and have as their
       fundamental basis allegations of misconduct by [Ms.] Geer, as
       trustee of the [DFT], and that [Beneficiaries], as beneficiaries of
       the [DFT] object to and seek financial damages as a result of [Ms.]
       Geer’s alleged misconduct, mismanagement, and improper
       distribution of assets of the [DFT] during the term of the
       trusteeship.

Trial Court Opinion, 4/20/23, at 7 (cleaned up).

       Furthermore, litigating against Ms. Geer in orphans’ court rather than

the civil division does not limit Beneficiaries’ claims to ones alleging negligence

____________________________________________

6 Cf. Baskin & Sears v. Edward J. Boyle Co., 483 A.2d 1365 (Pa. 1984)

(holding trial court erred in transferring case to orphans’ court where the
claims of malpractice in estate planning were “only collaterally related to the
administration and distribution of the decedent’s estate”); Mark Hershey
Farms, Inc. v. Robinson, 171 A.3d 810, 815–16 (Pa.Super 2017) (holding
that the trial court properly exercised jurisdiction over a breach of contract
action brought against an estate because the complaint did not raise any
issues challenging the administration of the estate).

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and seeking a surcharge. “Once it is determined by [§] 711 and [§] 712 that

the orphan’s court has jurisdiction to hear a case, then it has the same

authority as the whole court.” In re Estate of Reinert, 532 A.2d 832, 834

(Pa.Super. 1987). Hence, the orphans’ court in these scenarios may order

the same relief as the civil division.7 See, e.g., id. (holding that the orphans’

court had jurisdiction to enter a general money judgment for the return of a

specific sum of money that he stole from the decedent); Estate of Gilbert,

492 A.2d 401, 403–04 (Pa.Super. 1985) (ruling that orphans’ court had

jurisdiction to inquire into the decedent’s inter vivos sale of property to his

daughter while adjudicating the ownership of property still in the decedent’s

name when he died); Estate of Hull, 2023 WL 4363981, at *7 (concluding

that, because the orphans’ court had mandatory jurisdiction over the

counterclaims raised in an ejectment action, it was permitted to exercise

nonmandatory jurisdiction over the ejectment claim as well pursuant to

§ 712(3)).

____________________________________________

7 We additionally note that Beneficiaries’ claims appear to, in large part, fall

within these provisions of the PEF Code. By statute, “[a] trustee who commits
a breach of trust is liable to the beneficiaries affected.” 20 Pa.C.S. § 7782(a).
A breach of trust is “[a] violation by a trustee of a duty the trustee owes to a
beneficiary[.]” 20 Pa.C.S. § 7781(a). Duties of a trustee include a duty of
loyalty to administer the trust in good faith and solely for the benefit of the
beneficiaries. See 20 Pa.C.S. §§ 7771-7772. Remedies for a breach of trust
include “tracing trust property wrongfully disposed of and recovering the
property or its proceeds.” 20 Pa.C.S. § 7781(b)(9)(iii).

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      Nor does the presence of parties other than the fiduciary and trust

beneficiaries preclude litigation of all claims in the orphans’ court. See, e.g.,

In re Estate of Hall, 535 A.2d at 59 (holding that, because “§ 712 confers

upon the [o]rphans’ [c]ourt [d]ivision broad residual and discretionary

jurisdiction over all matters that are subject to resolution by courts of common

pleas generally,” the orphans’ court was permitted to continue to adjudicate

the case even after the claims against the estate were relinquished).

      Accordingly, Beneficiaries’ arguments that the orphans’ court lacked

mandatory exclusive jurisdiction over at least some of their claims is meritless,

as are their contentions that the relief sought is unavailable in that court.

However, we agree with Beneficiaries that the trial court erred in dismissing

their complaint with prejudice rather than transferring it to the orphans’ court.

      Our legislature has provided as follows concerning the filing of an action

in the wrong court or division thereof:

      (c) Interdivisional transfers.--If an appeal or other matter is
      taken to, brought in, or transferred to a division of a court to which
      such matter is not allocated by law, the court shall not quash such
      appeal or dismiss the matter, but shall transfer the record thereof
      to the proper division of the court, where the appeal or other
      matter shall be treated as if originally filed in the transferee
      division on the date first filed in a court or magisterial district.

42 Pa.C.S. § 5103.     We have observed that this language “is absolute[,]

admitting to no exceptions. . . . Accordingly, lack of jurisdiction is not grounds

for refusing to transfer. Further, the language states that a matter brought

before the incorrect division may not be dismissed.”           In re Estate of

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Ciuccarelli, 81 A.3d 953, 960 (Pa.Super. 2013) (cleaned up). This provision

“applies equally to dismissal entered with and without prejudice.” Id.

       Therefore, § 5103(c) statutorily obligated the trial court to transfer the

instant civil matter to the orphans’ court, where it would be treated as if it

was originally filed there. As such, the trial court erred by instead dismissing

the complaint with prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.8 See In

re Estate of Ciuccarelli, 81 A.3d at 961 (holding that pursuant to § 5103(c),

the trial court erred in dismissing the appellant’s claims without prejudice due

to lack of subject matter jurisdiction instead of transferring them); Estate of

Hull, 2023 WL 4363981, at *7 (same).

       Nonetheless, the Hermes defendants suggest that we should affirm the

trial court’s order to the extent that it granted their motion for judgment on

the pleadings. They argue that the counts against them must fail, citing the

absence of allegations of conversion or fraud by them, the lack of standing on

the part of Beneficiaries to enforce the DFT’s license agreements, and the legal

____________________________________________

8 Appellees all suggest that Beneficiaries waived the right to seek transfer by

failing to request it from the trial court or including it in their Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b)
statement. We disagree. First, as noted above, § 5103(3) “is absolute and
admits no exceptions. See also In re Caples, 262 A.3d 495, 2021 WL
3615541, at *6 (Pa.Super. 2021) (non-precedential decision) (“[T]he rule to
transfer a case filed in an incorrect division of our court system is a mandate
that the court must apply uniformly, not a remedy a party must prove is
warranted.”). Second, because the trial court’s order directing Beneficiaries
to file a Rule 1925(b) statement did not comply with Rule 1925(b)(3)(iii),
waiver pursuant to this rule does not attach. See, e.g., Rahn v. Consol.
Rail Corp., 254 A.3d 738, 747 (Pa.Super. 2021).

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insufficiency of the request for punitive damages. See Hermes defendants’

brief at 23-34.

      It appears from the trial court’s opinion that it found the claims against

the Hermes defendants deficient due to the lack of detailed factual allegations,

not because Beneficiaries were incapable of amending their pleading to state

valid claims. See Trial Court Opinion, 12/30/22, at 17-18. Further, the trial

court declined Beneficiaries’ request to amend based upon its conclusion that

the orphans’ court had exclusive jurisdiction over all the claims raised in the

complaint, insofar as they related back to Ms. Geer’s administration of the

DFT. See Order, 12/30/22, at ¶¶ 1-3.

      With the trial court’s grant of judgment based on a pleading deficiency

and its denial of amendment premised upon a lack of jurisdiction, we deem it

inappropriate to consider affirming the grant of the Hermes defendants’

motion for judgment on the pleadings at this juncture. See, e.g., Thom v.

CDM Auto Sales, 221 A.3d 681, 684 (Pa.Super. 2019) (“It is beyond

peradventure that leave to amend pleadings has traditionally been liberally

granted in this jurisdiction.” (cleaned up)). Instead, after the record of this

case is transferred to the orphans’ court, the parties are free to litigate their

respective motions in that court.

      For the above reasons, we vacate the trial court’s December 30, 2022

order dismissing Beneficiaries’ complaint with prejudice. We remand for the

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trial court to instead transfer the record of this case to the orphans’ court

division in accordance with § 5103(c).

      Order vacated.     Case remanded with instructions.        Jurisdiction

relinquished.

FILED: 3/18/2024

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