Court Opinion

ID: 9646615
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 13:05:00.712646+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:39.867034
License: Public Domain

ZAPPALA, Justice,
dissenting.
In Lamp v. Heyman, 469 Pa. 465, 366 A.2d 882 (1976), we addressed the proper interpretation of Pa.R.Civ.P. 1010 with regard to the initiation of a civil action by praecipe and its effect on tolling the statute of limitations. Our holding in Lamp requires that a trial court conduct a hearing to determine whether the plaintiff “unreasonably delayed the prosecution of her action and [whether the] appellees were prejudiced thereby.” 469 Pa. 477, 366 A.2d 888. Using our supervisory powers, we then announced that
... in actions instituted subsequent to the date of this decision, a writ of summons shall remain effective to commence an action only if the plaintiff then refrains from a course of conduct which serves to stall in its tracks the legal machinery he has just set in motion, (footnote omitted)
469 Pa. at 478, 366 A.2d at 889. A review of the Lamp decision clearly evinces an intention to permit a party to demonstrate that his actions have not unreasonably stalled the legal proceedings he initiated. Thus, in each case, the trial court must make a determination of whether the *596moving party’s failure to serve a writ of summons demonstrates an unreasoñable attempt to stall the legal proceedings.
The majority strains to obviate this requirement by determining that the trial court did in fact find that Appellant’s counsel acted unreasonably, when in fact, the trial court failed to so hold. Although the trial court did find that Appellant’s counsel failed to deliver instructions to the sheriff and pay the cost of service within the original 30-day period, the trial court made no finding of whether this inaction was unreasonable, intended to stall the legal proceedings, and resulted in prejudice to the Appellees. On the contrary, the record reviewed by the trial court does indicate that the Appellees were made aware of the Appellant’s claim within one year prior to the commencement of these legal proceedings. Therefore, this is not a case in which a potential party has no notice of a pending claim until the filing of a writ for the purpose of tolling the statute of limitations. The trial court opinion is also noticeably void of any finding of prejudice suffered by any of the Appellees.
Furthermore, both Pa.R.Civ.P. 1010 and the accompanying comments indicate not only that the reissuance of the writ of summons automatically continues tolling the statute of limitations, but also a writ of summons cannot be reissued until it initially expires. Thus, the trial court’s determination that the reissuance of the expired writ subsequent to the expiration of the original writ did not toll the statute of limitations was clearly erroneous.
Finally, I disagree with the majority’s reading of Lamp requiring a “good faith” effort. I believe Lamp is clear in requiring a party to demonstrate that he acted reasonably, not that he acted in good faith.
LARSEN and McDERMOTT, JJ., join in this dissenting opinion.