Court Opinion

ID: 9516230
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 23:38:36.591483+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:23.903656
License: Public Domain

CERCONE, President Judge,
concurring:
Although I agree with the result reached by the majority, I must offer a caveat. On the assumption that the amendment process cannot go on ad infinitum, the opinion of the majority indicates that where there are “successive and continuous amendments to a complaint” (i. e., four), the court can dismiss the action unless the complaint, as amended, states a proper cause of action. While the majority correctly holds that a proper cause of action has been pleaded in the case sub judiee, the situation may occur where the last of “successive” amendments to the complaint does not cure its defect but, yet, the amendment carries with it the possibility that the defect is capable of being cured by another amendment. I am of the opinion that it would be improper to dismiss a cause of action when such a situation occurs. For these reasons, I prefer the earlier statement of the rule which I articulated in Framlau Corp. v. Delaware Co., 223 Pa.Super. 272, 276, 299 A.2d 335, 337 (1972):
In the event a demurrer is sustained because a complaint is defective in stating a cause of action, if it is evident that the pleading can be cured by amendment, a court may not enter final judgment, but must give the pleader an opportunity to file an amended complaint. Stevens v. Doylestown Bldg, and Loan Assoc., 321 Pa. 173, 183 A. 922 (1936). This is not a matter of discretion with the court *573but rather a positive duty. Winters v. Penna. R. Co., 304 Pa. 243, 155 A. 486 (1931), United Mercantile Agencies v. Slotsky, 107 Pa. Super. 467, 164 A. 349 (1933). Conversely, if it clearly appears that a defective complaint cannot be cured, a demurrer to it and dismissal of the action is proper. United Societies of Greek Catholic Religion v. Klochak, 340 Pa. 159, 16 A.2d 373 (1940), Seitz v. Fulton National Bank, 325 Pa. 14, 188 A. 569 (1936).