Court Opinion

ID: 9774262
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:13:19.666647+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:04.623797
License: Public Domain

Justice SAYLOR,
dissenting.
I supported the rule of substantial compliance advanced in the lead opinion in Berg v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., *433607 Pa. 341, 6 A.3d 1002 (2010) (opinion announcing the judgment of the Court), because I believed it was consistent with my previous expressions in the Rule 1925 arena, the direction the Court had taken in recent amendments to the rule, and the original design of the Rules of Appellate Procedure incorporating liberal construction to secure the just and timely resolution of legal controversies under Rule 105(a). See id. at 361, 6 A.3d at 1014 (Saylor, J., concurring and dissenting). Similarly, I favor a limited remand here, as proposed by Appellant as an alternative, to determine whether there was substantial compliance with the PCRA court’s instructions. See Reply Brief for Appellant at 2.
I find the decision in Commonwealth v. Wholaver, 588 Pa. 218, 903 A.2d 1178 (2006), to be distinguishable, since, as the Court highlighted there, reinstatement of direct-appeal rights was available to remedy derelictions of counsel. See id. at 228-29, 903 A.2d at 1184-85.1 As the majority suggests, reinstatement of claims no longer appears to be available, however, in the post-conviction setting. See Commonwealth v. Pitts, 603 Pa. 1, 9-10 n. 4, 981 A.2d 875, 880 n. 4 (2009).
I fully appreciate the majority’s concerns with ex parte contacts and tactical behavior on the part of litigants, as well as with consistency in the administration of justice. Nevertheless, particularly given that the Court now strongly discourages the presentation of constitutional claims of deficient stewardship at the direct-appeal stage, see Commonwealth v. Grant, 572 Pa. 48, 813 A.2d 726 (2002), it is my position that the availability of one round of post-conviction review should not be impaired by rules of literal compliance. Thus, at least in light of the ongoing developments in this area — including the apparent curtailment of an enforcement mechanism to assure the evenhanded enforcement of a capital post-conviction petitioner’s rule-based right to assistance of counsel and the concomitant requirement of effective stewardship — I am *434unable to support the rigid application of Lord’s bright-line rule in the present setting.
Justice TODD joins this dissenting opinion.

. Indeed, such relief was subsequently afforded to Wholaver. See Commonwealth v. Wholaver, 605 Pa. 325, 336-40, 989 A.2d 883, 890-91 (2010).