Court Opinion

ID: 9701117
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:05:58.762192+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:00:46.164610
License: Public Domain

JOHNSON, Judge,
dissenting.
I agree with my esteemed colleagues that the action of the trial judge, the Honorable Albert W. Sheppard, Jr., should not be disturbed. However, I would find that the orders of October 21, 1988 disposed of all of the issues between the parties and were both final and appealable. I find Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company’s argument regarding T.A. Title Insurance Company’s failure to file a timely appeal persuasive. I would dismiss this appeal as having been brought too late and would not address those issues relating to enforcement of money judgments. Therefore, I must respectfully dissent.
T.A. Title Insurance Company (T.A. Title), in its Reply Brief, argues that the trial court’s orders of October 21, 1988 “embody the Court’s adjudication of the merits of this case based upon a stipulation of facts, which adjudication requires the aggrieved party to file exceptions before taking an appeal.” I find no support for this assertion in the record.
To begin, the trial court unequivocally declared that the first order of October 21, 1988 was pursuant to a “petition and rule” proceeding. Judge Sheppard wrote:
Preliminarily, analysis of the October 21st Orders as separate entities leads to the conclusion that the ... (FIRST) Order, in and of itself, was a final order pursuant to a “petition and rule” proceeding. As such, the Exceptions to this “FIRST” Order are procedurally improper and will not be considered by this Court. See, *603Haegele v. Pennsylvania General Ins., Co. [sic], 330 Pa.Super 481, 479 A.2d 1005 (1984); Kennedy v. Frank L. Black, Jr., Inc., supra. Extensive discussion of this point is not necessary. Suffice it to say that reference to the preamble of the FIRST Order ... and the transcript of the October 21st hearing ... and the procedural posture of the matter ... demonstrates that this FIRST Order was entered to resolve claims arising from a petition and rule to show cause.
Memorandum, March 16, 1989, page 16. (emphasis in the original, footnote omitted).
T.A. Title did not even file its complaint in this action until December 16, 1988, long after the court’s October 21, 1988 orders. The post-trial exceptions filed by T.A. Title on October 31, 1988 purportedly in pursuance of Pa.R.C.P. 227.1, responded only to the October 21st orders. T.A. Title had not responded to earlier orders of September 22, 1988 (requiring filing of memorandum by both title companies concerning disposition of certain escrow funds) and October 6, 1988 (granting intervention but denying T.A. Title’s motion to stay execution).
The majority asserts that the parties to this dispute “submitted their respective claims to the trial court on stipulated facts.” There is nothing in the certified record to support this. While it is true that both Commonwealth and T.A. Title submitted memoranda of law to the trial court at various times and also participated in “legal argument” on October 14 and 21, 1988, I find nothing in the record which could arguably be deemed to be a stipulation either as to facts or to law. While counsel may have “recited” certain statements to the court, these “recited facts” are not found in the certified record.
My review of the October 21, 1988 orders causes me to conclude that they, together, constitute a final determination of the Commonwealth’s and T.A. Title’s competing claims to the proceeds of the Mellon Account. As such, the orders were final and appealable. There was no trial or similar proceeding; rather, the claims were resolved follow*604ing petition and rule and the oral argument of counsel. The orders finally determined what portion of the funds in the Mellon Account should be paid over to each of the parties. The orders resulted in the disbursement of all the funds in the Mellon Account.
The second October 21, 1988 order provides as follows:
AND NOW, this 21st day of October, 1988, upon consideration of this Court’s Order of October 6, 1988, the September 22, 1988, Order of Judge Gafni, and all other matters of record, and after hearing it is hereby ORDERED:
1. Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company (“Commonwealth”) shall be entitled to, and permitted to retain from the $114,010.30 presently held in escrow (“escrow funds”), the amount of $55,010.78, said amount (together with the amount of $238,829.59 turned over to Commonwealth and not part of the escrow funds pursuant to a contemporaneous Order being entered this date) deemed to include $5,715.00 in costs expended by Commonwealth to obtain the pertinent bond and $3,439.08 in interest.
2. Commonwealth shall, as soon as practicable, pay over to T.A. Title Insurance Company (T.A.) the sum of $58,999.52 representing $58,295.30 principal and $704.22 in interest.
BY THE COURT,
s/ Sheppard
ALBERT W. SHEPPARD, JR., J.
This order clearly disposed of T.A. Title’s claim to any portion of the Mellon Account. In my view, the order is both final and appealable. Newman v. Thorn, 359 Pa.Super. 274, 278, 518 A.2d 1231, 1233 (1986); Lansdowne v. G.C. Murphy Co., 358 Pa.Super. 448, 452, 517 A.2d 1318, 1320 (1986); Praisner v. Stocker, 313 Pa.Super. 332, 336, 459 A.2d 1255, 1258 (1983). Since the October 21, 1988 orders were both final and appealable, T.A. Title was required to file an appeal within thirty days of their entry. Having failed to file timely appeals, the orders are now res *605judicata and T.A. Title’s post trial exceptions should be treated as a nullity. See, e.g., U.S. National Bank in Johnstown v. Johnson, 506 Pa. 622, 628-31, 487 A.2d 809, 813-14 (1985); cf., Estate of Rossi, 354 Pa.Super. 124, 511 A.2d 219 (1986).
The Notice of Appeal filed by T.A. Title declares that T.A. Title is appealing from “the Order entered in this matter on the 4th day of April, 1989, which Order has been reduced to judgment.” The order entered on that date is the order of March 16, 1989 which merely (1) refuses to consider T.A. Title’s exceptions to the FIRST October 21, 1988 order, (2) declares jurisdiction to consider the exceptions with respect to the SECOND October 21, 1988 order, and (3) dismisses T.A. Title’s exceptions. I am unaware of any authority or rule of procedure which requires or permits such an order to be reduced to judgment. Cf., U.S. National Bank in Johnstown v. Johnson, supra, 506 Pa. at 629, 487 A.2d at 813. Therefore, seeking to bring this appeal within thirty days of the entry of such judgment does not improve T.A. Title’s cause.
The SECOND October 21, 1988 order, set forth above, determined the rights of T.A. Title and the Commonwealth to all of the funds in the Mellon Account. The order determined the issues raised in T.A. Title’s petition to intervene and to enjoin the Commonwealth from executing against the Mellon Account. Inasmuch as the order was entered to resolve claims raised by way of petition and rule to show cause, the filing of post-trial exceptions was both improper and a nullity. Kennedy v. Frank L. Black, Jr., Inc., 271 Pa.Super. 454, 458-59, 413 A.2d 1104, 1107 (1979), rev’d. on other grounds, 492 Pa. 397, 424 A.2d 1250 (1981); Haegele v. Pennsylvania General Insurance Co., 330 Pa. Super. 481, 488-90, 479 A.2d 1005, 1008-09 (1984).
While the majority is able to find jurisdiction to consider this appeal without citation to any authority and without expressly setting forth those facts which the majority understands to have been stipulated, I note that the trial court was unable to go further than to find that the matter was *606“in the nature of a trial without jury on stipulated facts.” Memorandum, March 16, 1989 (filed April 4, 1989), page 21. Judge Sheppard expressly found that:
[A]s to the facts submitted, although the various papers filed presented a substantially similar scenario, the submissions were not identical on every issue and were not manifestly agreed upon and submitted as a uniform statement ... Importantly, there was disagreement as to the precise time when each party discovered the fraud perpetrated by Doe____
Secondly, the prayers for relief did not present a uniform request.
Memorandum, supra, pages 17, 18.
I am unaware of any case law holding that one may utilize the procedures set forth in Pa.R.C.P. 227.1 and file post-trial exceptions where there has been no trial, either with or without jury, and there have been no stipulated facts. Neither the majority nor Judge Sheppard point me towards such authority, if such exists. There are no transcripts of any hearings held in this case; there has been no testimony taken. The weakness of T.A. Title’s position with respect to its claimed right to file post-trial motions is found in its averments concerning its manner of preserving its exceptions. Rule 227.1 provides that:
(b) Post-trial relief may not be granted unless the grounds therefore,
(1) if then available, were raised in pre-trial proceedings or by motion, objection, point for charge, request for findings of fact or conclusions of law, offer of proof or other appropriate method at trial; and
(2) are specified in the motion.
A review of the Exceptions filed October 31, 1988 demonstrates that T.A. Title did not raise the grounds for post-trial relief in any of the accepted methods provided in Rule 227.1(b)(1). Rather than “excepting” to the actions or rulings of the trial judge, T.A. Title merely recounts where its “arguments” may be found. T.A. Title contends that its *607“arguments” were made in (a) its Motion for Leave to Intervene as a Party Plaintiff and for an Order Preventing Disbursement of Attached Funds, (b) its Supplemental Memorandum of Law in support of the motion, and (c) its Second Supplemental Memorandum of Law in support of the motion. Exceptions of Plaintiff T.A. Title Insurance Company, filed October 31, 1988,11, page 4, 18, page 6, and 27, page 8.
It is worthwhile noting that the recent amendments to Rule 227.1, adopted by Supreme Court Order of December 19, 1989, effective January 1, 1990, include an expanded NOTE following subparagraph (c) containing, in pertinent part, the following language:
NOTE: ... A motion for post-trial relief may not be filed to orders disposing of preliminary objections, motions for judgment on the pleadings or for summary judgment, motions relating to discovery or other proceedings which do not constitute a trial. See U.S. National Bank in Johnstown v. Johnson, 506 Pa. 622, 487 809 (1985).
A motion for post-trial relief may not be filed in a case stated.
A motion for post-trial relief may not be filed to matters governed exclusively by the rules of petition practice, (emphasis supplied).
Since the claims between the parties in fact were determined on the petitions and rule filed, and since there was no trial, it would not have been possible to utilize a motion, point for charge, request for findings, or offer of proof in order to preserve a ground for post-trial relief. It is understandable, under the circumstances, that T.A. Title is reduced to specifying “arguments” that appear in memoranda of law, rather than “exceptions” or “objections” to the trial court’s rulings. In my view, this will not suffice to bring vitality to this appeal. Rule 227.1 does not apply. The attempted post-trial proceedings were improper. The trial court’s March 16, 1989 order disposing of the “exceptions” should be deemed a nullity. Appeal not having been *608timely brought from the October 21, 1988 orders, this appeal should be dismissed.
Since I firmly believe that the appeal should be dismissed, I take no position concerning those issues relating to enforcement of money judgments as may be set forth in the majority opinion. With that disclaimer, I respectfully dissent.