Court Opinion

ID: 9649297
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:47:43.901962+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:09.589574
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Roberts:
Unanimous and recent decisions of this Court have held that claims against a decedent’s estate must be established by evidence that is “clear, direct, precise and convincing,” Petro v. Secary Estate, 403 Pa. 540, 170 A. 2d 325 (1961); Petruzzi Estate, 410 Pa. 554, 190 A. 2d 314 (1963) (per curiam). The evidence relied upon by the Court to establish the $9,100 claim against *171the decedent’s estate does not fit that formulation; more importantly, the Court’s opinion completely ignores a well established and sound precedent and, instead, permits recovery of the $9,100 solely on the basis of inferences from circumstantial evidence, citing as authority therefor a standard of proof enunciated in a negligence case. Needless to say, the standard of proof in negligence is irrelevant to the instant determination. The Alabama criminal case relied upon by the Court is also inapposite, as well as distinguishable. There is no reason why an Alabama decision in a different branch of the law should disturb a well established and sound rule of Pennsylvania law.
I therefore dissent and would reverse the decree insofar as it awards to the appellee the $9,100 not traceable by serial numbers to the defendant’s decedent’s estate or established by other evidence that is “clear, direct, precise and convincing.”
Mr. Chief Justice Bell joins in this dissenting opinion.