Court Opinion

ID: 9737289
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:20:47.136728+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:23:57.865020
License: Public Domain

LALLY-GREEN, JJ.,
Concurring:
¶ 1 I join in the well-reasoned opinion of the majority that when the trial court requests briefs respecting issues raised in a motion for post-trial relief, the parties are *1236to comply with that request or risk having all unbriefed issues waived. As both the majority and the dissent so clearly stated, the trial court has the inherent authority to order the filing of supporting briefs. If the parties fail to comply with the order, the result may be waiver of the unbriefed issues.
¶ 2 I do not agree with my esteemed colleague in the dissent that the court’s letter request “does not have the force of an order of court.” It is my understanding that the custom and practice regarding how the trial court communicates its desire to have briefs to address post-trial motions varies among the individual counties (and judges) of this Commonwealth. The practice in some counties is that the court orders, by oral or written order of court, the parties to file the briefs. In other counties, the court requests the briefs by letter and not by a court order. Whether the court order procedure is the preferred procedure is a matter for the Supreme Court and its procedural rules committees.
¶ 3 Simply stated, the parties are to comply with the court’s request, whether the court issues an order of court or makes a request by letter. In the instant matter, the trial judge sent a letter to the parties instructing them of time frames within which to file briefs addressing the post-trial motions. Obviously, the trial judge requested the briefs to assist the judge in the disposition of the post-trial motions. Accordingly, the judge’s letter requesting briefs for post-trial motions should have the same effect and control on the parties as a court order.
¶4 The failure to enter the letter request into the certified record does not affect the obligation of the parties to comply with the court’s direction. Certainly, placing it in the record assists appellate review. Yet, the absence of the court’s letter request in the certified record does not erase the obligations of the parties. Where the court requests by letter that a party file a brief, whether or not the letter request is part of the certified record, and the party fails to do so, the trial court may consider waived the issues raised in the motion for which the brief was requested.
¶ 5 KLEIN, J. Joins.