Court Opinion

ID: 9735081
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:00:15.565041+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:55.071421
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Price, J.:
I must respectfully dissent from the conclusion reached by the majority. I do so simply on the basis of Pa. R.C.P. 212 which states: “. . . The court may make an order reciting the action taken at the conference, the amendments allowed to the pleadings, and the agreements made by the parties as to any of the matters considered, and limiting the issues for trial to those not disposed of by admissions or agreements of the attorneys. *483Such order when entered shall control the subsequent course of the action unless modified at the trial to prevent manifest injustice....”
There can be no doubt as the majority states that the parties to this action agreed with court approval to a consolidated trial before a single judge and jury, and that all of the evidence, both on liability and damages, would be introduced in both cases before the case was sent to the jury. Courts, not only in this Commonwealth but elsewhere, have historically afforded such agreement between counsel and particularly with court approval the highest honor and effect possible in the trial of cases. In my opinion, the lower court erred, therefore, in modifying the pre-trial agreement during the course of this trial and in my opinion such an alteration cannot be justified on the grounds that it was done to prevent manifest injustice. I, therefore, would hold such reversal to be error, with or without prejudice to the appellant and would reverse the judgment of the lower court and grant new trials.
Jacobs and Hoffman, JJ., join in this dissenting opinion.