Court Opinion

ID: 9737290
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:20:47.140353+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:23:57.866325
License: Public Domain

DEL SOLE, P.J.,
Dissenting:
¶ 1 I dissent from the Majority’s ruling which holds that issues contained in Appellants’ timely filed post-trial motions are waived because no brief in support of the motions was filed with the trial court. While I do not disagree that a trial court has the authority to order the filing of supporting briefs and that a party’s failure to comply with a court order may result in waiver, no order is contained in the certified record. Attached to Appellee’s Brief is a copy of a letter sent to Appellants’ counsel which states that “Defendants have two weeks after receipt of the notes of testimony to file a brief in support of their post-trial motions.” However, this letter is not included in the certified record and does not have the force of an order of court. Thus, absent a directive per order of court, I believe a brief is not required.
¶ 2 The Majority refers to prior precedent in support of its conclusion that the failure to brief and argue post-trial motions results in waiver. However the cases cited by the Majority, as well as the cases upon which those decisions rely, do not stand for that proposition. Rather prior law directs that in order to preserve an issue it must be included in a timely filed post-trial motion. Further where a brief is filed in support of that motion, any issue raised in the post-trial motion but not included in the supporting brief will be considered abandoned and therefore waived.
*1237¶ 3 In DiSalle v. P.G. Publishing Co., 375 Pa.Super. 510, 544 A.2d 1345, 1364 (1988), the court found a challenge to the compensatory damage award was waived where the appellant did not list that issue in its brief in support of the motion or in any argument contained in that brief. The DiSalle court cited to Bryant v. Girard Bank, 358 Pa.Super. 335, 517 A.2d 968, 973 (1986), wherein the appellant failed “to raise or even suggest” in its post-trial motions issues regarding duty and substantial factor.' The court further held that the appellant’s brief, filed in support of its motion contained no argument on these issues. The court ruled that these two issues were not preserved for its review. Bryant cited to Bell v. City of Philadelphia, 341 Pa.Super. 534, 491 A.2d 1386 (1985). In Bell it was held that an issue was waived which the appellants failed to argue “in the brief filed in the trial court in support of their motion for new trial.” 491 A.2d at 1389. The Supreme Court decision in Commonwealth v. Holzer, 480 Pa. 93, 389 A.2d 101 (1978), was cited in Bell and B'i'yant. In Holzer the appellant raised several issues on appeal that were included in his post-verdict motions which contained 107 assertions of error. However, in the brief and argument before the trial court the appellant briefed and argued only five of those 107 issues. The Supreme Court wrote that the trial court’s refusal to consider the issues which were not included in the brief or oral argument on the motion was proper. It found that it was deprived of the benefit of the lower court’s analysis of those issues and therefore those assignments of error would not be reviewed on appeal. Holzer in turn cites to Commonwealth v. Williams, 476 Pa. 557, 383 A.2d 503, 509 n. 11 (1978), where counsel for appellant neither briefed nor argued a claim of trial error at the trial court’s hearing on post-trial motions. The Court agreed with the trial court which considered this claim to have been abandoned at the hearing on post-trial motions.
¶4 The other case relied on by the Majority has a similar background. In Kraus v. Taylor, 710 A.2d 1142 (Pa.Super.1998), the appellant filed a post-trial motion which included 62 allegations of trial court error. In the brief he filed in support of his motion the appellant reduced the number of errors to 13. The court ruled that the trial court correctly concluded that the remaining 50 errors were abandoned. Because the issues on appeal were not included in the 13 errors argued before the trial court, it was held that the appellant failed to preserve these issues. The court in Kraus cited to Bell v. City of Philadelphia, 341 Pa.Super. 534, 491 A.2d 1386 (1985), where it was held that the appellants’ failure to argue an issue in the brief they filed with the trial court in support of their motion for a new trial precluded review.
¶ 5 Thus, contrary to the Majority’s interpretation, prior case law does not direct that a party must brief and argue their post-trial motions to avoid waiver. These cases hold only that waiver may result where a party elects to file a brief but does not include the issues raised on appeal in that brief. In such an instance the issues included in post-trial motions but not briefed or argued will be considered abandoned. Likewise where a party has been directed by court order to file a brief and fails to do as directed including all the issues they wish to have reviewed, then that party must be prepared to have the issues waived.
¶ 6 In this case it cannot be said that Appellants abandoned claims they included in a timely filed post-trial motion. Furthermore, because the trial court did not order the filing of briefs, I believe it was an abuse of discretion for it to have found *1238the issues waived because no brief was filed. A letter to the parties does not have the same force and effect as an order of court. I would vacate the judgment of the trial court and remand to permit the trial court to consider the merits of Appellants’ issues. If the court desires briefs, I would suggest it enter an order directing the filing of briefs. Accordingly, I dissent.
¶ 7 STEVENS, J., Recuses.
¶ 8 BENDER, J., Joins.