Court Opinion

ID: 9757370
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:36:53.756045+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:38.718633
License: Public Domain

DEL SOLE, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the result reached by my colleagues in the majority but write separately for two reasons.
First, I disagree with the conclusion in the majority Opinion that the Appellant has failed to preserve for appellate review an averred court err in refusing to charge the jury as to the Appellant’s suggested point for charge on burden of proof (point Forty). I believe that the colloquy *404set forth was sufficient to raise that issue for the trial court, however, I am in agreement with footnote 2 of the majority Opinion that the trial court’s charge was correct and that no reversible error occurred in failing to grant point Forty.
I write secondly to point out a matter that is inherent in the case from which no appeal was filed. The record reflects that the jury returned a verdict of $25,000 against the Appellant and Nacho Realty Co., and found the Appellant 90% at fault, Nacho 10% at fault. Previous to the trial, Nacho and the Plaintiff settled for $5,000. The trial court in molding the verdict as a result of that settlement reduced the amount recoverable against the Appellant to $20,000.
Recently, the Supreme Court determined that the amount paid by a settling tort feasor in excess of its proportionate share of damages, as determined by the jury, does not relieve the nonsettling tort feasor of the obligation to pay its full, pro-rata share under the Comparative Negligence Act. Charles v. Giant Eagle Markets, 513 Pa. 474, 522 A.2d 1 (1987). Applying that analysis to this case, the verdict should have been molded in favor of the Plaintiff and against the Defendant-Appellant in the sum of $22,500. Since this matter was not appealed or preserved, the verdict as it was molded by the trial court should stand in this case.