Court Opinion

ID: 9711809
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:39:41.781078+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:07.631326
License: Public Domain

*420ROWLEY, Judge,
dissenting:
This is a direct appeal from the order of March 7, 1989, which dismissed the complaint and, in effect, entered a judgment of non pros. I agree with Judge Johnson that upon reviewing such an appeal and addressing the question of whether the trial court abused its discretion, we are to consider only that evidence which was before the trial court at the time of the entry of judgment of non pros. As a reviewing court, it is inappropriate for us to substitute our judgment for that of the trial court, to find facts, or to exercise our discretion in applying the law to the facts as found. It is the trial court’s function to find facts and apply the law to them. In the present case, there is no evidence which was of record on March 7, 1989, which suggests that the dismissal of the complaint was an abuse of discretion.
However, I also agree with the majority that the Supreme Court has authorized appeals to be taken not only directly from a judgment of non pros, but also from an order denying a petition to open a judgment of non pros. Since it is appropriate to seek to have a judgment of non pros opened rather than file a direct appeal from the judgment of non pros, the procedure for seeking to open the judgment should be followed through to conclusion before our Court attempts to review the judgment of non pros where the parties have commenced such a procedure. In other words, once a party commences proceedings for review of a judgment of non pros in the trial court, the pleadings should be closed, an evidentiary hearing should be conducted if there are disputed questions of fact, and the trial court should make findings of fact before the Superior Court reviews the judgment of non pros. This did not happen in the present case.
In the case before us, the parties attempted to follow such a procedure: appellant filed a “Motion for Reconsideration” and appellee filed an Answer in response thereto which controverted many of the averments in the Motion. However, there has not been a hearing at which evidence in *421support of the controverted facts can be set forth, and the trial court has not made any findings of fact.
Because of the perceived uncertainty of the procedure to follow after entry of a judgment of non pros, as evidenced by this Court’s en banc consideration of the issue, I would not dispose of appellant’s direct appeal from the order dismissing the complaint on the merits, but instead would remand for completion of the fact-finding process initiated by appellant’s “Motion for Reconsideration.”
For these reasons I respectfully dissent.