Court Opinion

ID: 9717382
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:02:44.81099+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:52.931524
License: Public Domain

BROSKY, Judge,
dissenting:
I agree with the majority’s findings that the record exhibits a lack of due diligence on the part of appellant in failing to proceed with the instant litigation and that appellant has neglected to demonstrate a compelling reason for not doing so. My disagreement with the majority focuses on the third prong of the test — a demonstration of prejudice to the adverse party.
Appellee contends, without supporting case law, that this show of prejudice is unnecessary. This assertion is incorrect, for prevailing case law has established that the party seeking dismissal for failure to prosecute carries the burden of proving that a substantial dimunition of its ability to present its case at trial exists. Moore v. George Heebner, Inc., 321 Pa.Super. 226, 467 A.2d 1336 (1983), citing American Bank & Trust Co. v. Ritter, Todd and Haayen, 274 Pa.Super. 285, 418 A.2d 408 (1980).
The instant litigation involves a dispute between the parties arising from appellee’s alleged refusal to perform on bonds issued to guarantee completion of several construction projects for which appellant had subcontracted and to pay material suppliers in the event appellant could not fulfill its obligations. The projects which involved the bonds at issue spanned the years 1974, 1975 and 1976. Since the genesis of this litigation in 1980, no discovery has been undertaken.
I find it difficult to comprehend, in the absence of any discovery since the inception of this litigation, how, twelve *26to fourteen years after the events in question, either party to this litigation could garner any reliable facts from any witnesses to prepare for trial. Moreover, a delay as long as or longer than the applicable statute of limitations for commencement of the particular action warrants dismissal for lack of prosecution so long as the other prongs of the James Brothers test are met. Carroll v. Kimmel, 362 Pa.Super. 432, 524 A.2d 954 (1987), allocatur denied, 517 Pa. 613, 538 A.2d 496 (1988); Kennedy v. Bulletin Co., 237 Pa.Super. 66, 346 A.2d 343 (1975). To be sure, the bar of the limitations period has been construed under the diligence prong of that test. See Carroll and Kennedy, supra. But I see no reason why failure to prosecute over a period of time already exceeding the applicable statute of limitations for commencing an action should not be deemed inherently unreasonable and prejudicial to the proponent of the dismissal. Admittedly, the expiration of the limitations period is a circumstance to consider, albeit not the controlling one. Rather, the granting of a non pros is based upon the equitable principle of laches. James Bros. Lumber Co. v. Union Banking & Trust Co., 432 Pa. 129, 247 A.2d 587 (1968); American Bank & Trust, supra.
I would hold that a lack of prosecution for as long as or longer than the applicable statute of limitations for commencement of an action, absent a compelling reason therefor, constitutes such substantial dimunition of a party’s ability to present its case at trial as to satisfy the requisite showing of prejudice, especially where it is demonstrated by appellant’s admission that appellee was duty-bound to move forward with the case, coupled with appellant’s shunning of the Rules of Civil Procedure designed to prompt a recalcitrant defendant to answer the suit filed against it. To hold otherwise would obviate the necessity of and pay mere lip service to the purpose of a limitations period, which is to guard against stale claims and faded memories. A contrary holding would also place this court’s imprimatur on inactive, long-pending suits merely upon the non-showing of a separate allegation of prejudice. The equities governing the grant of a non pros would give way to a hypertechnical *27compartmentalization of the three-pronged James Brothers I Moore test. Such a result I cannot sanction.
As stated earlier, the instant litigation centers around appellee’s alleged default in performance and payment bonds relative to construction work performed by appellant in 1974, 1975 and 1976. Suit was commenced in September 1980, by a writ of summons. On June 12, 1981, an Amended Complaint was filed. No activity in pursuance of this suit appears as a matter of record from that date until June 16, 1987, when appellee filed its Petition to dismiss for inactive prosecution. The time from the filing of appellant’s Amended Complaint to the date of appellee’s Petition for dismissal represents an unexplained hiatus of six years absent a compelling reason therefor, a want of diligent prosecution and is well beyond the one-year statutory period of limitations for commencement of an action upon any payment or performance bond. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5523(3).
The standard for appellate review of a trial court’s grant of a non pros or dismissal for lack of prosecution has been stated as follows:
It is well settled law that the question of granting a non pros because of the failure of the plaintiff to prosecute his action within a reasonable time rests within the discretion of the lower Court and the exercise of such discretion will not be disturbed on appeal unless there is proof of a manifest abuse thereof.
Carroll, supra, 362 Pa.Superior Ct. at 436-37, 524 A.2d at 956; Moore, supra, 321 Pa.Superior Ct. at 228-29, 467 A.2d at 1337, both quoting Gallagher v. Jewish Hospital Ass’n., 425 Pa. 112, 113, 228 A.2d 732, 733 (1967). From the above, it appears that the scope of our review is narrowly confined to a determination of whether the trial court’s action constitutes a manifest abuse of its broad discretion to grant a non pros or dismissal based upon unreasonable, unexplained delay. See Carroll, supra, citing Gallagher, supra.
Without a doubt, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing the instant suit on the basis of inactive *28prosecution. A trial court possesses the inherent power to enter an order of dismissal or to render a judgment of non pros for unreasonable, unexplained delay. Carroll, supra, citing Gallagher, supra.
Moreover, Pa.R.C.P. 1037(c) provides that a trial court, on motion, “may enter an appropriate judgment against a party upon default or admission.” This Rule has been construed to encompass the power to enter a non pros or dismissal for lack of prosecution for an unreasonably lengthy period of time. Id. Under either its inherent power, as supported by the record and the applicable case law, or by virtue of the blanket authority of Rule 1037(c), the trial court properly dismissed the instant suit. Finding no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s action, I would uphold its Order of dismissal.2

. Both parties in their appellate Briefs rely on Pa.R.J.A. 1901 as supportive or not of dismissal of this matter. While Rule 1901 provides for termination of inactive cases, it is inapplicable to the matter at hand. Subsection (a) thereof calls for dismissal sua sponte by the court when a matter has been inactive for an unreasonably lengthy period of time. Here, the trial court dismissed the action after consideration of the parties' Petition and Answers, respectively. As I have noted elsewhere in the text, dismissal by this procedure was proper either under the trial court's inherent power or by virtue of its blanket authority pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 1037(c).
In accordance with subsection (b) of this Rule, the various common pleas courts of this Commonwealth are directed to implement local rules for dismissal of inactive cases. The two-year period of inactivity warranting dismissal referred to in appellee's Brief appears in the Comment following this Rule as part of the language for a suggested form of local rule. Allegheny County does not presently have a local rule of court concerning dismissal of inactive cases. Its former Rule 229(e), struck down as being inconsistent with Pa.R.J.A. 1901(c), was revoked in May 1985. See Taylor v. Oxford Land Inc., 338 Pa.Super. 609, 488 A.2d 59 (1985), aff’d 513 Pa. 34, 518 A.2d 808 (1986).
Rule 1901(c) sets forth minimum standards for notice to parties of the proposed termination and the method for reinstatement of a matter after dismissal. Neither party calls into question the notice provisions of this subsection, nor is an application for reinstatement implicated here. See Metz Contracting, Inc. v. Riverwood Builders, Inc., 360 Pa.Super. 445, 520 A.2d 891 (1987).
Finally, subsection (d) of Rule 1901 limits the court’s power to entertain an application for reinstatement after disposal of records. Once again, the situation contemplated by this subsection is not germane to the matter at hand.