Court Opinion

ID: 9693677
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:56:34.736585+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:49.675086
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING OPINION BY
Judge FRIEDMAN
I concur in the result reached by the majority; however, I write separately to indicate my disagreement with the majority’s decision to quash the cross appeal filed by the City of Coatesville. The majority concludes that the City lacks standing to “appeal” pursuant to Pa. R.A.P. 501 merely because the City was successful before the trial court. (Majority op. at 1187, n. 3.) I would disagree with this cursory analysis.
Initially, I note that cross appeals are governed by Pa. R.A.P. 511, not Pa. R.A.P. 501. Rule 511 states that the timely filing of an appeal shall extend the time for any other party to cross appeal, thereby recognizing that, generally, the filing of a cross appeal is a proper response to the filing of an appeal. Further, the note to Rule 511 (emphasis added) states, “An appellee should not be required to file a cross ap*1194peal because the Court below ruled against it on an issue, as long as the judgment granted appellee the relief it sought.” The fact that an appellee is not required to file a cross appeal does not mean that the appellee is prohibited from filing a cross appeal when the lower tribunal ruled against it on an issue, and if an appellee desires to file a cross appeal to raise an issue in support of affirmance on other grounds, I believe the appellee has standing to do so.
The majority relies on Rule 501 to quash the City’s cross appeal. Rule 501 (emphasis added) states that “any party who is aggrieved by an appealable order ... may appeal therefrom.” An “appeal” must be filed within thirty days of entry of the order, whereas a “cross appeal” must be filed within fourteen days of the filing of the “appeal.” See Pa. R.A.P. 903(b), 1113(b) & 1512(a)(2). One could logically interpret these rules to mean that, while an appellant must be aggrieved by an order to file an “appeal,” an appellee need not be aggrieved by that order to file a “cross appeal.” An appellee’s purpose in filing a cross appeal is to protect against the possibility that the appellate court will reverse the tribunal below without considering issues raised before, but not considered by, that tribunal or without considering other grounds that would result in an affirmance. I submit that any party has standing to protect its interests in such a fashion.