Court Opinion

ID: 9697493
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:18:16.449624+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:33.019150
License: Public Domain

CERCONE, President Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
Although I concur in the result reached by the majority I must respectfully dissent from the reasoning employed in reaching that result.
I fully agree with the majority when it holds that the deposition is a nullity. However, and despite this ruling, the majority goes on to address assertions made in that very deposition for the purpose of refuting appellant’s claim to a valid excuse for his default. This, I believe, is incorrect. I would simply ignore the deposition since it is not a legitimate part of the record, and rest the decision, rather, on appellant’s failure to offer any evidence whatsoever to support his petition to open. From a legal point of view, we cannot and should not base our decision on the revelations contained in the deposition for it is not a legitimate part of the record. As far as we are concerned the record is truly silent as to the causes of or excuses for appellant’s default. Cf., McCaffrey v. Pittsburgh Athletic Ass’n, 448 Pa. 151, 162, 293 A.2d 51, 57 (1972); Killian v. Allegheny County Distributors, 409 Pa. 344, 348-49, 185 A.2d 517, 519-20 (1962) (Citing cases). Whatever the events made known in the deposition may be, they bear no significance to the decision of the instant case, and should not have been considered in rendering today’s decision.
*29Accordingly, I concur in the judgment but dissent from the reasoning employed in reaching it.