Court Opinion

ID: 9695908
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 18:31:15.055566+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:17.276245
License: Public Domain

HOFFMAN, Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent on the basis of my dissenting opinion in Campbell v. Heilman Homes, Inc., 233 Pa.Super. 366, 335 A.2d 371 (1975). I believe that the Majority’s opinion fails to adhere to the proper standard of review. We *503should not reverse a denial of a petition to open judgment absent a clear and manifest abuse of discretion by the trial court. Pappas v. Stefan, 451 Pa. 354, 304 A.2d 143 (1973); Balk v. Ford Motor Co., 446 Pa. 137, 285 A.2d 128 (1971). “When the court has come to a conclusion by the exercise of its discretion, the party complaining of it on appeal has a heavy burden; it is not sufficient to persuade the appellate court that it might have reached a different conclusion if, in the first place, charged with the duty imposed on the court below; it is necessary to go further and show an abuse of the discretionary power. ‘An abuse of discretion is not merely an error of judgment, but if in reaching a conclusion the law is overridden or misapplied, or the judgment exercised is manifestly unreasonable, or the result of partiality, prejudice, bias or ill-will, as shown by the evidence or the record, discretion is abused.’ Mielcuszny et ux. v. Rosol, 317 Pa. 91, 93, 94, 176 A. 236.” Campbell v. Heilman Homes, Inc., supra, 233 Pa.Super. at 371, 335 A.2d at 373. (Dissenting opinion by Hoffman, J.). I do not accept the Majority’s apparent belief that denial of a petition to open is ipso facto an abuse of discretion in a case in which the defendant’s failure to answer resulted from an oversight or unintentional omission. Instead, I would require “a demonstration that the trial court applied erroneous legal principles to the factual situation presented, or that the court was biased or prejudiced against the appellant.” Campbell v. Heilman Homes, Inc., supra, at 373, 335 A.2d at 374. No such demonstration has been made in this case. See also Day v. Buick, 239 Pa.Super. 505, 361 A.2d 823 (filed March 29, 1976) (Dissenting Opinion by Hoffman, J.). Accordingly, I would affirm the order of the lower court.