Lane v. Schacht
| Decision Date | 03 November 1978 |
| Citation | 393 A.2d 1015,260 Pa.Super. 68 |
| Parties | Michael E. LANE v. Harold T. SCHACHT, Melvin W. Wilson and M & M Transportation Company, Appellee, and Jacoby Transport Systems, Additional Defendant. Appeal of Harold T. SCHACHT, Melvin W. Wilson, Jacoby Transport Systems. Michael E. LANE v. QUAKERTOWN TRANSPORT COMPANY, INCORPORATED, Appellant. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Argued June 20, 1977.
John S. Thome, Jr., Doylestown, for appellants Schacht and Wilson, at No. 588, and appellant, Quakertown Transport Co., Inc., at No. 589.
Alan Dion, Morrisville, for appellant, Jacoby Transport Systems at No. 588.
James C. Bowen, Sellersville, for appellee, Michael E. Lane. Frederick Ely Smith, Doylestown, for appellee, M & M Transp Co.
Before WATKINS, President Judge, and JACOBS, HOFFMAN, CERCONE, PRICE, VAN der VOORT and SPAETH, JJ.
These appeals arise from an order of the lower court granting the motion for summary judgment on behalf of M & M Transportation Company (M & M) and denying the summary judgment motions of appellants Harold Schacht (Schacht) and Quakertown Transport Company, Incorporated (Quakertown). We hold the entry of summary judgment on behalf of M & M to be in error, and that the order denying the summary judgment motions of Schacht and Quakertown to be an interlocutory order and not appealable to this court. The facts giving rise to this dispute are as follows.
On September 18, 1974, at approximately 3:30 a. m., plaintiff, Michael E Lane, was driving east on Route 313 in Bucks County, when he collided with a tractor-trailer operated by Melvin Wilson. In his deposition, Wilson testified that the collision occurred as he was backing the tractor-trailer into the driveway of his home located on the south side of the two-lane Route 313. He started from the westbound lane and, seeing no traffic approaching, backed his forty-foot trailer across the eastbound lane. When the rear wheels of the trailer entered his driveway, he felt a jerk as the plaintiff's eastbound vehicle struck the underside of the trailer at a 90o angle and emerged from the other side. No other parties were involved in the collision other than Lane and Wilson.
Lane filed a suit in trespass against Schacht and Wilson, who later joined M & M and Jacoby Transport Systems (Jacoby) as additional defendants. Several months later Lane filed a second suit against Quakertown. Both cases were consolidated by stipulation of counsel with court approval. After depositions, Schacht, Quakertown, M & M and Jacoby moved for summary judgment. The principal contention of all was that they could not be held vicariously responsible since Wilson was not under their control at the time of the accident. To understand these contentions it is necessary to expand at length upon the relationships of the various parties.
At the time of the accident on September 18, 1974, the tractor part of the rig being driven by Melvin Wilson was owned by Harold Schacht, while the trailer portion was owned by Quakertown Transport Company. Schacht was a principal shareholder in Quakertown and had leased his tractor to that company. The entire rig (tractor and trailer) was in turn leased to M & M on September 14, 1974, under a long term lease, and M & M affixed its emblems to the sides of the trailer that very day. Although Schacht had leased his tractor to Quakertown, and Quakertown thus retained control of both the tractor and trailer, for some unexplained reason, the lease with M & M listed Schacht as the owner of the rig. The driver, Melvin Wilson, signed the lease on behalf of the owner, an action conceded by all to be within his authority, and Thomas Powers, the dispatcher for M & M, signed as the agent for that company. The lease agreement did not provide for any monthly or weekly rental, and M & M was only required to pay for the actual use of the vehicle. The actual course of performance between the parties was that M & M paid Wilson directly whenever he made a haul for them, and then sent a check to Quakertown for the use of the rig. On the date that Wilson signed the lease with M & M, he was told by their agent, Thomas Powers, that the division of M & M for which Wilson would be hauling was new and may not have enough work to keep him employed on a full-time basis. Powers promised Wilson to help him find other jobs and said that he would find hauling jobs for Wilson with Jacoby Transport Systems. Powers served as dispatcher for both M & M and Jacoby.
From the date the lease was signed on September 14, 1974, until the accident on September 17, 1974, Wilson did not perform any work on behalf of M & M. On September 17, 1974, Powers called Wilson and informed him that he had a haul for Wilson to make on behalf of Jacoby. Wilson signed a lease contract on that date as the agent for the owner (again, Schacht being listed as the owner) and Powers signed as the agent for Jacoby. Wilson picked up the Jacoby load at 10:00 p. m. on September 17 and delivered it to Allentown, Pennsylvania. Upon his return from the delivery, he was involved in the accident in question at 3:30 a. m. on the morning of September 18. Wilson stated that he drove the rig directly to his home from the Allentown delivery and was going to park it at his home, as was his usual custom.
As mentioned, four of the defendants, Schacht, Quakertown, Jacoby and M & M, moved for summary judgment alleging that they could not be held vicariously responsible because Wilson was not subject to their control at the time of the accident. In addition, all of the defendants, moved for summary judgment alleging that Lane had been contributorily negligent for operating his vehicle in violation of the assured clear distance rule. The court denied all motions except as to M & M, and ruled that under the above statement of facts, M & M could not be held responsible for the actions of Wilson. Quakertown, Schacht and Jacoby have all appealed. Schacht and Quakertown contend that the trial judge erred in failing to grant their summary judgment motions alleging that Lane had been contributorily negligent, and that they were not responsible for the actions of Melvin Wilson. They also alleged that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment for M & M, a contention that Jacoby has also raised on appeal. On March 11, 1977, Lane filed a petition with this court seeking to quash the appeal of Schacht and Quakertown inasmuch as the order denying summary judgment on the issues of his contributory negligence and the lack of control of Schacht and Quakertown over the actions of Melvin Wilson was an interlocutory order and non-appealable. Thus, the issues for resolution are whether the order denying summary judgment to Schacht and Quakertown is interlocutory, and whether the trial court erred in granting summary judgment on behalf of M & M.
First, as to the appeals of Schacht and Quakertown, under The Appellate Court Jurisdiction Act of 1970, [1] this court has jurisdiction of " all appeals from final orders of the courts of common pleas . . . ." [2] An order is "final" if the effect is to put one of the parties out of court and thus terminate the litigation as to that particular party. See Bell v. Beneficial Consumer Discount Co., 465 Pa. 225, 348 A.2d 734 (1975). The rule in this Commonwealth is that "(a)n order refusing a motion for summary judgment . . . is interlocutory and cannot be appealed until a final order is entered in the cause." Husak v. Berkel, Inc., 234 Pa.Super. 452, 455 n. 1, 341 A.2d 174, 176 n. 1 (1975). In this case, the denial of the summary judgment motion alleging contributory negligence and lack of control is not a final order; the denial does not terminate the action and the case may proceed to trial where these issues may be adjudicated to a final conclusion. The motion of appellee-Michael Lane to quash the appeals of Schacht and Quakertown is granted inasmuch as those appeals relate to the foregoing issues.
The order granting summary judgment in...
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