Slaughter v. Allied Heating

• Decision Date: 17 February 1994
• Parties: Emma SLAUGHTER v. ALLIED HEATING, Appellant
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 1121

636 A.2d 1121

431 Pa.Super. 348

Emma SLAUGHTER v. ALLIED HEATING, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania

Argued Sept. 14, 1993.

Filed Dec. 15, 1993.

Reargument Denied Feb. 17, 1994.

Meg L. Burkardt, Oakmont, for appellant.

Carl H. Brown, Jr., Pittsburgh, for appellee. (Submitted)

Before KELLY, POPOVICH and BROSKY, JJ.

BROSKY, Judge.

This is an appeal from the final order entered by the lower court which denied appellant's petition to reinstate its appeal from the judgment entered by the district justice. ¹ Appellant presents the following issues for review: (1) whether appellant's failure to technically comply with the requirements of Pa.R.C.P.D.J., Rule 1005B, 42 Pa.C.S.A. should be disregarded; (2) whether appellant substantially complied with the requirements of Pa.R.C.P.D.J., Rule 1005B, 42 Pa.C.S.A.; and (3) whether appellant's procedural noncompliance prejudiced appellee. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

Before proceeding to consider appellant's allegations of error, we will briefly recount the pertinent facts and procedural history giving rise to this appeal. Appellant, Allied Heating, contracted with Melvin Slaughter, Jr. to install a furnace in his residence. Mr. Slaughter was apparently dissatisfied with the performance of the furnace and the installation completed by appellant. For reasons which do not appear of record, Mr. Slaughter's sister, Emma Slaughter, filed a complaint against appellant with the district magistrate in which she sought to recover $4,000.00 plus costs. Appellant did not attend the hearing and a judgment in the sum of $4,037.00 was entered in favor of Miss Slaughter on November 4, 1992.

Appellant thereafter filed a timely notice of appeal from the judgment with the trial court. According to appellant, notices of the appeal were allegedly sent via regular mail to appellee, Emma Slaughter, and to the district justice. ² No proofs of service were filed by appellant within the ten-day period specified by Rule 1005B of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure for District Justices, 42 Pa.C.S.A. Although appellant had been unrepresented during the proceedings before the district justice, appellant retained counsel in January, 1993. Counsel discovered that the proofs of service were absent from the record and promptly served appellee and the district justice with the notice of appeal on January 15, 1993. Proofs of service were then filed with the trial court. On January 19, 1993 appellee filed a praecipe to strike the appeal because of appellant's failure to comply with Rule 1005B. As a result, the prothonotary struck the appeal. Appellant filed an emergency petition to reinstate the appeal on January 28, 1993. Appellant's petition was denied by the lower court. Appellant thereafter initiated this timely appeal. ³

As all of the issues raised by appellant are inextricably intertwined, they will be addressed together. ⁴ Appellant essentially challenges the trial court's refusal to reinstate the appeal from the judgment entered by the district justice. Pursuant to Rule 1006, the trial court may reinstate an appeal which has been stricken "upon good cause shown." Pa.R.C.P.D.J., Rule 1006, 42 Pa.C.S.A. While the phrase "good cause shown" has not been precisely defined, this court has interpreted it to require an appealing party to proffer some legally sufficient reason for reinstating the appeal. Anderson v. Centennial Homes, Inc., 406 Pa.Super. 513, 517, 594 A.2d 737, 739 (1991). "[T]he determination of whether good cause has been demonstrated is trusted to the trial court's sound discretion." Id.

As applied here, appellant admits that the proofs of service were not filed within the time period specified by Pa.R.C.P.D.J., Rule 1005B, 42 Pa.C.S.A., but nevertheless argues that its noncompliance should be disregarded pursuant to Pa.R.C.P., Rule 126, 42 Pa.C.S.A. Appellant refers us to several decisions issued by this court as well as the courts of common pleas which have found sufficient good cause to reinstate stricken appeals even though the technical requirements of the rules were not fully satisfied. ⁵ See, e.g., DelVerme v. Pavlinsky, 405 Pa.Super. 443, 450, 592 A.2d 746, 749 (1991) (plaintiff's failure to comply with Rule 1004A was disregarded where the notice of appeal was timely filed and served on the defendants and the district justice, and no prejudice resulted to the defendants); Quarato v. Facelifters, Ltd., 305 Pa.Super. 536, 538-539, 451 A.2d 777, 778 (1982) (defendant's failure to comply with Rule 1005B was disregarded where the defendant failed to timely file the proofs of service but there was evidence that the plaintiff had received actual notice of the appeal within the requisite time period); Katsantonis v. Freels, 277 Pa.Super. 294, 295-296, 419 A.2d 778, 779-780 (1980) (per curiam ) (good cause for reinstating the appeal was shown where the defendant's counsel promptly mailed the proofs of service to the prothonotary as soon as they were received and the proofs were filed on the sixth rather than the fifth day after the notice of appeal was filed); Beck v. Weitzenhoffer, 49 Pa. D. & C.3d 112, 114 (C.C.P. Dauphin County 1988) (failure to timely file proofs of service was disregarded where the notice of appeal was timely filed and served upon the opposing party and good cause for the noncompliance was shown); Felker v. Seashock, 47 Pa. D. & C.3d 126, 127-129 (C.C.P. Monroe County 1987) (failure to serve the notice of appeal on the adverse party and the district justice until seventeen days after the notice of appeal was filed was disregarded where good cause for the noncompliance was shown); Seiple v. Pitterich, 35 Pa. D. & C.3d 592, 596-597 (C.C.P. Mercer County 1984) (failure to timely file the proofs of service was disregarded where the notice of appeal was timely filed and served and good cause for the noncompliance was shown). While appellant's interpretation of the above authorities is indeed correct, we find these decisions to be factually distinguishable from the case sub judice.

Nearly all of the cases cited by appellant indicate that the appealing party timely served the notice of appeal upon both the opposing party and the district justice and had merely failed to timely file their proofs of service or their complaint. See, e.g., DelVerme v. Pavlinsky, 405 Pa.Super. at 445 and 450, 592 A.2d at 747 and 749; Quarato v. Facelifters, Ltd., 305 Pa.Super. at 537-539, 451 A.2d at 778; Katsantonis v. Freels, 277 Pa.Super. at 295-296, 419 A.2d at 779; Beck v. Weitzenhoffer, 49 Pa.D. & C.3d at 114; Seiple v. Pitterich, 35 Pa.D. & C.3d at 593, supra. But see Felker v. Seashock, 47 Pa.D. & C.3d at 127 (in which the notice of appeal was not served upon the opposing party until seventeen days after it had been filed). This distinction is significant when it is considered in light of the essential purposes of Rule 1005, which is to prevent parties from appealing from an adverse judgment of a district justice and then delaying the case by failing to timely notify the non-appealing party. Berry v. Sheaffer, 42 Pa.D. & C.3d 480, 483 (C.C.P. Cumberland County 1987). The rule also ensures that the district justice will be notified as the notice of appeal may act as a supersedeas, and thus, may affect the prevailing party's attempt to execute on the judgment. See Note, Pa.R.C.P.D.J., Rule 1005, 42 Pa.C.S.A. and Berry v. Sheaffer, supra. The requirements of Rule 1005 further promote the speedy, orderly and just determination of the appeal and eliminate any dispute as to whether service was actually made. Hyde v. Crigler, 133 Pittsburgh Legal Journal 270, 271, 10 Pa.D. & C.3d 769, 773 (C.C.P. Allegheny County 1979). Accord Wander v. National Development Corp., 139 Pittsburgh Legal Journal 369, 370, 12 Pa.D. & C.4th 627, 628-629 (C.C.P. Allegheny 1991). Where the notice of appeal is timely filed and served upon the non-appealing party and the district justice, the intent underlying the rule has been fulfilled and no further purpose remains to be served by penalizing the appealing party for failing to timely file the proofs of service. See Wander v. National Development Corp., 139 Pittsburgh Legal Journal at 370, 12 Pa.D. & C.4th [431 Pa.Super. 354] at 628-629; Berry v. Sheaffer, 42 Pa.D. & C.3d at 484; Hyde v. Crigler, 133 Pittsburgh Legal Journal at 271-272, 10 Pa.D. & C.3d at 774. Consequently, the mere failure to file the proofs of service in a timely manner will be disregarded where it is clear that the opposing party has received notice of the appeal and that the purpose of the rules has been satisfied. See Wander v. National Development Corp., Beck v. Weitzenhoffer, Berry v. Sheaffer, Seiple v. Pitterich and Hyde v. Crigler, supra.

Unlike the situations presented in the authorities cited by appellant, the record in this case is devoid of any evidence, aside from appellant's own unsupported allegations, that appellee and the district justice were actually served with the notice of appeal prior to January 15, 1993 when they were served with the notice by appellant's counsel. In fact, both appellee and the district justice deny receiving the notice of appeal before January 15. ⁶ See Trial Court Opinion, dated 2/12/93 at 2-3 n. 1. Under these circumstances, the decisions which disregard a technical failure to timely file the proofs of service are distinguishable from this case. ⁷

Appellant acknowledges the distinction between the facts presented here and the decisions upon which it relies. Appellant nevertheless contends that Pa.R.C.P., Rule 126, 42 Pa.C.S.A. compelled the trial court to disregard the procedural defects. Notwithstanding appellant's assessment, Rule 126 does not require the trial court to disregard procedural defects; rather, it permits the trial court, in the exercise of its discretion, to do so where the substantive rights of the opposing party have not been prejudiced. Anderson v. Centennial Homes, Inc., 406...