Steiner v. Markel

• Decision Date: 29 April 2009
• Docket Number: No. 62 MAP 2008.,62 MAP 2008.
• Citation: 968 A.2d 1253
• Parties: Clifford L. STEINER and Bonnie J. Steiner, Appellees v. John F. MARKEL, Esquire and Nikolaus & Hohenadel, LLP, Appellants.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

968 A.2d 1253

Clifford L. STEINER and Bonnie J. Steiner, Appellees v. John F. MARKEL, Esquire and Nikolaus & Hohenadel, LLP, Appellants.

No. 62 MAP 2008.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued December 2, 2008.

Decided April 29, 2009.

Thomas A. French, Cory Allen Iannacone, Rhoads & Sinon, L.L.P., Harrisburg, for John F. Markel, Esquire and Nikolaus & Hohenadel, LLP, appellants.

Guy Paul Beneventano, Nauman, Smith, Shissler & Hall, L.L.P., Harrisburg, for Clifford L. and Bonnie J. Steiner, appellees.

BEFORE: CASTILLE, C.J., SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, TODD, McCAFFERY and GREENSPAN, JJ.

OPINION

Justice GREENSPAN.

We consider whether the Superior Court may declare, sua sponte, that a cause of action described in a complaint as a claim for "professional malpractice" is actually a claim for breach of contract for purposes of determining which statute of limitation applies. Appellants, John F. Markel, Esquire, and Nikolaus & Hohenadel, LLP (collectively referred to as the "Attorneys"), appeal from the Superior Court's order reversing the trial court's decision in the Attorneys' favor of a motion for judgment on the pleadings. We reverse the Superior Court and reinstate the trial court's order. We hold that Appellees, Clifford L. Steiner and Bonnie J. Steiner (collectively referred to as the "Clients") waived their right to argue that their professional malpractice claim should be construed as a contract claim. The Superior Court should not have addressed this issue sua sponte.

In January 2002 the Clients negotiated a purchase of certain real property in Lancaster County. The Clients contracted with Mr. Markel, a partner at Nikolaus & Hohenadel, LLP, to act as the attorney at the February 8, 2002 closing. Mr. Markel erroneously described the property in the deed he prepared and the error was not discovered until after the closing occurred. Although Mr. Markel attempted to correct his error through negotiation with the sellers, he was unsuccessful. As a result of the error, the Clients were sued by the sellers of the property.

Initially, the Clients attempted to join the Attorneys, via a joinder complaint, in the action commenced by the sellers. The joinder complaint did not contain a claim described as a breach of contract claim. Instead, the joinder complaint contained a claim for professional malpractice. The joinder complaint was dismissed because the Clients failed to file a certificate of merit.¹

On October 19, 2004, the Clients initiated the foregoing action by filing a writ of summons against the Attorneys in the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County. On December 7, 2004, the Clients filed their complaint, which contained three counts: Count I—Professional Malpractice; Count II—Third Party Beneficiary; and Count III—Breach of Good Faith and Fair Dealing (the "Complaint").² The Complaint did not contain a claim described as a breach of contract claim. The language of Count I of the Complaint tracks the requirements for a tort legal malpractice claim under Pennsylvania law.³ See Kituskie v. Corbman, 552 Pa. 275, 714 A.2d 1027, 1029 (1998) (noting that a claim of legal malpractice requires that the plaintiff plead the following three elements: employment of the attorney or other basis for a duty; the failure of the attorney to exercise ordinary skill and knowledge; and that the attorney's negligence was the proximate cause of damage to the plaintiff).

Initially, the Attorneys filed preliminary objections to the Complaint. The Clients then filed a petition to amend the Complaint. In the petition to amend, the Clients did not argue that Count I was based in contract, nor did the Clients seek leave to add a breach of contract claim to the Complaint.

After the Clients agreed to strike Count III of the Complaint, the Attorneys filed an answer and new matter to the Complaint. In the new matter, the Attorneys stated that the Clients' professional malpractice claim was barred by the two-year statute of limitations applicable to tort claims. 42 Pa.C.S. § 5524.

The Attorneys then filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, arguing, inter alia, that the professional malpractice claim in the Complaint was untimely because the claim was a tort claim and the Complaint was filed after the two-year statute of limitations for tort claims had run. On October 23, 2006, the trial court dismissed Count I of the Complaint on the basis that the Clients' professional malpractice claim was barred by the statute of limitations.⁴

The Clients filed a motion for reconsideration. In the motion for reconsideration, the Clients argued that the two-year statute of limitations on their professional malpractice claim had been tolled by the Attorneys' concealment of their wrongdoing, which delayed the Clients' discovery of their injury. In the motion for reconsideration, the Clients did not argue that their Complaint contained a claim for breach of contract.⁵ The trial court denied the Clients' motion for reconsideration.⁶

The Clients then appealed the trial court's dismissal of the Complaint to the Superior Court. In their Rule 1925(b) statement of matters complained of on appeal (the "Concise Statement"), the Clients did not assert that their professional malpractice claim was or involved a breach of contract claim.⁷ Rather, the Clients again raised the issue that the two-year statute of limitations on their professional malpractice claim should have been tolled as a result of the Attorneys' actions.

The Superior Court reversed the trial court and remanded the case, holding, sua sponte, that the Complaint stated a timely claim for breach of contract despite the fact that the Clients did not advance that argument in their appeal. In holding that the Complaint contained a breach of contract claim, the Superior Court relied upon the following statement: "At closing, the Steiners also paid a fee to Nikolaus & Hohenadel for `services' allegedly rendered by attorney Markel." Superior Court Memorandum at 14. The Superior Court also considered whether the statute of limitations on the Clients' professional malpractice claim was tolled by the Attorneys' conduct, and the Superior Court affirmed the trial court's finding that the two year statute of limitations for tort actions had not been tolled. The Attorneys filed a petition for allowance of appeal, which this Court granted to address whether the Superior Court's sua sponte action constituted reversible legal error.⁸

The Attorneys argue that the Superior Court should not have decided that the allegations of the professional malpractice claim in the Complaint made out a breach of contract claim because the Clients never raised this argument, despite repeated opportunities to do so. According to the Attorneys, in the petition to amend, the motion for reconsideration, and prior pleadings, the Clients pursed their professional malpractice claim only as a tort claim. The Attorneys note that they therefore never had an opportunity to rebut the recasting of the malpractice claim as a breach of contract claim. The Attorneys also argue that the Complaint does not contain sufficient facts to support a claim for breach of contract. The Attorneys urge this Court to reverse the Superior Court and reinstate the trial court's order granting judgment on the pleadings in favor of the Attorneys.

The Clients argue that, pursuant to the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure (the "Rules"), a plaintiff does not have a duty to plead a specific legal theory in a complaint. The Clients argue that, under the Rules, the trial court is obligated to determine whether a complaint states a claim under any theory. The Clients argue that the Complaint states a claim for breach of contract and that the Clients preserved this issue for appellate review by including in the Concise Statement, as one basis for appeal, an allegation that the trial court erred because it failed to determine whether the Complaint stated a cause of action "under any theory."

This appeal raises the issue of whether an appellate court may, sua sponte, search within a complaint to find a cause of action that the plaintiffs never argued was present in the complaint. This Court has consistently held that an appellate court cannot reverse a trial court judgment on a basis that was not properly raised and preserved by the parties. Danville Area Sch. Dist. v. Danville Area Educ. Ass'n, 562 Pa. 238, 754 A.2d 1255, 1259 (2000); Commonwealth v. Boros, 533 Pa. 214, 620 A.2d 1139, 1140 (1993); Fisher v. Brick, 358 Pa. 260, 56 A.2d 213, 215 (1948). Where the parties fail to preserve an issue for appeal, the Superior Court may not address that issue sua sponte. Knarr v. Erie Ins. Exch., 555 Pa. 211, 723 A.2d 664, 666 (1999) (holding that the trial court exceeded its proper scope of review by raising an issue that was not preserved by appellate review); Wiegand v. Wiegand, 461 Pa. 482, 337 A.2d 256, 257-58 (1975) (holding that an appellate court may not litigate for the parties).

At the outset, we note that the Superior Court acknowledged that the Clients never argued that their Complaint contained a claim for breach of contract. In its memorandum, the Superior Court majority stated: "Appellants do not expressly argue on appeal that breach of a contract is among the causes of action that the lower court had a duty to discern and consider." Superior Court Memorandum at 17 n. 7.

The Superior Court therefore properly evaluated the breach of contract issue only if the following is true: the broad language in the Client's Concise Statement was sufficient to preserve this issue for appeal; and the trial court had the duty to discern this claim in the Complaint. In this case, neither proposition is true. The issue of whether the Complaint contains a claim for breach of contract was waived and therefore should not have been raised sua sponte by the Superior Court.⁹ Moreover, the trial court did not have a duty to scour the Complaint to find a breach of...