Williams v. Guzzardi

• Decision Date: 15 May 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-1492,88-1492
• Citation: 875 F.2d 46
• Parties: Charles WILLIAMS, Appellee, v. Michael GUZZARDI and Chancellor Associates, Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 46

875 F.2d 46

Charles WILLIAMS, Appellee, v. Michael GUZZARDI and Chancellor Associates, Appellants.

No. 88-1492.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued Dec. 12, 1988.

Decided May 15, 1989.

Michael S. Bomstein (argued), Pinnola & Bomstein, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellants.

Frederick C. Timm (argued), Philadelphia, Pa., for appellee.

Before GIBBONS, Chief Judge, HUTCHINSON and ROSENN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

HUTCHINSON, Circuit Judge.

Charles Williams brought this action for damages in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against his former landlord, Chancellor Associates (Chancellor), and its employee, Michael Guzzardi. He asserted claims under 42 U.S.C.A. Secs. 1981, 1982 (West 1981), 42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 3612 (West 1977) and Pennsylvania law, all stemming from his April, 1986 eviction from the Chancellor Apartments in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After a four-day trial, the jury awarded Williams $25,000 in compensatory and punitive damages on his claim for intentional infliction of severe emotional distress. ¹ The district court thereafter dismissed the defendants' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial because of their failure to order the trial transcript or otherwise comply with Local Rule 20(e).

Guzzardi and Chancellor now appeal. They do not argue that the district court improperly dismissed their post-trial motion and have therefore waived that issue. Instead, they argue only that the district court should have entered judgment in their favor because Pennsylvania does not impose liability for intentional infliction of severe emotional distress or, alternatively, that the evidence before the jury was insufficient to establish that tort. Although appellants' notice of appeal specifies only the order dismissing their post-trial motion, we conclude it also brings before us the order entering judgment for Williams and the underlying denial of appellants' directed verdict motion at the close of the evidence. Upon careful consideration of the applicable Pennsylvania law, we continue to believe that Pennsylvania will recognize this tort and that the evidence in this record was sufficient to establish liability for it. Accordingly, we will affirm the district court's entry of judgment on the jury's verdict.

I.

Williams moved into the Chancellor Apartments in March, 1986. After he wrote two bad checks for the April rent, the management informed him that it was considering legal action. Williams then asked to meet with Guzzardi. Williams testified that on April 24, 1986 they had a heated conversation at his apartment during which Guzzardi said "he could very easily throw me out the window" and "could take care of [me] without ever laying a hand on [me] because [he knew] people." Appendix (App.) at 1-89. Later that day, a maintenance man removed the door to Williams's apartment and replaced it several hours later.

The following day, Guzzardi asked Williams for some assurance that he would pay the rent due. Guzzardi suggested that Williams relinquish his apartment keys, stay overnight at a Holiday Inn at the apartment's expense and re-occupy his apartment the next day after paying what he owed. Id. at 1-93. Williams testified that he accepted this suggestion to show his sincerity. After Williams gave his keys to the doorman, Guzzardi "said something to the effect: 'Well, how do you like it? I got you. I told you I was going to get you back. Nobody talks to me like you did.' " Id. at 1-94. Guzzardi then told passing police officers that Williams was a trespasser and did not live in the building. Unable to refute this assertion, Williams left.

Williams stored the bag of clothes he had intended to take to the Holiday Inn in a locker at the bus station and "basically just walked, trying to think of, you know, some way of rectifying the problem of where to stay that night." Id. at 1-97. On succeeding nights, he slept at a friend's residence, in Fairmount Park, underneath the Suburban Station, and on the concourse of City Hall. Id. at 1-97 to -98. During this time, Williams testified, he "had just a very low feeling," felt "like a non-entity almost," and was "dissolusioned [sic] and depressed over my sudden state." Id. at 1-98. He described the experience as "totally bewildering and unpleasant." Id. at 1-99. After three weeks, he found "a stable place to stay" at the Adelphia House, in the offices of a local politician for whom he had done volunteer work. Id. at 1-99 to -100.

On May 20, 1986, Williams served as a poll watcher at the Chancellor Apartments for the primary election. Guzzardi asked him why he was there and "then announced, 'Watch this guy. He's a pimp. I kicked him out of here for running a whore house.' " Id. at 1-101; see also id. at 1-40. Later that day, Guzzardi told Williams to take the rest of his belongings with him when he left "or we're going to throw them out on the street," id. at 1-104. On Guzzardi's instructions, the doorman carried them to the street. Williams took what he could carry to the Adelphia House and a passing friend, recognizing the items as Williams's, took the rest. Id. at 1-105 to -106. ²

Williams testified that as a result of all these events his feelings of helplessness returned. His freedom to perform ordinary tasks was limited. Id. at 1-107. His mail and telephone correspondence was disrupted and he did not receive a check until at least six to eight weeks after it was expected. Id. at 1-107 to -108. He said this was "a very frustrating existence.... I was very, very depressed, and it seemed that things that I normally coped with very easily became difficult tasks." Id. at 1-109.

In November 1986, Williams consulted Dr. Peg Van Vyven, a psychotherapist. Id. at 1-110. Dr. Van Vyven, testifying as an expert in psychology, stated that when she first saw Williams he had difficulty concentrating, lacked motivation, and "felt like he ha[d] lost control over his life." Id. at 2-7. He was also distraught, id. at 2-9, and was having difficulty sleeping "to a large extent." Id. at 2-12. She initially diagnosed him as suffering from an "adjustment disorder" but soon "changed the diagnosis to a depressive disorder." Id. at 2-7. She testified that "[t]he symptomology of a depressive disorder is more debilitating to the individual" than the symptomology of an adjustment disorder. Id. at 2-8. Williams's "severe set of depressive symptoms" included embarrassment and humiliation, and he had great difficulty asking for help. Id. at 2-9 to -10.

In August, 1987, she referred Williams to Dr. Grosso, who prescribed antidepressant medication. Id. at 1-112, 2-10 to -11. Dr. Van Vyven subsequently saw improvement in Williams's condition. Id. at 2-19. Williams testified that before the eviction, he had neither sought psychotherapy nor taken medication for an emotional or mental condition. Id. at 1-113 to -114.

Dr. Van Vyven gave a professional opinion that if Williams was illegally evicted, without notice or opportunity to remove belongings, and was left without a place to stay, it would be "a cause or a substantial cause of his condition." Id. at 2-13. ³ She testified that being falsely accused of being a pimp would also have been a substantial contributing cause. According to Dr. Van Vyven, the eviction "symbolized to him that he had no control over what happened to his life," id. at 2-22, and "[a]ll of the events would have left him with a lack of [a] sense of control over what happened to him in his life, and that is one of the main definitions of the beginning of depression." Id. at 2-14.

Dr. Van Vyven admitted that Williams had not informed her that he had previously consulted a doctor for sleeplessness and had taken medication for this ailment. She acknowledged that this might indicate a pre-existing depressive disorder and that Williams's earlier eviction from a different apartment could have been traumatic. Nevertheless, she stated that while these facts might "affect the precipitating cause [of Williams's disorder] ... an illegal eviction and a subsequent experience that he had would still have exaggerated it or made it worse." Id. at 2-30.

II.

Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 3(c) requires a notice of appeal "designate the judgment, order or part thereof appealed from." Appellants' notice of appeal specifies only the district court's order dismissing their post-trial motion. Id. at A-513. The parties, however, do not argue the propriety of the dismissal, but focus instead on the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict. We first consider whether the failure of the notice of appeal to specify an order ruling on the sufficiency of the evidence precludes us from considering appellants' arguments. See Terket v. Lund, 623 F.2d 29, 32 (7th Cir.1980) (court must consider sua sponte question of appellate jurisdiction over order not specified in notice of appeal).

The specification of the order dismissing the motion for judgment n.o.v. or a new trial does not bring up the merits of that motion. See Frangos v. Doering Equip. Corp., 860 F.2d 70, 73 n. 4 (3d Cir.1988). However, "if from the notice of appeal itself and the subsequent proceedings on appeal it appears that the appeal was intended to have been taken from an unspecified judgment[,] order or part thereof, the notice may be construed as bringing up the unspecified order for review." Elfman Motors, Inc. v. Chrysler Corp., 567 F.2d 1252, 1254 (3d Cir.1977) (per curiam). ⁴ We have appellate jurisdiction over orders not specified in the notice of appeal if there is a connection between the specified and unspecified order, the intention to appeal the unspecified order is apparent and the opposing party is not prejudiced and has a full opportunity to brief the issues. See Murray v. Commercial Union Ins. Co., 782 F.2d 432, 434-35 (3d Cir.1986) (appellate jurisdiction over unspecified prior order dismissing two of three...