Alfieri v. DeNaples

56 Pa. D. & C.4th 441, 2000 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 200
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna County
DecidedOctober 25, 2000
Docketno. 98 CV 03
StatusPublished

This text of 56 Pa. D. & C.4th 441 (Alfieri v. DeNaples) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alfieri v. DeNaples, 56 Pa. D. & C.4th 441, 2000 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 200 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2000).

Opinion

MINORA, J.,

I. INTRODUCTION

Currently before this court is defendant Borough of Dunmore’s motion for summary judgment. The under[443]*443lying complaint was instituted by the plaintiff where she alleged negligence as a result of an attack by three vicious dogs while on her own property on January 1,1997. Counts I and II are directed against the other defendants (Dominick DeNaples et al.) and are not at issue in this current motion for summary judgment. Count III is directed against defendant Dunmore.

Plaintiff has alleged in her complaint and in the testimony given by deposition that the DeNaples’ dogs were allowed to roam freely and engaged in threatening and violent behavior in the past. The transcript of the deposition of plaintiff, Margaret Mary Alfieri, was filed on record on August 9, 2000, and is part of our consideration. In addition, the plaintiff filed an affidavit on July 13, 2000.

Plaintiff summarizes her testimony contained in her deposition and affidavit as follows:

Prior to being attacked by the dogs on January 1,1997, plaintiff had placed numerous calls to the Borough of Dunmore Police Department to complain about the loose dogs and their threatening behavior. On all occasions, the Dunmore Police Department promised the plaintiff that the police would take care of the problem and that they would notify the DeNaples of the complaints concerning the dogs and that they would undertake steps to see that the dogs were secure, but failed to do so.

Defendant Borough of Dunmore previously raised the same legal defenses in preliminary objections that they are raising now by summary judgment (Le., (1) Dunmore is immune from suit under 42 Pa.C.S. §8541 as no exception to governmental immunity applies; (2) Dunmore has no legal duty to provide police protection to plaintiff individually but only to the public at large).

[444]*444While this court denied those preliminary objections on February 4, 1999, we were limited to a review of the pleadings. Now that the record has been supplemented by discovery, we can revisit those legal defenses which are the subject of Dunmore’s motion for summary judgment filed on March 24,2000. The borough filed its supportive brief also on March 24, 2000, and the plaintiff filed her brief in opposition thereto on April 24, 2000. The court entertained oral argument on August 9, 2000, thus rendering Dunmore’s motion for summary judgment ripe for disposition.

H. ISSUES

(1) Is the Borough of Dunmore entitled to summary judgment because (a) they are immune from suit under 42 Pa.C.S. §8541 and no exception applies and/or, (b) the borough owes no special duty to the individual plaintiff but only to the public at large?

m. DISCUSSION

A. The Standard of Review for Summary Judgment

Under Pa.R.C.P. §1035.2, summary judgment may be properly entered “where (1) there is no genuine issue of material fact as to a necessary element of the cause of action which could be established by additional discovery or an expert report, or (2) after completion of discovery and production of expert reports, an adverse party who will bear the burden of proof at trial has failed to produce evidence of facts essential to the cause of action.” Campanaro v. Pennsylvania Electric Co., 738 A.2d [445]*445472, 475-76 (Pa. Super. 1999); Reimer v. Lackawanna County, 101 Lacka. Jur. 123, 134 (1999). In considering a motion for summary judgment, all well-pleaded facts must be accepted as true and all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact are to be resolved in favor of the non-moving party. Tenaglia v. Procter & Gamble Inc., 737 A.2d 306, 307 (Pa. Super. 1999); Rivera v. Barone, 99 Lacka. Jur. 130, 133 (1998).

The moving party has the burden of proving the nonexistence of any genuine issue of material fact and the movant’s entitlement to judgment as a matter of law. Rapagnani v. Judas Co., 736 A.2d 666, 668 (Pa. Super. 1999). To withstand such a motion, the non-moving party must adduce sufficient evidence on a crucial issue as to which that party bears the burden of proof so as to demonstrate that a jury could return a verdict in favor of the non-movant. Homes ex rel. Homes v. Housing Authority, 737 A.2d 825, 828 n.4 (Pa. Commw. 1999). Failure to produce any such evidence establishes that there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Harman on Behalf of Harman v. Borah, 720 A.2d 1058, 1061 (Pa. Super. 1998); see also, Bernice Catalano v. Triple A. Security Systems Inc., 101 Lacka. Jur. 311, 315 (2000); Horne v. Haladay, 728 A.2d 954 (Pa. Super. 1999).

B. Dunmore’s Argument Based on Immunity of 42 Pa.C.S. §8541 And the Alleged Absence of a “Special Duty” to the Individual Plaintiff

With those principles in mind, we can now examine Dunmore’s specific contentions for summary judgment.

[446]*446There is no question that the plaintiff does not meet the exception to governmental immunity contained in 42 Pa.C.S. §8542(b)(8) which states in pertinent part:

“(b) Acts Which Impose Liability — the following acts by a local agency or any of its employees may result in the imposition of liability on a local agency: ...
“(8) Care, custody or control of animals — the care, custody or control of animals In The Possession Or Control Of A Local Agency, including but not limited to police dogs and horses. Damages shall not be recoverable under this paragraph on account of any injury caused by wild animals, including but not limited to bears and deer, except as otherwise provided by statute.” (emphasis added)

Obviously, the dogs in question were owned by the DeNaples defendants and were not in the care, custody and control of the Borough of Dunmore. Therefore, as a matter of law, the exception does not apply. See Jenkins v. McDonald, 92 Pa. Commw. 140, 498 A.2d 487 (1985).

However, that is not the focused theory of liability put forth by the plaintiff. The true theory of liability as set forth in the plaintiff’s complaint (see Count III of plaintiff’s complaint filed June 1998) is a “special relationship exception” to the “No duty rule.”

The “No duty rule” provides that a police officer’s obligation to protect citizenry is a general duty owing to the public at large and not a specific duty owing to a particular person. Melendez v. City of Philadelphia, 320 Pa. Super. 59, 466 A.2d 1060 (1983); Thomas v. City of Philadelphia, 133 Pa. Commw.

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Related

Horne v. Haladay
728 A.2d 954 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
Tenaglia v. Proctor & Gamble, Inc.
737 A.2d 306 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
Hames Ex Rel. Hames v. Philadelphia Housing Authority
737 A.2d 825 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
MELENDEZ BY MELENDEZ v. City of Phila.
466 A.2d 1060 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1983)
HARMAN ON BEHALF OF HARMAN v. Borah
720 A.2d 1058 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1998)
Thomas v. City of Philadelphia
574 A.2d 1205 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1990)
Rapagnani v. Judas Co.
736 A.2d 666 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
Campanaro v. Pennsylvania Electric Co.
738 A.2d 472 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
Rankin v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
606 A.2d 536 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Morris v. Musser
478 A.2d 937 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1984)
Jenkins v. McDonald
498 A.2d 487 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
56 Pa. D. & C.4th 441, 2000 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 200, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alfieri-v-denaples-pactcompllackaw-2000.