Calabrese, J. & Shirk, D. v. Zeager, P.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 1, 2015
Docket1849 MDA 2014
StatusUnpublished

This text of Calabrese, J. & Shirk, D. v. Zeager, P. (Calabrese, J. & Shirk, D. v. Zeager, P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Calabrese, J. & Shirk, D. v. Zeager, P., (Pa. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

J-A14022-15

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

JOHN J. CALABRESE AND DEBORAH J. IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF SHRIK PENNSYLVANIA

Appellee

v.

P. THOMAS ZEAGER

Appellant No. 1849 MDA 2014

Appeal from the Judgment Entered October 14, 2014 In the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County Civil Division at No(s): Cl-04-05070

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., JENKINS, J., and STRASSBURGER, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY JENKINS, J.: FILED JUNE 01, 2015

Appellant P. Thomas Zeager appeals from the order of the Lancaster

County Court of Common Pleas granting summary judgment in favor of

Appellees John J. Calabrese and Deborah J. Shirk, entering judgment in

favor of Calabrese and Shirk, and awarding damages in the amount of

$158,667.22.1 We affirm the grant of Calabrese and Shirk’s motion for

summary judgment. We remand for the trial court to award an offset for

costs Calabrese and Shirk would have paid to connect to Zeager’s sewage

treatment plant.

____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court. 1 The trial court awarded $50,372.83 in damages, $20,071.74 in statutory interest, $3,378.25 in costs of litigation, and $84,844.40 in legal fees. J-A14022-15

The trial court summarized the factual and procedural history as

follows:

In 1991, Edwin G. Hershey owned a hotel and restaurant complex known as Hershey Farms on Route 896 in Strasburg Township, Lancaster County. As public sewer was not available in that area, Hershey built his own sewage treatment plant on his property. Sanford M. Groff owned an adjoining retail property. On November 22, 1991, Hershey and Groff entered into a Sanitary Sewer Easement and Sewage Treatment Agreement (the Agreement) which generally stated that Groff was permitted to use the sewage plant located on Hershey’s land in exchange for $25,000.00. Specifically, the Agreement granted an easement across Hershey’s land for the installation, repair, maintenance and operation of an eight[-]inch sewer line which Groff could use to construct sewer lines to connect to the plant at such time in the future as Groff deemed necessary. The Agreement between the parties had an explicit provision that it was Hershey’s obligation to be physically and legally capable of allowing Groff to hook into the facility “at all times and under all conditions.” The Agreement also contained an indemnification clause providing that should Hershey breach the agreement, Groff would be entitled to all costs, damages, and attorney’s fees resulting from the breach.

Subsequent to the Agreement, Groff sold his property to Calabrese [and Shirk], and Hershey sold his land to Zeager. At the time of sale, Groff had not connected to the sewage treatment plant located on Hershey’s property. Calabrese [and Shirk] and Zeager remained obligated by the Agreement, however, which was binding on successors in title to Groff and Hershey.

In the fall of 2003, Calabrese [and Shirk] entered into a lease agreement with a new retail tenant which required renovation and enlargement of [their] building. Calabrese [and Shirk’s] existing on-lot septic system was incapable of handling the required additional capacity generated by the expansion. Therefore, Calabrese [and Shirk] decided that [they] wished to tap into the sewer treatment plant on the Zeager property. Calabrese [and Shirk] made

-2- J-A14022-15

multiple attempts by telephone and letter to contact Zeager to tell him that [they] now wanted to utilize the sewer capacity that had been paid for years before by Groff. Calabrese [and Shirk] eventually learned that Zeager did not have the necessary legal approvals to add Calabrese [and Shirk’s] discharge. Calabrese [and Shirk were] then forced to construct a new “sand mound” septic system on [their] own property at a total cost of $34,275.33. [They] also incurred costs related to the construction, such as lost rent and attorney’s fees. Repeated requests were made to Zeager to pay all such costs of the new system (as required by the indemnification provision in the Agreement). Zeager refused.

Calabrese [and Shirk] brought a breach of contract action against Zeager on May 28, 2004, based upon the Agreement entered into by their respective predecessors in title. Both parties agreed that the Agreement permitted Calabrese [and Shirk] to construct a pipe to connect with Zeager’s sewage plant and required Zeager to accept and treat the sewage. The parties disagreed, however, regarding which party bore the responsibility under the Agreement for obtaining the necessary government approvals to allow Calabrese [and Shirk] to connect [their] sewage pipe to Zeager’s plant. This apparently involved the preliminary submission for approval of a sewage module plan to Strasburg Township, pursuant to its ordinances and to the regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources.

After the pleadings were closed, this matter was assigned to the Honorable Paul K. Alison for a pretrial conference on July 29, 2005. After four joint motions for trial continuances by the parties, the case eventually proceeded to a non-jury trial before Judge Allison on September 19 and 20, 2006. Following the filing of proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law by the parties, Judge Allison rendered a decision on January 25, 2007 (docketed on January 26, 2007). The trial court concluded that, under the terms of the Agreement, Calabrese [and Shirk] bore the responsibility for obtaining official approval of the connection to Zeager’s sewage plant, and judgment was entered in Zeager’s favor.

-3- J-A14022-15

Calabrese [and Shirk] filed a timely post[-]trial motion, which was denied by Judge Allison on March 19, 2007. Thereafter, Calabrese [and Shirk] appealed the trial court’s ruling to the Superior Court. On May 22, 2009, a three- judge panel of the Superior Court reversed the trial court in a published opinion.

The appellate court held that “the trial court misinterpreted the terms of the Agreement and that the Agreement unambiguously assigns to Zeager the responsibility for obtaining the governmental approval for connecting Calabrese and Shirk’s sewage line to Zeager’s sewage treatment facility.”

Zeager filed an application for reconsideration on June 5, 2009, which was denied by the Superior Court on August 4, 2009. No petition for allowance of appeal was filed with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and the case was thereafter remanded to the trial court.

Following the remand, Calabrese [and Shirk] filed a motion for judgment on September 13, 2011, to which Zeager responded with a cross motion for judgment on October 3, 2011. Zeager also filed on October 31, 2011, a motion to amend his answer to the complaint to plead actual planning and construction costs for a new sewage treatment plant built in 2009, following the remand of this case, as an offset to any of Calabrese [and Shirk’s] damages. Finally, a motion for post remand evidentiary hearing was filed by Zeager on October 31, 2011.

These matters were assigned to the Honorable Jeffery D. Wright on December 15, 2011, following Judge Allison’s retirement from the bench. Following a status conference on February 27, 2012, Judge Wright sent the parties to mediation through the Lancaster Bar Association. The mediation concluded without a successful resolution. Two subsequent attempts at mediation by Judge Wright in September and October of 2012 ended again without success.

This case was then reassigned to the Honorable Louis J. Farina. Following a case management conference on January 23, 2013, Judge Farina entered an order docketed on January 25, 2013, which allowed Zeager to amend his answer to plead a claim for offset damages related to the

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Bluebook (online)
Calabrese, J. & Shirk, D. v. Zeager, P., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/calabrese-j-shirk-d-v-zeager-p-pasuperct-2015.