Jistarri v. Fentress

568 A.2d 618, 390 Pa. Super. 209, 1989 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3502
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 28, 1989
Docket647 and 825
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 568 A.2d 618 (Jistarri v. Fentress) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jistarri v. Fentress, 568 A.2d 618, 390 Pa. Super. 209, 1989 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3502 (Pa. 1989).

Opinion

CERCONE, Judge:

This is a consolidated appeal and cross-appeal from a final order docketed February 22, 1989 in the Court of Common *211 Pleas of Philadelphia County, Civil Division. The instant case arises out of a traffic accident that occurred on November 28, 1976. Plaintiffs/cross-appellants Angelo and Anthony Jistarri were involved in a collision with a motor vehicle operated by Charles Fentress, a Delaware River Port Authority employee. At the time of the accident, Mr. Fentress was acting within the course and scope of his employment. In May of 1982, a unanimous jury verdict awarded $350,000.00 to Anthony Jistarri and $15,000.00 to Angelo Jistarri for their personal injury claims. These amounts were molded to reflect no-fault benefits and delay damages which resulted in total awards of $417,872.92 to Anthony Jistarri and $11,108.35 to Angelo Jistarri. Defendants/appellants Fentress and the Delaware River Port Authority filed motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and requesting the grant of a new trial. The lower court sitting en banc dismissed these motions and entered judgment for the Jistarris. Defendants/appellants subsequently appealed to this court which reversed and remanded the case for a new trial. The Jistarris then appealed to our supreme court, which denied their petition for allocatur on August 28, 1987. 1

A new trial was held before the Honorable Charles A. Lord sitting with a jury. On March 21, 1988, the jury rendered a unanimous verdict in favor of Anthony and Angelo Jistarri who were awarded damages molded to $225,000.00 and $15,000.00 respectively. No appeal was taken from this verdict and damages were paid to the Jistarris as awarded. Promptly thereafter, the Jistarris requested delay damages pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. No. 238, 42 Pa.C.S.A. On December 15, 1988, the trial judge signed an order granting the Jistarris an undifferentiated total award of $278,068.79 in delay damages. Defendants/appellants then filed a petition to nullify the order because it had not been accepted by the lower court prothonotary. On Febru *212 ary 1,1989 the trial judge signed a new order which vacated the unentered order of December 15th, and required the prothonotary to docket delay damages in favor of Anthony and Angelo Jistarri in the amounts of $260,689.47 and $17,379.32 respectively. The February 1st order was not docketed until February 22, 1989.

In response, defendants/appellants timely filed the instant appeal contesting the time periods for which delay damages had been granted and challenging the constitutionality of Rule 238, supra. The Jistarris timely filed a cross-appeal alleging that the lower court erred in reducing the amount of delay damages by excluding certain periods of time for purposes of calculating interest. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

Defendants/appellants assert the following claims: (1) that the lower court correctly excluded from its award of delay damages the period during which plaintiffs/cross-appellants pursued a petition for allowance of appeal to our supreme court after a panel of this court had granted a new trial; (2) that the lower court correctly granted delay damages for the remainder of the time between the filing of the complaint and the second verdict; and (3) whether Rule 238, supra, violates the due process rights of defendants qua defendants. Plaintiffs/cross-appellants raise four additional questions: (4) whether Rule 238, supra, as revised November 7, 1988, is applicable to the instant action; (5) whether defendants/appellants are liable for delay damages; (6) whether the entire post-trial and appellate period should be considered in calculating delay damages; and (7) whether the method of calculating delay damages suggested by plaintiffs/cross-appellants is correct.

Our initial inquiry must be whether revised Rule 238 applies to the instant case. Effective November 7, 1988, while the issue of delay damages was pending before the lower court, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rescinded the original rule and promulgated a new Rule 238. The new rule applies to “actions pending on or after the effective date of this rule in which damages for delay have not been determined.” Rule 238(f), supra. Because the issue of *213 delay damages was pending before the trial court on the date revised Rule 238 was promulgated, it is clear that any such award in the instant case was properly determinable only under the revised rule. Mathis v. United Engineers & Constructors, Inc., 381 Pa.Super. 466, 483, 554 A.2d 96, 104 (1989). See also Ceresini v. Valley View Trailer Park, 380 Pa.Super. 416, 552 A.2d 258 (1988) (en banc) overruled on other grounds by King v. SEPTA, 383 Pa.Super. 420, 557 A.2d 11 (1989) & Snelsire v. Moxon, 384 Pa.Super. 85, 557 A.2d 785 (1989) (en banc); and Staats v. Noll, 381 Pa.Super. 162, 553 A.2d 85 (1989) (en banc) (applying revised Rule 238 to cases on appeal because delay damage award was “pending issue” on date new rule was promulgated).

Our next inquiry is whether the lower court correctly determined that defendants/appellants must pay delay damages. Such an award is proper where a defendant has not made an adequate offer to settle pursuant to Rule 238(b)(1) and the plaintiff has not caused delay of trial under Rule 238(b)(2). Miller v. Wise Business Forms, Inc., 381 Pa.Super. 236, 241, 553 A.2d 443, 446 (1989). The record in the instant case contains no indication that defendants/appellants made any written offer to settle whatsoever. Nor has our review of the record disclosed any indication that plaintiffs/cross-appellants caused a delay of trial sufficient to totally nullify their right to delay damages within the meaning of Rule 238(b)(2). We therefore hold that the trial court properly evaluated the instant case in light of revised Rule 238 and correctly ruled that defendants/appellants are liable for delay damages thereunder..

Both defendants/appellants and plaintiffs/cross-appellants challenge the manner in which the trial court determined the time periods during which defendants/appellants would have to pay delay damages. Defendants/appellants contest the inclusion of the time during which this matter was before our supreme court on a petition for allocatur. Ultimately, defendants/appellants seek to exclude the entire interval between the filing of the original complaint and the date the second verdict was rendered. Plaintiffs/cross-appellants, however, believe that the whole time *214

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Bluebook (online)
568 A.2d 618, 390 Pa. Super. 209, 1989 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3502, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jistarri-v-fentress-pa-1989.