MacE v. Senior Adult Activities Center

423 A.2d 390, 282 Pa. Super. 566, 1980 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3439
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 1, 1980
Docket292
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 423 A.2d 390 (MacE v. Senior Adult Activities Center) 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
MacE v. Senior Adult Activities Center, 423 A.2d 390, 282 Pa. Super. 566, 1980 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3439 (Pa. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinions

PER CURIAM:

This is an appeal from the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County by the plaintiff-appellant which dismissed his Fourth Amended Complaint pursuant to Preliminary Objections filed by the defendant.

Plaintiff filed a complaint in assumpsit against the defendant, his former employer, alleging that he was improperly dismissed from his job contrary to the terms of his employment contract. The action was filed on August 17, 1976. After the defendant filed preliminary objections to the complaint, the plaintiff filed an Amended Complaint on September 9, 1976. He also filed Amended Complaints on [568]*568September 27, 1976, January 24, 1977 and July 7, 1977. After each new complaint the defendant filed preliminary objections.

On October 14, 1977, defendant’s preliminary objections to plaintiff’s Fourth Amended Complaint were argued before the court below and on October 18, 1977, the court below issued an order sustaining defendant’s preliminary objections and granting its motion to strike the Amended Complaint and dismiss same stating that “successive and continuous amendments to a complaint cannot be permitted to go on forever”. On November 7, 1977, the plaintiff took this appeal.

On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court below erred when it ruled that his complaint was improper and further that the court erred when it dismissed his action rather than to permit him to file another Amended Complaint.

Plaintiff’s Fourth Amended Complaint against the defendant alleges that:

Plaintiff had been employed by the defendant as its Executive Director pursuant to a written contract dated January 20, 1975; the said contract was in the form of a letter addressed to the plaintiff which informed him that he had been hired for the period January 1, 1975 to December 31, 1975 at an annual salary of $20,000 payable on a prorata, bi-monthly basis, and that he could accept the offer of employment by signing and returning the letter which plaintiff did; plaintiff then served in that capacity for the year 1975; and that on December 9, 1975 the defendant’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to renew plaintiff’s 1975 employment contract for the year 1976 at a salary of $21,000 per annum; that plaintiff accepted said offer to renew his employment contract by continuing to serve as Executive Director and was paid as such from January 1, 1976 to April 9, 1976; and that plaintiff was fired as of April 9, 1976 by the Board, having been so notified of his firing by letter dated March 10,1976. Plaintiff claims that his firing constituted a contractual violation and sued his employer in Assumpsit for the sum of $15,346.30 (covering the salary period [569]*569April 10, 1976 to December 31, 1976). Plaintiff filed a total of five complaints. To each of his complaints the defendant filed preliminary objections which ultimately resulted in plaintiff filing a new complaint as discussed above. In filing its preliminary objections to plaintiff’s Fourth Amended Complaint, the defendant moved for a more specific complaint and also moved, in the alternative, to strike the complaint. The court below granted defendant’s motion to strike the complaint and dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint for failure to comply with the latest order of court (the order directing plaintiff to file a more specific complaint relative to plaintiff’s Third Amended Complaint).

In dismissing plaintiff’s Fourth Amended Complaint the court below did not grant plaintiff leave to amend his complaint. Plaintiff then appealed that order here.

If it is evident that a pleading can be cured by amendment, a court may not enter a final judgment, but must give the pleader an opportunity to file an amended complaint. Stevens v. Doylestown Building & Loan Assoc., 821 Pa. 173, 183 A. 922 (1936). This is a positive duty of the court and not a matter of discretion. Framlau Corp. v. Delaware County, 223 Pa.Super. 272, 299 A.2d 335 (1972). However, if it clearly appears that a defective complaint cannot be cured, a demurrer to it and dismissal of the action is proper. Seitz v. Fulton National Bank, 325 Pa. 14, 188 A. 569 (1936). Thus, it is clear that “successive and continuous amendments to a complaint” cannot be permitted to go on ad infinitum and if the court below was correct in determining that plaintiff had failed to plead a proper cause of action then it was correct in dismissing plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment Complaint with prejudice.

The thrust of defendant’s preliminary objections to plaintiff’s Fourth Amended Complaint is directed at Paragraph Six of the Complaint which reads:

“6. Plaintiff, having been present at said Board of Directors meeting (at which the motion was passed to ‘reappoint’ plaintiff as Executive Director for a term of one year), accepted said offer to renew his employment con[570]*570tract by continuing to act as Executive Director and was paid for said services at a rate of $21,000 per annum from January 1, 1976 until April 9, 1976.”

Defendant claims that Paragraph Six, supra, does not set forth when plaintiff accepted the alleged offer of renewal, does not set forth to whom said acceptance was given nor whether the acceptance was oral or in writing. The defendant also complains that the verification attached to the Fourth Amended Complaint is invalid because it is dated February 24, 1977 and Judge Cirillo’s order striking the Third Amended Complaint did not come down until June 28, 1977. However, the latter defect is a technical matter which we would permit plaintiff to explain by further pleadings as an affidavit setting forth the reasons for the apparent error.

The crux of this case is whether paragraph six of the plaintiff’s complaint is sufficiently specific so as to provide the defendant with notice of the basis of the pleader’s claim so that defendant is able to prepare his case. Smith v. Allegheny County, 397 Pa. 404, 155 A.2d 615 (1959). Where the facts in question are' equally within the knowledge of both parties less precision is required in pleading same. 2A Anderson 89. In the instant case the plaintiff alleged that he accepted defendant’s offer to renew his employment by his act of remaining on the job after the expiration of the original contract from January 1, 1976 to April 9, 1976 during which time his employer paid him at the rate of $21,000 per year. In Kapustik v. School District of the City of Arnold, 177 Pa.Super. 268, 111 A.2d 169 (1955), this Court held that where a person is employed for a definite period and thereafter continues in the employment, without further arrangements being made, it ordinarily is inferred that his employment continues upon the same terms and for similar period as that for which he was first employed. (Emphasis ours). In Kapustik, this Court cited Smith v. Shallcross, 165 Pa.Super. 472, 69 A.2d 156 (1949) for the same proposition. However, Kapustik and Shallcross differ from the instant case because in our case the plaintiff is not alleging that his act of “holding over” on his job and his employer’s act of [571]

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MacE v. Senior Adult Activities Center
423 A.2d 390 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)

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Bluebook (online)
423 A.2d 390, 282 Pa. Super. 566, 1980 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3439, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mace-v-senior-adult-activities-center-pasuperct-1980.