Mastromatteo v. Harkins

615 A.2d 390, 419 Pa. Super. 329, 1992 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3621
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 21, 1992
Docket1220
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 615 A.2d 390 (Mastromatteo v. Harkins) 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
Mastromatteo v. Harkins, 615 A.2d 390, 419 Pa. Super. 329, 1992 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3621 (Pa. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

JOHNSON, Judge:

Wendy M. Mastromatteo appeals a December 6, 1989 order which vacated a jury verdict finding Ronald Harkins to be the father of Amber Lynn Mastromatteo. The trial court held that the introduction of DNA test results at trial was improper under the standard articulated by this Court in Koleski v. Park, 363 Pa.Super. 22, 525 A.2d 405 (1987). We hold that the Koleski standard does not apply in the present case and reverse the order of the trial court and remand for reinstatement of the jury’s verdict.

Before addressing the issues presented on appeal, a review of the procedural history of this case is necessary. In November, 1983, Mastromatteo filed an action against Harkins for the financial support and maintenance of her daughter. Harkins denied paternity. The parties and the child submitted to human leukocyte antigen (HLA) blood tests which indicated that the probability of paternity was 99.4%. Following a trial held before the Honorable D. Richard Eckman, the jury rendered its verdict in favor of Harkins. Mastromatteo filed a Motion for Post-Trial Relief requesting a new trial which was granted by the trial court on the ground that the jury had been instructed to apply the wrong standard of proof. Harkins did not appeal the grant of a new trial.

Prior to the second trial, Mastromatteo petitioned for DNA testing to determine paternity. See generally Note, DNA Fingerprinting: Evidence of the Future, 79 Ky.L.J. 415 [333]*333(1990-91); Comment, Trial by Certainty, 39 Emory L.J. 309 (1990); Jeffreys, Wilson, Them, Hypervariable “Minisatellite” Regions in Human DNA 314 Nature 67 (1985). Harkins contested the petition and both parties filed briefs to support their positions. Mastromatteo filed a second petition for DNA testing, which the motions court subsequently granted, ordering the parties and the child to submit to DNA testing. The DNA test indicated that Harkins possessed all seventeen of the seventeen paternal bands that were found in the DNA of the child. The DNA test results indicated the probability that this result would have occurred by chance to be one in seventeen billion.

Before the second jury trial, Harkins contested the admissibility of the DNA test results. The trial court concluded that the test results were admissible. Following the second jury trial, a verdict was rendered against Harkins, finding paternity. Harkins filed a timely Motion for Post-Trial Relief requesting a new trial. Rather than granting the relief Harkins requested, the trial court vacated the jury’s verdict. Mastromatteo’s subsequent Motion for Reconsideration was denied and this appeal followed.

Before addressing the merits of this appeal, we must examine the standard of review utilized when a trial court merely vacates the jury verdict without granting a new trial. In this case, the jury rendered its verdict against Harkins. Harkins, through his post-trial motion, alleged an error of law, that the results of the DNA tests were improperly admitted at trial. Harkins then requested the proper relief from the trial court, the grant of a new trial. In our review of the record, we will determine if the introduction of the DNA test results constituted an error of law which properly should have supported the grant of a new trial. As the reviewing court in this case, we will impose a standard of review as if the trial court had granted the requested relief and we will determine if the grant of a new trial would be proper. While the grant of a new trial is within the sound discretion of the trial judge, that discretion is not absolute; an appellate court will review the action of the trial court and reverse if it determines that the [334]*334trial court acted capriciously or palpably abused its discretion. Burrell v. Philadelphia Electric Company, 438 Pa. 286, 265 A.2d 516 (1970); Burton v. Boland, 339 Pa.Super. 444, 489 A.2d 243 (1985).

Mastromatteo contends that the DNA tests were properly admissible at trial and that the trial court abused its discretion in vacating the jury verdict. We agree.

The Pennsylvania legislature has empowered courts in paternity actions for support to order DNA tests under the provisions of 23 Pa.C.S. § 4343(c)(1) and (c)(2):

(c) Genetic tests.—
(1) Upon the request of any party to an action to establish paternity, the court shall require the child and the parties to submit to genetic tests.
(2) Genetic test results shall be considered prima facie evidence of paternity.

This statute, on its face, requires that a court order the child and the parties in a paternity action to submit to genetic testing if any party requests such testing. Here, Mastromatteo requested genetic testing, in the form of DNA tests, from the motions court prior to the second trial. Under 23 Pa.C.S. § 4343, the motions court properly granted Mastromatteo’s request.

The trial court, however, stated that the admission of the DNA test results was prohibited under Koleski v. Park, supra, because Harkins’ Fourth Amendment and due process rights had been violated. Trial court opinion at 5-7. We determine that the trial court erred in its finding that the DNA test results were inadmissible; we also determine that Koleski does not apply in the present case.

In Koleski, an appeal was taken from an order for a mother and child to submit to a second HLA test after a first HLA test had excluded the person claiming paternity as the father of the child. In that case, we interpreted 23 Pa.C.S. § 5104 and whether it permitted the drawing of duplicate blood tests.

23 Pa.C.S. § 5104 states in pertinent part:

[335]*335(c) Authority for the test. — In any matter subject to this section in which paternity, parentage or identity of a child is a relevant fact, the court, upon its own initiative or upon suggestion made by or on behalf of any person whose blood is involved, may or, upon motion of any party to the action made at a time so as not to delay the proceedings unduly, shall order the mother, child and alleged father to submit to blood tests. If any party refuses to submit to the tests, the court may resolve the question of paternity, parentage or identity of a child against the party or enforce its order if the rights of others and the interests of justice so require.

In Koleski, we were unable to discern clear authority under Pa.C.S. § 5104 for performing duplicate blood tests. There, recognizing the Fourth Amendment implications in the extraction of blood, we stated that due to the potential for harassment inherent in paternity proceedings, before the mother could be ordered to submit to a duplicate blood test, the proponent of further testing must indicate that the first test was defective and that further testing was needed for an accurate determination of paternity. Koleski, supra, 363 Pa.Super. at 31, 525 A.2d at 408. We also concluded that in order to satisfy due process requirements, the determination of the need for further testing should be made at a hearing at which expert testimony would be introduced. Koleski, supra, 363 Pa.Super. at 32, 525 A.2d at 409.

Our holding in Koleski

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Mastromatteo v. Harkins
615 A.2d 390 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
615 A.2d 390, 419 Pa. Super. 329, 1992 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3621, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mastromatteo-v-harkins-pasuperct-1992.