Pittsburgh Coal & Coke, Inc. v. Cuteri

590 A.2d 790, 404 Pa. Super. 298, 1991 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1407
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 3, 1991
Docket1167
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 590 A.2d 790 (Pittsburgh Coal & Coke, Inc. v. Cuteri) 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
Pittsburgh Coal & Coke, Inc. v. Cuteri, 590 A.2d 790, 404 Pa. Super. 298, 1991 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1407 (Pa. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinions

POPOVICH, Judge:

This case involves an appeal from the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Fayette County (per Judge J. Quint Salmon, Specially Presiding) granting the preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer of the Appellees/coDefendants 1 resulting in their dismissal from the lawsuit [301]*301instituted by the Plaintiff/Appellant, Pittsburgh Coal and Coke, Inc. We affirm.

On November 27, 1984, Eureka Energy Company agreed to purchase equipment from Pittsburgh Coal and Coke, Inc. By agreement of even date, Cuteri Holding Company also contracted to purchase real estate from Pittsburgh Coal and Coke, Inc. In each instance, Fred A. Cuteri signed documents “unconditionally guaranteeing]” that both entities would perform under the provisions of the November 27th agreements. Failing this, Cuteri consented to have Pittsburgh Coal and Coke, Inc. commence suit against him “without having commenced any action or having obtained any judgment against Cuteri.”

When it appeared that non-compliance with the November 27th agreements was imminent, a 45-day extension was granted by Pittsburgh Coal and Coke, Inc. to Cuteri2 on August 27, 1985. Cuteri, as security for the performance of the August 27th agreement (hereinafter referred to as the “Escrow” agreement), placed in escrow deeds to three parcels of property situated in this Commonwealth. Upon default, Pittsburgh Coal and Coke, Inc. received what purported to be title to Cuteri’s one-half interest to these properties, the remaining share of which belonged to a Richard DiCenzo, his business associate. The deeds were drafted and a “lien search” of the real estate was conducted by the Coldren law firm, the latter of which was communicated to counsel for Pittsburgh Coal and Coke, Inc. in letter form and read in pertinent part:

This is to confirm that we made a lien check with respect to Fred A. Cuteri, Fred A. Cuteri, Jr., Rinaldo DiCenzo and Richard DiCenzo.
We found no mortgages indexed against any of the parties. The only liens which we found were municipal liens entered against two properties ... which DiCenzo and Cuteri conveyed to Pittsburgh Coal & Coke. Neither [302]*302of these liens has anything to do with the property to be held in escrow for the benefit of Pittsburgh Coal & Coke.

When Pittsburgh Coal and Coke, Inc. decided to sell its interest in the properties, a “title search” was conducted by the prospective buyer3 who learned that Cuteri had transferred his interest in the property to a partnership comprised of Cuteri and Richard DiCenzo by deed dated June II, 1984, a deed prepared by the Coldren law firm.

A 6-count complaint was filed by Pittsburgh Coal and Coke, Inc. alleging, inter alia, fraud and professional negligence on the part of the Coldren law firm and its partners in drafting deeds, pursuant to the Escrow agreement, conveying what appeared to be Cuteri’s one-half interest to property when it “knew” that “Cuteri no longer had good title to this real estate.” Count V, Paragraph 24.

Preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer (to Counts III, IV, V & VI) and a motion to strike (as to Counts III, IV, V and a request for attorneys fees) were filed on behalf of the Coldren law firm. A brief was submitted thereafter in which the allegations of professional negligence were refuted because of the absence of privity and an attorney-client relationship between the Appellant and the Appellees. As for the commission of fraud by the Coldren law firm, for allegedly “knowing” that Cuteri did not have good title to the property pledged as collateral on the Escrow agreement and “misleading” the Appellant by delivering deeds purportedly transferring title which Cuteri did not have to convey “after” it drafted a deed conveying title away from Cuteri, it was asserted at page 6 of Coldren’s pre-trial brief that:

By [the Appellant’s] definition of fraud, any attorney called upon to prepare a deed for a client would be required to do a title search not only before doing the deed but up until the time the deed was utilized because, [303]*303after preparing and delivering the deed to the client, another deed could be recorded [prior in time] that would make the deed prepared by the attorney useless.

After taking the matter under consideration, the court granted the preliminary objections of the Coldren law firm. This resulted in the Coldren law firm being removed from the law suit as a party-defendant. This appeal followed and raises three issues for our review, the first two of which can be consolidated into the query: “Did the court err in sustaining the preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer of the Appellees?”

Since this is an appeal from the sustaining of a demurrer, we accept as true all well-pleaded material facts set forth in the complaint as well as all inferences reasonably deducible therefrom. Dercoli v. Pennsylvania National Mutual Insurance Co., 520 Pa. 471, 554 A.2d 906 (1989).

It is the Appellant’s position that it has stated a cause of action for professional negligence against the Appellees consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in Guy v. Liederbach, 501 Pa. 47, 459 A.2d 744 (1983), which noted that a party:

... must show an attorney-client relationship or a specific undertaking by the attorney furnishing professional services ... as a necessary prerequisite for maintaining [a suit.]

Id., 501 Pa. at 58, 459 A.2d at 750. More specifically, the Appellant contends that, despite the absence of a formal attorney-client relationship between itself and the Appellees, “[t]he facts, as alleged, clearly support imposing such a duty” under Guy’s “alternate theory that special circumstances or a specific undertaking may impose that duty.” Appellant’s Brief at 16. In support, the Appellant cites Lawall v. Groman, 180 Pa. 532, 37 A. 98 (1897), for an illustration of how a duty arises absent the usual attorney-client relationship.

[304]*304Lawall involved an appeal from the trial court’s refusal to remove a non-suit for the Plaintiff’s failure to prove an attorney-client relationship between herself and the Defendant/attorney.

The Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s judgment in favor of the Defendant. In the course of doing so, the Court observed that the establishment of an attorney-client relationship was not based solely on compensation for services being paid by the party charging an attorney with professional negligence. Nor was such remuneration indispensable to the creation of a representative status. Rather, the facts needed to be examined to decide whether the relation of attorney and client arose from the “mutual understanding” of the parties. As stated by the Court:

In the present case it is undeniable that the defendant was acting for Roberts, the borrower, from whom he received his compensation, and to whom alone, upon the manifest understanding of all parties, he was to look for it. But that fact does not of itself prevent the relation of attorney and client between plaintiff and defendant, if such was the mutual understanding.

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Pittsburgh Coal & Coke, Inc. v. Cuteri
590 A.2d 790 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
590 A.2d 790, 404 Pa. Super. 298, 1991 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pittsburgh-coal-coke-inc-v-cuteri-pasuperct-1991.