Pulli v. Ustin

24 A.3d 421, 2011 Pa. Super. 139, 2011 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1733, 2011 WL 2611739
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 5, 2011
Docket2385 EDA 2010, 2386 EDA 2010
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 24 A.3d 421 (Pulli v. Ustin) 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
Pulli v. Ustin, 24 A.3d 421, 2011 Pa. Super. 139, 2011 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1733, 2011 WL 2611739 (Pa. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION BY

STRASSBURGER, J.:

Appellants Joseph J. Pulli (Husband) and Sandra L. Pulli (Wife) appeal from the July 9, 2010 order granting summary judgment in favor of Appellee Comprehensive Financial Professionals, LLC (Comprehensive). Upon review, we affirm.

The relevant factual and procedural history were set forth by the trial court.

[Husband] was injured in a motor vehicle accident on November 7, 2003. At the time of the accident, the other driver [Appellee] Stacey Ustin, was driving to Wachovia Bank in Lansdale. [Appellants] filed a Complaint on July 6, 2004 solely against [Appellee], Stacey Ustin, who was served with the Complaint on July 19, 2004. According to the Affidavit of counsel for the [Appellants] attached to the Response to the Motion for Summary Judgment, contemporaneously with the service of the Complaint on July 19, 2004, counsel for [Appellants] served interrogatories on [Appel-lee], Stacey Ustin. According to the same Affidavit, Interrogatory No. 4 served on [Appellee], Stacey Ustin, asked that she state “each place [she] traveled on the date of the accident, and with respect to each ... (c) the purpose for . [the] stop at each place.” On October 18, 2004, [Appellee] Ustin responded to Interrogatory No. 4(c) by stating that her purpose was “go to the bank in Lansdale.”
Subsequently, counsel for [Appellants] and counsel for [Appellee] Ustin engaged in discovery. In his Affidavit, [Appellants’] counsel asserts that he had “been stalled by counsel for [Appellee] driver Ustin for almost a year before [he] actually was able to take her deposition on August 18, 2006.” [Appellants’] counsel concedes that he did not file a *424 Motion to Compel [Appellee] Ustin’s deposition. [Appellee] Ustin’s deposition was eventually scheduled for August 18, 2006, at which time [Appellants’] counsel learned for the first time that Ms. Ustin was driving on November 7, 2003 to Wachovia Bank in Lansdale “in order to make a deposit for her employer, [Comprehensive].” [Appellants’] counsel filed a Writ of Summons on behalf of [Appellants] ..., against [Appellee] Comprehensive on August 28, 2006 in [the trial court].

Tidal Court Opinion and Order, 7/9/2010, at 1-2.

Comprehensive filed a motion for summary judgment asserting the statute of limitations. On June 11, 2010, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Comprehensive. Subsequently, Appellants filed an “Application to Amend Interlocutory Order entered June 11, 2010, to Set Forth Expressly the Statement Specific in 42 Pa.C.S. § 702(b).” 1 Upon this request, the trial court determined that “an immediate appeal of the issues presented by this Order would facilitate the resolution of the entire case, despite the fact that fewer than all of the claims and parties have been disposed of,” making the order a final order pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 341(c). 2 Trial Court Opinion and Order, 7/9/2010, at 8.

On appeal, Appellants raise the following issue: “Whether the common pleas court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in granting summary judgment on the basis that the statute of limitations had run?” Appellants’ Brief at 4. 3

On appeal from an order granting a motion for summary judgment, our review is plenary, and we may reverse the order of the trial court only if that court committed an error of law or abused its discretion. ADP, Inc. v. Morrow Motors Inc., 969 A.2d 1244, 1246 (Pa.Super.2009).

In evaluating the trial court’s decision to enter summary judgment, we focus on the legal standard articulated in the summary judgment rule. The rule states that where there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to relief as a matter of law, summary judgment may be entered. Where the non-moving party bears the burden of proof on an issue, he may not merely rely on his pleadings or answers in order to survive summary judgment. Failure of a non-moving party to adduce sufficient evidence on an issue essential to his case and on which he bears the burden of proof establishes *425 the entitlement of the moving party to judgment as a matter of law. Lastly, we will review the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact must be resolved against the moving party.

Id. (citations omitted).

In its motion for summary judgment, Comprehensive asserted that the statute of limitations for this tort ran on November 7, 2005, and Comprehensive was not served with the lawsuit until August 28, 2006 — nine months late. 4

“[T]he statute of limitations begins to run as soon as the right to institute and maintain a suit arises.” Fine v. Checcio, 582 Pa. 258, 870 A.2d 850, 857 (2004). “In Pennsylvania, there are two well-recognized legal constructs that toll the running of the statute of limitations: the discovery rule and the doctrine of fraudulent concealment.” Coleman v. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 6 A.3d 502, 510 (Pa.Super.2010), reargument denied (Nov. 4, 2010).

Instantly, there is no dispute about when the injury to Husband occurred. As a result of the accident, Husband “was thrown violently around the interior of his automobile and sustained serious injuries to the muscles, nerves, tendons, connective tissues and organs of his body.” Amended Complaint, 1/22/2007, at ¶ 14. However, the trial court concluded that the discovery rule does not apply in this situation. We agree.

The discovery rule is a judicially created device which tolls the running of the applicable statute of limitations until the point where the complaining party knows or reasonably should know that he has been injured and that his injury has been caused by another party’s conduct. In Fine v. Checcio, 582 Pa. 253, 870 A.2d 850 (2005), our Supreme Court affirmed the applicability of the discovery rule in cases involving latent injuries or instances where the causal connection between an injury and another’s conduct was not apparent. Our high court has looked favorably on tying commencement of the limitations period to actual or constructive knowledge of at least some form of significant harm and of a factual cause linked to another’s conduct, without the necessity of notice of the full extent of the injury, the fact of actual negligence, or precise cause.

Coleman, 6 A.3d at 510 (internal citations and quotations omitted).

In Coleman, supra, this Court stated that “[t]he common thread in our jurisprudence ...

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Bluebook (online)
24 A.3d 421, 2011 Pa. Super. 139, 2011 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1733, 2011 WL 2611739, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pulli-v-ustin-pasuperct-2011.