Reason v. Kathryn's Korner Thrift Shop

169 A.3d 96, 2017 Pa. Super. 266, 2017 WL 3528898, 2017 Pa. Super. LEXIS 618
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 17, 2017
DocketReason, D. v. Riley, T. No. 1866 EDA 2016
StatusPublished

This text of 169 A.3d 96 (Reason v. Kathryn's Korner Thrift Shop) 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
Reason v. Kathryn's Korner Thrift Shop, 169 A.3d 96, 2017 Pa. Super. 266, 2017 WL 3528898, 2017 Pa. Super. LEXIS 618 (Pa. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION BY

SOLANO, J.:

Following the entry of judgment against defendant Tamika Thomas, 1 Appellant Desiree Reason challenges the order granting summary judgment in favor of the remaining defendants, Appellees Kathryn’s Kor-ner Thrift Shop, Drueding Center, Inc., Holy Redeemer Health System, and Nadine Riley, with respect to an alleged assault that occurred while Reason was shopping at the thrift shop. We affirm.

The incident that gives rise to this suit occurred on September 19, 2012, at the thrift shop’s location on North Lawrence Street in Philadelphia. Trial Ct. Op. at 3. Those premises are owned by Drueding Center, which, in turn, is owned by Holy Redeemer. Reason went to the thrift shop as a business invitee, and she was a frequent customer of the shop.

Riley is the cashier at the thrift shop, and Riley’s daughter, Tamika Thomas, was at the thrift shop at the time of the incident, Thomas was a monthly visitor to the thrift shop, but was not a thrift shop employee. Thomas has a history of mental illness, but there is no evidence in the record that she has a history of violence. Riley Dep., 10/16/15, at 28-29. Reason alleged that Thomas takes daily, medication for her condition, but that she failed to take her medication on the day of the incident and that Riley knew of that lapse.

According to Reason, the incident occurred when she brought items to Reilly’s check-out counter. She made some purchases and left other items on the counter. Thomas, who was standing in front of the register at this time, accused Reason of throwing socks at Reilly and punched Reason in the face. Reason and Thomas left the store and began to fight outside. Trial Ct. Op. at 3-4 (citations omitted).

Riley claims that she pushed a button in the store to summon help. Riley says she believed that the button directly summoned the police, but the button instead may have been wired to alert someone at the reception desk of Drueding, who then called another employee, Calvin Collins, to check on the alert. See Calvin Collins Dep., 10/16/15, at 9-10.

About ten minutes after Reason and Thomas left the store, Riley followed them outside and made a phone call on her cell phone. She claims to have called the police. See Trial Ct. Op. at 8; Riley Dep. at 34. Meanwhile, three men on bikes arrived on the scene and held Reason down while Thomas punched her and Reason punched back. Trial Ct. Op. at 4. Store employees stood outside and watched the fight but did not participate in it. Collins then interceded and broke up the fight. Later, the police arrived, and Reason brought them into the store. Id.-, see Riley Dep. at 34.

On July 11, 2014, Reason initiated this action. As amended, her complaint made claims against the Thrift Shop, Drueding, Holy Redeemer, Riley, and Thomas for negligence, false imprisonment, and civil *99 conspiracy; she also sued all defendants except Riley for assault and battery, sued all defendants except Thomas for concerted tortious conduct, and sued all defendants except Riley and Thomas for negligent hiring and supervision. Fourth Am. Compl., 2/2/15, at 7-19 ¶¶ 27-85.

On November 2, 2015, all of the defendants except Thomas moved for summary judgment. They contended that they did not breach any duties owed to Reason, did not cause her any physical harm or place her in fear of harm, did not conspire to cause her harm or aid and abet anyone who allegedly injured her, and did not negligently hire or supervise any employees. Appellees’ Mot. for Summ. J. at 4-32 (citing Counts I, III-VIII of Fourth Am. Compl., 2/2/15, at 7-19 ¶¶ 27-29, 32-85); Mem. of Law in Supp. of Appellees’ Mot. for Summ. J. at 5-14. 2 On December 17, 2015, 3 the trial court granted the motion for summary judgment, leaving Thomas as the sole defendant in the action.

On January 8, 2016, the case against Thomas was listed for arbitration. Thomas did not appear at the arbitration, and on April 14, 2016, the arbitrators entered a report and award against Thomas and in favor of Reason in the amount of $40,000.00. Report & Award of Arbitrators, 4/14/16, at 1. On May 25, 2016, Reason filed a praecipe to enter judgment against Thomas in that amount.

On June 9, 2016, Reason filed a notice of appeal to this Court. In a Rule 1925(b) statement, she challenged the trial court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of the defendants other than Thomas. On December 16, 2016, the trial court filed a Rule 1925(a) opinion in which it expressed the view that Reason had waived her right to appeal by failing to file her notice of appeal within 30 days of the court’s December 17, 2015 summary judgment order. Reason now raises the following issues:

1. Did [Reason] file a timely Notice of Appeal when said Notice was filed within thirty days after the final Order disposing of all parties to this action?
2. Did the trial court err as a matter of law by granting summary judgement and holding that [Reason’s] claims against Kathryn’s Korner Thrift Shop, Drueding Center, Inc., Holy Redeemer Health System and Nadine Riley, are without merit?

Appellant’s Brief at 3 (issues renumbered; suggested answers omitted).

Timeliness of Reason’s Appeal

In its opinion, the trial court stated that Reason’s appeal was untimely, and that all of her issues therefore were waived, because the notice of appeal was not filed within 30 days of the order granting summary judgment. Trial Ct. Op. at 5. Reason contends that she filed a timely appeal following entry of the judgment against Thomas, the final defendant in the case. Appellant’s Brief at 11. She continues that “[t]he [trial c]ourt’s Order of December 17, 2016 was not a final Order as it did not dispose of all claims of all parties in accordance with Pa. R. A. P. 341(a)(1).” Id 4 Reason is correct.

*100 Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 341(a)(1) states: “an appeal may be taken as of right from any final order of a government unit or trial court.” Pa.R.A.P. 341(b)(1) defines a “final order” as “any order that ... disposes of all claims and of all parties.” The trial court granted Ap-pellees’ motion for summary judgment on December 17, 201E>. Subsequent to the granting of that motion, outstanding claims remained pending against Thomas. Thus, the order granting summary judgment was not a final order, because it did not dispose of all claims and of all parties. See Pa.R.A.P, 341(a); Brickman Grp., Ltd. v. CGU Ins. Co., 829 A.2d 1160, 1163-65 (Pa. Super. 2003), The remaining claims against Thomas were resolved upon entry of the judgment filed against Thomas on May 25, 2016. Hence, Reason could not properly file an appeal with this Court until after May 25, 2016, and her notice of appeal filed on June 9, 2016, was timely.

Summary Judgment

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Bluebook (online)
169 A.3d 96, 2017 Pa. Super. 266, 2017 WL 3528898, 2017 Pa. Super. LEXIS 618, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reason-v-kathryns-korner-thrift-shop-pasuperct-2017.