Reeves v. Middletown Athletic Ass'n

866 A.2d 1115
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 15, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by109 cases

This text of 866 A.2d 1115 (Reeves v. Middletown Athletic Ass'n) 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
Reeves v. Middletown Athletic Ass'n, 866 A.2d 1115 (Pa. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION BY

POPOVICH, J.:

¶ 1 Appellant Cheryl Reeves appeals from the entry of summary judgment on October 21, 2003, in favor of Appellee Roy Jenderko.1 Appellant also challenges the propriety of the trial court’s demurrer of count III of her amended complaint. Upon review, we reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

¶ 2 The relevant facts and procedural history of this case are as follows: In 1994, Appellant, aged 12, was a pitcher for Mid-dletown Magic Softball team, which was coached by Appellee. The team was a member of the Middletown Athletic Association (MAA). In addition to coaching softball, Appellee offered private softball pitching lessons to children for a fee of $20.00 per hour. Appellant’s parents enlisted Appellee as Appellant’s private pitching coach, and these private pitching sessions lasted until 1996. In 1997, Appellant played softball for her high school, but she returned to the Magic in 1998. However, in mid-season, Appellee dismissed Appellant from the Magic because he felt that her behavior at a tournament was disruptive to the Magic. Following her dismissal, Appellant pitched for another local softball team.

¶ 3 Due to her dismissal from the Magic, Appellant filed suit against Appellee, MAA, and MAA’s board members via complaint on April 12, 2001. In the five-count complaint, Appellant alleged various causes of action sounding in breach of contract, negligence, and also alleging several intentional torts. Appellant’s complaint also sought punitive damages on the breach of contract claim. Appellee and [1119]*1119MAA filed preliminary objections to Appellant’s complaint, and Appellant filed an amended complaint on July 13, 2001. Thereafter, Appellee and MAA filed preliminary objections to Appellant’s July 13, 2001 complaint. On February 20, 2002, the trial court granted Appellee’s preliminary objections in part and struck Appellant’s demand for punitive damages (requested for all counts of the complaint) and count III of Appellant’s complaint. The trial court also sustained Appellee’s preliminary objections as to count IV of the complaint but granted Appellant leave to amend the complaint. Appellant withdrew count V of the complaint voluntarily. The trial court overruled the remainder of Appellee’s preliminary objections.2

¶ 4 After the trial court’s February 20, 2002 order, Appellant filed an amended complaint on March 15, 2002. Appellant’s amended complaint alleged the following causes of action: (1) breach of express and implied contract due to Appellee’s teaching Appellant an illegal softball-pitching style; (2) negligence on the part of Appellee (and MAA) for permitting Appellee to teach an illegal and injurious style of softball pitching; (3) fraud; and (4) negligence on the part of Appellee (and MAA) because they removed Appellant from the Magic.

¶ 5 Appellee filed a timely answer to Appellant’s amended complaint and raised a new matter. Appellant responded to Appellee’s new matter via preliminary objections. By stipulation of the parties, Appellee amended his answer and new matter. Thereafter, on June 19, 2002, Appellants filed a second set of preliminary objections. On September 5, 2002, following a hearing, the trial court denied Appellant’s preliminary objections. After the trial court denied her preliminary objections, Appellant filed a reply to Appellee’s new matter.

¶ 6 On April 8, 2003, MAA filed a motion for summary judgment against Appellant. Thereafter, on April 23, 2003, Appellee filed a motion for summary judgment against Appellant. Appellant responded to MAA’s motion for summary judgment on May 8, 2003, and to Appel-lee’s motion for summary judgment on May 23, 2003. On July 1, 2003, after filing her responses to Appellees’ summary judgment motions, Appellant filed a motion to compel Appellee to answer fully a previous set of interrogatories filed by Appellant during discovery. Appellee filed a response to Appellant’s motion to compel on July 10, 2003. In the response, Appellee contended that, in his previous set of answers to Appellant’s interrogatories, he either answered or objected to Appellant’s interrogatories properly, and, therefore, Appellant was not entitled to relief.

¶ 7 Prior to the trial court’s ruling on Appellant’s motion to compel, the trial court granted Appellee’s and MAA’s motions for summary judgment on October 21, 2003. The trial court’s order denied all other pending motions, including Appellant’s motion to compel, as moot. Notice of the trial court’s judgment was sent to the parties on October 24, 2003. Nevertheless, it appears the trial court’s judgment was not entered on the docket until November 26, 2003. Therefore, on December 15, 2003, Appellant filed a notice of appeal to this Court. The trial court did not order Appellant to file a Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) concise statement of matters complained of on appeal, but it did author an opinion in this case. Following the filing [1120]*1120of Appellant’s notice of appeal, she settled her case with MAA.

¶ 8 The issues Appellant presents for our review are as follows:

1. Whether [Appellant’s] appeal is timelyf?]
2. Whether count III of the [complaint] should have survived preliminary objections[?]
3. Whether the motion [for summary judgment] was decided prior to the completion of discovery relevant to the motion and rightfully decided without oral argument[?]
4. Whether [Appellant, who bears the burden of proof at trial,] has produced evidence of facts essential to the causes of action[?]

Appellant’s brief, at 5.3

¶ 9 We consider first whether Appellant’s appeal was timely. It is apparent, following a review of the record, that Appellant’s appeal was timely. Generally, the time for appeal commences following the entry of a final order. See Wilson v. Wilson, 828 A.2d 376, 377 (Pa.Super.2003). For this purpose, an order is “entered” when it has been docketed and notice of the docketing has been given to the parties. See Yeaple v. Yeaple, 485 Pa. 399, 403, 402 A.2d 1022, 1024 (1979). Although Appellant concedes that she received notice of the trial court’s judgment on October 24, 2003, she contends that the order was not entered on the docket until November 26, 2003, and, therefore, her notice of appeal was timely filed. In the present case, Appellant provided three offers of proof in the form of three certified copies of the trial court’s docket entries for November 11, 25, and 26, 2003.

¶ 10 These docket entries indicate that, as of November 11, 2003, and until November 25, 2003, the trial court’s October 21, 2003 order granting summary judgment was not yet docketed. However, on the docket entries for November 26, 2003, the docket entries reflect that the order was entered- properly on October 21, 2003, the date that it was issued. Accordingly, it appears that the October 21, 2003 order was “backdated” by the prothonotary of the trial court to correspond with the date of its issuance.

¶ 11 Our Supreme Court was presented with an analogous factual situation in Frazier v. City of Philadelphia, 557 Pa. 618, 735 A.2d 113 (1999). In Frazier,

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Bluebook (online)
866 A.2d 1115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reeves-v-middletown-athletic-assn-pasuperct-2004.