Sayler v. Skutches

40 A.3d 135, 2012 Pa. Super. 23, 2012 WL 361700, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 25
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 6, 2012
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 40 A.3d 135 (Sayler v. Skutches) 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
Sayler v. Skutches, 40 A.3d 135, 2012 Pa. Super. 23, 2012 WL 361700, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 25 (Pa. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinions

OPINION BY PLATT, J.:

Appellant, Patricia J. Sayler, executrix of the estate of Barbara Lorraine Glasow, appeals from the judgment entered March 4, 2011, denying in part her request for attorneys’ fees, 40 P.S. § 1303.509; appellate costs, Pa.R.A.P. 2741(4), 2742; and delay damages, Pa.R.C.P. 238. We affirm in part and remand in part.

The trial court set forth the relevant factual and procedural history of this case as follows:

A jury trial was held on this medical malpractice action from January 14, 2008, to January 18, 2008.[ ] The jury awarded a verdict on January 18, 2008, in favor of Barbara Glasow, in the gross amount of $3,973,000. The jury found 35% contributory negligence attributable to [Glasow]. The molded verdict, taking [Glasow’s] contributory negligence into account, results in damages totaling $2,582,450.
On January 24, 2008, [Appellant] filed a Motion for Delay Damages. On the same day, [Appellees] filed a Motion for Post-Trial Relief. [Appellant] filed a timely response to [Appellees’] post-trial motion and filed a Cross-Motion for Post-Trial Relief_On May 27, 2008, [the trial court] entered an order granting, in part, [Appellees’] Motion for Post-Trial Relief, and entered judgment in favor of [Appellees]. The following day, May 28, 2008, [Appellant] filed a Praecipe to Withdraw the Motion for Delay Damages. Later that same day, after the Praecipe to Withdraw was filed, but not having yet received notice of [Appellant’s] Praecipe, and in an effort to clear the docket in this case, [the trial court] entered an Order denying [Appellant’s] Motion for Delay Damages as moot as a result of [the] May 27, 2008 Order.
On June 2, 2008, [Appellant] appealed [the] May 27, 2008 Order. [Appellees] filed a Notice of CrossTAppeal on June 16, 2008. On June 4, 2009, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania entered an Order reversing [the] decision and remanding the matter for entry of judgment in favor of [Appellant]....
[138]*138On August 18, 2009, [Appellant] filed a Petition for Entry of Judgment. On September 1, 2009, [Appellees] sought allocatur from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. [The trial court] denied [Appellant’s] Petition for Entry of Judgment without prejudice on December 17, 2009, because of the pending Petition for Allocatur before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Sadly, Barbara Glasow died on May 28, 2009. Notice of Death of [ ] Barbara Glasow was filed on May 4, 2010, and by Order dated May 18, 2010, Patricia J. Sayler, Executrix of the Estate of Barbara Lorraine Glasow a/k/a Barbara L. Glasow, deceased, was substituted as [Appellant] in this case.
On May 26, 2010, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania denied [Appellees’] Petition for Allocatur. On May 28, 2010, [Appellant] filed a Petition for Entry of Judgment; on July 6, 2010, [Appellant] filed an Amended Petition for Entry of Judgment. [Appellant’s] Amended Petition for Entry of Judgment was denied on July 16, 2010, without prejudice to refile upon receipt of the record in the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas.
[Appellees] sought a writ of certiorari from the United States Supreme Court. On November 1, 2010, an order was issued by the United States Supreme Court denying the Writ of Certiorari. Thereafter, on November 12, 2010, the Pennsylvania Superior Court issued an order lifting the stay in this matter and remanding the record back to [the trial] court with instructions to enter judgment.
On November 23, 2010, [Appellant] filed the Amended Petition for Entry of Judgment [raising four issues.] First, [Appellant] asserts she is entitled to proportionate counsel fees on the award of future medical damages; second, [Appellant] asserts she is entitled to proportionate costs on the award of future medical damages; third, [Appellant] asserts she is entitled to appellate costs; and, finally, [Appellant] asserts she is entitled to delay damages....

(Trial Court Opinion, 3/04/11, at 1-3).

On March 4, 2011, the trial court issued an order “entered in favor of [Appellant] in the amount of $2,607,665.09.” (Order, 3/04/11). In the opinion entered on the same day, the trial court determined that Appellant is entitled to the actual future damages accrued up to the time of Gla-sow’s death, and that the distribution of attorneys’ fees should be resolved between Appellant and her attorneys in a separate action. (See Trial Ct. Op., at 7-8). The court awarded some appellate costs to Appellant, rejecting those requests it found to be too vague. (Id. at 9-10). Finally, the court determined that Appellant’s motion for delay damages was either timely withdrawn by Appellant, or mooted when the trial court granted Appellees’ motion for post-trial relief. (Id. at 10-11). Appellant timely appeals.

Appellant raises three questions for our review:

A. Whether the Trial Court erred in denying payment of the proportionate share of counsel fees and costs based upon the present value of the future medical damages pursuant to 40 P.S. § 1303.509?
B. Whether the Trial Court erred in denying the full amount of Appellate Costs related to the prior Appeal in this matter ..., to which [Appellant] was entitled pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 2741(4) and Pa.R.A.P. 2742?
C. Whether the Trial Court erred by refusing to award Delay Damages pursuant to Pa. Rule of Civ. Pro. 238?

(Appellant’s Brief, at 4).

In her first issue, Appellant argues that “[t]he Trial Court erred in deny[139]*139ing payment of the proportionate share of counsel fees and costs based upon the present value of the future medical damages pursuant to 40 P.S. § 1803.509.” (Id. at 15). Appellant asserts that, under section 1303.509 of the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Act, 40 P.S. § 1303.509(b)(1), her counsel is entitled to “attorney[s’] fees on the future medical expenses awarded, amount[ing] to Two Hundred Eight Thousand Four Hundred Ninety Four ($208,-494.00) Dollars.” (Id. at 16 (emphasis in original)). We disagree.

Generally, where the award of attorneys’ fees is authorized by statute, an appellate court reviews the propriety of the amount awarded by the trial court under an abuse of discretion standard. We will not find an abuse of discretion in the award of counsel fees “merely because [we] might have reached a different conclusion.” Rather, we require a showing of manifest unreasonableness, partiality, prejudice, bias, ill-will, or such lack of support in the law or record for the award to be clearly erroneous. To the extent that the issue before us is a question of statutory interpretation, however, our scope of review is plenary and the standard of review is de novo.

Samuel-Bassett v. Kia Motors Am., Inc., — Pa. -, 34 A.3d 1, 51 (2011) (citations omitted).

The General Assembly has directed in the Statutory Construction Act, 1 Pa. C.S.[A.] § 1501 et seq., that the object of interpretation and construction of all statutes is to ascertain and effectuate the intention of the General Assembly. Generally speaking, the best indication of legislative intent is the plain language of a statute.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
40 A.3d 135, 2012 Pa. Super. 23, 2012 WL 361700, 2012 Pa. Super. LEXIS 25, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sayler-v-skutches-pasuperct-2012.