Scott v. Shay

928 A.2d 312, 2007 Pa. Super. 192, 2007 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1719
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 26, 2007
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 928 A.2d 312 (Scott v. Shay) 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
Scott v. Shay, 928 A.2d 312, 2007 Pa. Super. 192, 2007 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1719 (Pa. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinions

OPINION BY

COLVILLE, J.:

¶ 1 This case is an appeal of a protection from abuse (PFA) order against Appellant. He argues: (1) Appellee had no standing to seek a PFA order and (2) there was insufficient evidence to support the order. We reverse.

Facts

¶ 2 At some point in the 1980s, when Appellee was a child, she was friends with Appellant’s son. Appellee’s father and Appellant also knew each other. In or around 1989, Appellant was convicted of indecent assault, Appellee being the victim. In the years that followed, Appellee saw Appellant from time to time in grocery stores, a restaurant where she used to work and a department store where she also worked. Sometimes Appellant was with his wife and/or members of his church. Other times he was alone.

¶ 3 In August 2004, Appellant went to Appellee’s house. At the PFA hearing Appellee testified that she could not remember everything Appellant said when he came to her home, but he apparently asked where Appellee’s father was and inquired about a lawn mower or mower part Appellant had sold to Appellee’s father many years earlier. During the conversation, Appellant indicated that his cousin was Appellee’s next-door neighbor. The conversation ended when Appellee told Appellant she would have her father and husband call him.

¶4 In October 2005, Appellee’s church held a gathering as an alternative to Halloween. Several other churches, including Appellant’s, were invited to take part. Appellant attended the function, having volunteered to work at the event. The gathering lasted approximately two hours, and there were some two hundred persons, adults and children, in attendance.

¶ 5 Roughly forty-five minutes into the event, Appellee arrived and learned from one of her friends that Appellant was there. Church leaders then told Appellant he had to remain in a limited area for the rest of the evening. They also assigned a church member to stay by Appellant’s side. During the night, there was no contact or conversation between Appellant and Appellee, but Appellant apparently looked and smiled at Appellee more than once. At one point, the two were eight to ten feet apart.

¶ 6 Appellee subsequently filed a petition requesting a PFA order against Appellant. The trial court held a hearing and granted the petition. This appeal follows.

Statutory Construction

¶ 7 Appellant’s first issue, standing, involves a question of law — namely, the interpretation of a statute. For this issue, our standard of review is de novo and our scope of review is plenary. McCance v. McCance, 908 A.2d 905, 908 (Pa.Super.2006). When we undertake statutory interpretation, our object is to ascertain and then effectuate the intention of the Legislature. 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 1921(a). When possible, this Court construes every statute so as to give effect to all of its provisions. Id. If the terms of a statute are clear and free of all ambiguity, we will not disregard the letter of the law in favor of pursuing its apparent spirit. Id. at (b). However, when the words of a statute are not explicit, this Court must determine what it was that the General Assembly [314]*314intended. Id. at (c). We then apply the legislators’ intent when interpreting the law in question. See id. at (a), (b), (c).

¶ 8 When determining legislative intent, there are a number of factors that may be helpful. See 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 1921(c) (listing factors to consider). Among these are the occasion, necessity and circumstances of the enactment of the statute, the mischief to be remedied and the object to be attained thereby. McCance, 908 A.2d at 908, 909. Also important are the consequences of our interpretation. Id. More specifically, we must consider whether that interpretation furthers the Legislature’s purpose. See id.

Protection from Abuse Act

¶ 9 The purpose of the Protection from Abuse Act (“the Act”) is to protect victims of domestic violence from the perpetrators of that type of abuse and to prevent domestic violence from occurring. Fonner v. Fonner, 731 A.2d 160, 161 (Pa.Super.1999). The intent of the remedies under the Act is to allow persons to reside peaceably and without injury within their families and/or residences. McCance, 908 A.2d at 911.

¶ 10 When passing this statute, the Legislature perceived that the criminal law sometimes failed to penetrate the familial setting. Snyder v. Snyder, 427 Pa.Super. 494, 629 A.2d 977, 981 (1993). More particularly, police and prosecutors were sometimes reluctant to pursue charges arising from close domestic relationships. Yankoskie v. Lenker, 363 Pa.Super. 448, 526 A.2d 429, 433 (1987). In this sense, the Act was designed to remedy perceived inadequacies in the criminal law with respect to the domestic landscape. Id. Accordingly, the mischief the Act seeks to remedy is the violence that can sometimes erupt in spousal, parent-child and/or other household or similarly close relationships. Snyder, 629 A.2d at 981. The object of the Act, then, is to forestall domestic abuse. Id.

¶ 11 For the Act to apply, the petitioner seeking to invoke it must have standing, which is to say that the petitioner and the intended respondent must be family or household members. McCance, 908 A.2d at 908; 23 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6102(a), 6106(a). Family or household members are defined to be spouses or persons who have been spouses, persons living as spouses or who have lived as spouses, parents and children, other persons related by consanguinity or affinity, current or former sexual or intimate partners, or persons who share biological parenthood. 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 6102(a).

¶ 12 Consistent with § 6102(a), case law applies the Act only to those persons fitting the aforesaid definition. See McCance, 908 A.2d at 910 (applying the Act to in-laws interacting with respect to child custody dispute); Varner v. Holley, 854 A.2d 520, 522 (Pa.Super.2004) (applying the Act to persons who had a dating relationship); D.H. v. B.O., 734 A.2d 409, 410 (Pa.Super.1999) (applying the Act to paramours); Miller on Behalf of Walker v. Walker, 445 Pa.Super. 537, 665 A.2d 1252, 1254 (1995) (applying the Act to parent and children); Snyder, 629 A.2d at 978, 981 (applying the Act to husband and wife). In sum, the Act is concerned with persons who have or have had domestic, familial and/or romantic relationships. It is a domestic relations statute, not a statute governing persons without any such relations.

Analysis — Standing

¶ 13 Appellant argues that Appellee has no standing to seek a PFA order because he and Appellee have never had any domestic relationship. Appellee claims she is entitled to protection under the Act by virtue of the fact that Appellant [315]*315sexually assaulted her some years ago. Appellant and Appellee are not now nor have they ever been spouses.

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Scott v. Shay
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
928 A.2d 312, 2007 Pa. Super. 192, 2007 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1719, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-shay-pasuperct-2007.