Signora v. Liberty Travel, Inc.

886 A.2d 284

• Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: October 28, 2005
• Status: Published

Opinions

OPINION BY

McCAFFERY, J.:

¶ 1 We are asked in this appeal and cross-appeal to review a judgment entered upon a molded jury verdict which included an award of attorneys’ fees. Appellant, Nancy J. Signora,¹ a former employee of Liberty Travel, Inc.,² worked as a travel consultant at Liberty’s Springfield Mall location from late May 1993, through early February 1995. During her tenure, Signora complained to management about the amount of overtime pay she received, and Liberty subsequently terminated her employment on February 7, 1995. Shortly thereafter, Signora commenced the instant lawsuit, and the parties have been litigating literally ever since. Upon our thorough review of the record, the briefs and arguments of the parties, the trial court’s comprehensive 44-page opinion, and the pertinent law, we affirm the judgment of the trial court in all respects.

¶ 2 This is at least the fourth occasion that this Court has been asked to review the propriety of actions taken by the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas in the course of this now decade-long litigation.³ We set forth here, once more, the relevant background of the matter as follows:

The procedural history of this matter is lengthy and complicated. It can be summarized in its most basic sense as follows. In 1995, Nancy Signora individually and on behalf of members of a class (Plaintiffs) filed an action against Liberty Travel, Inc. and Barry S. Kaplan (Defendants). . The complaint made claims for wrongful discharge and for violations of the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act and the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law. A default judgment was later obtained based upon Defendants’ failure to respond. Defendants filed a Petition to Open the Default Judgment, which was denied. A subsequent Motion for Reconsideration alleged that Plaintiffs’ counsel had agreed in writing to an extension of time for the filing of Defendants’ Answer and that despite this agreement a default judgment was entered. After an evidentiary hearing was held on the matter, the trial court denied Defendants’ motion. This, court affirmed the court’s order on appeal. Signora v. Liberty Travel, Inc., 718 A.2d 355 (Pa.Super.1998). Sometime later Defendants filed a Petition for Relief from Default Judgment. It was denied and Defendants’ appeal of the matter was quashed with the’ court referring to the doctrine of res judicata and ruling that: “Appellants cannot now seek again to open the default judgment which was final in 1998.” Signora v. Liberty, 298 EDA 2000, memorandum opinion at 4, 769 A.2d 1218 (Pa.Super. filed December 4, 2000). The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania later denied a petition of allowance of appeal.

Signora v. Liberty Travel, Inc., 846 A.2d 145, 146 (Pa.Super.2004) (footnote omitted) (emphasis supplied). Upon the denial of the petition for allowance of appeal by the Supreme Court on July 11, 2001, the case proceeded in the trial court on the issue of class certification. The trial court certified the class on June 19, 2002. A jury trial was held from July 21 through July 24, 2003, on the issue of damages due 1) to the class for violations of the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act and the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law; and 2) to Signora individually on her wrongful termination claim. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the class, including Signora, for overtime pay in the amount of $269,834.94, and for interest thereon in the amount of $143,736.15 for á total of $413,571.09. The jury also returned a verdict in favor of Signora on her wrongful termination claim for compensatory damages for emotional distress, aggravation, and inconvenience in the amount of $100,000.00, and for embarrassment and humiliation in the amount of $27,479.49. The jury also awarded her punitive damages in the amount of $1000.00. Subsequently, following an evidentiary hearing and submission of documentary evidence by the parties, the trial court awarded class counsel attorneys’ fees in the amount of $864,067.00. Following the filing and denial of post-trial motions, each of the parties filed notices of appeal and statements of matters complained of on appeal.⁴ On appeal at Docket No. 489 EDA 2004, Liberty presents the following five issues for our review:

1. WHETHER PENNSYLVANIA WOULD DETERMINE THE “REGULAR RATE” FOR PURPOSES OF CALCULATING “TIME AND A HALF” OVERTIME IN ACCORDANCE WITH FEDERAL LAW?

2. WHETHER THE TWO ORDERS OF DEFAULT ENTERED BELOW FOR FAILURE TO FILE RESPONSIVE PLEADINGS RESOLVED ISSUES OF LAW?

3. WHETHER THE 1998 DEFAULT IN FAVOR OF THE CLASS WAS PROPERLY ENTERED BASED SOLELY ON THE PRIOR DEFAULT, AND WHETHER THE LOWER COURT THEREFORE PROPERLY REFUSED TO GRANT RELIEF FROM THAT DEFAULT?

4. WHETHER PENNSYLVANIA WOULD RECOGNIZE A CAUSE OF ACTION FOR WRONGFUL TERMINATION IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES PRESENTED HERE?

5. WHETHER ON THE RECORD BELOW APPELLANT WAS ENTITLED TO ATTORNEYS’ FEES, INCLUDING A CONTINGENCY MULTIPLIER, OF OVER $864,000.00?

(Cross-Appellants’ Brief at 4).

¶ 3 We are in agreement with the trial court’s combined treatment of the first four issues raised by Liberty, as they all pertain to the validity and effect of the default judgments which had been entered against Cross-Appellants. (See Trial Court Opinion at 6-9, 16.) Cross-Appellants are incorrect in their assessment of the preclusive effect of the prior rulings of this Court regarding their defenses on the merits to the individual and class-wide allegations against them. We conclude that proper application of issue preclusion principles pertinent to successive appeals in the same case requires rejection of Cross-Appellants’ arguments.

¶ 4 The law of the case doctrine dictates that upon a second appeal, an appellate court may not alter the resolution of a legal question previously decided by the same appellate court. Commonwealth v. Wallace, 582 Pa. 234, 870 A.2d 838, 842 n. 2 (2005) (quoting Commonwealth v. Starr, 541 Pa. 564, 664 A.2d 1326, 1331 (1995)). “Under [the] law of the case doctrine, a court involved in the later phases of a litigated matter should not reopen questions decided by another judge of the same court or by a higher court in the earlier phases of the matter.” Id., 870 A.2d at 842 n. 4 (quoting Riccio v. American Republic Ins. Co., 550 Pa. 254, 705 A.2d 422, 425 (1997)). In addition, a judgment by default is res judicata and is conclusive in its application to a defaulting defendant. Zimmer v. Zimmer, 457 Pa. 488, 326 A.2d 318, 320 (1974). As reiterated by our Supreme Court:

Once all direct appeals are exhausted from the entry of such a judgment, we long ago concluded that a judgment by default is res judicata and quite as conclusive as one rendered on a verdict after, litigation insofar as a defaulting defendant is concerned.

Fox v. Gabler, 534 Pa. 185, 189, 626 A.2d 1141, 1143 (1993) (citing Zimmer, supra; Devlin v. Piechoski, 374 Pa. 639, 99 A.2d 346 (1953); Exler v. Wickes Brothers, 263 Pa. 150, 106 A. 233 (1919); Stradley v. Bath Portland Cement Company, 228 Pa. 108, 77 A. 242 (1910)).

¶ 5 The previous appellate rulings in the instant case determined the following matters conclusively: 1) that Cross-Appellants were not entitled to relief from the default judgment entered against them on July 28, 1995, see Signora v. Liberty Travel, Inc., 718 A.2d 355, No. 2370 PHL 1997 (Pa.Super. April 22, 1998);⁵ and 2) that Cross-Appellants were not entitled to relief from the class-wide default judgment entered against them by special order, pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 1715, on January 22, 1999, see Signora v. Liberty Travel, Inc., No. 298 EDA 2000, 769 A.2d 1218 (Pa.Super. Dec. 4, 2000).⁶

¶ 6 One might have anticipated that, in light of these holdings and the above-cited caselaw, Cross-Appellants would have ceased their efforts to avoid the effects of the default judgments which had been entered against them. Yet, despite having been told in 2000 by this Court that they “cannot now seek again to open the default judgment which was final in 1998,” id. at 4, and having been so reminded of this holding again in 2004, see Signora v. Liberty Travel, Inc., 846 A.2d at 146, Cross-Appellants nevertheless are brazenly proceeding in this appeal to attempt to achieve precisely the same relief which they have consistently been denied since 1998. Their third issue raised in the instant appeal is a direct, frontal assault on the two default judgments, and it may be summarily dismissed as without merit on the basis of both res judicata and the law of the case.⁷ Liberty’s bold assertion that “there is no precedent for treating a default judgment based solely upon a failure to answer as resolving issues that are purely questions of law”⁸ is particularly baffling in light of caselaw cited by the trial court in its opinion which supports this very proposition. Had Cross-Appellants perhaps reviewed with a keener eye the legal precedent relied upon by the trial court, their consternation on appeal would have been considerably lessened. The trial court cited Zimmer, Devlin, Exler, and Stradley, supra, all of which involved the entry' of a default judgment upon a' defendant’s failure to take necessary action to challenge the allegations in a complaint and none of which involved entry of a default judgment as a sanction for a discovery violation.⁹

¶ 7 It is Liberty’s spurious and unsound distinction between default judgments entered as a sanction for discovery violations and those entered for failure to respond¹⁰ to a complaint that is both unsupportable and untenable. This Court is not bound by decisions of the Commonwealth Court, see Mother’s Restaurant, Inc. v. Krystkiewicz, 861 A.2d 327, 338 (Pa.Super.2004), and we find its decisions cited by Liberty not to be persuasive on this issue. The two extra-jurisdictional cases cited by Liberty ¹¹ in support of its argument regarding the purported limited effect of a failure to answer, in fact were situations where the default judgment was entered as a sanction for a discovery violation. However, one of those cases does provide a most succinct articulation of the appropriate disposition of the instant claim to relief from the effects of the default judgments:

Our holding today, however, does not mean that a default judgment is subject to collateral attack on the ground that the pleadings were insufficient to support it. Once the judgment has been entered and the time for appeal has expired, the defaulting party has no recourse unless the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter the judgment.

Rajneesh, 734 P.2d at 874 n. 3. Accordingly, because the attack upon the instant default judgments is collateral in nature (the unappealed decision of this Court on April 22, 1998, constituted the ruling on direct appeal) and no party has made a claim that the trial court lacked jurisdiction, we conclude that Liberty is wholly without recourse to avoid the binding nature of the prior rulings of this Court regarding the finality of the default judgments.

¶ 8 Cross-Appellants attempt to present issues one, two, and four .with slightly more subtlety in that they set forth challenges to the merits of the Appellant’s claims without directly challenging the validity of the default judgments. We are unable, however, to fathom any colorable basis upon which Cross-Appellants could maintain that these issues survive in light of our prior holdings. As the above discussion has made clear, the existence of the default judgments and the finality thereof¹² preclude any re-examination on collateral appeal of the legal merits of the defenses which Liberty would have liked to raise. Liberty’s argument to the contrary is rejected. Accordingly, we express no opinion either as to the propriety of the application of the time and a half provisions of the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act (“MWA”) and the Wage Payment and Collection Law (“WPCL”) vel non or as to the existence of a cause of action for wrongful termination on behalf of Appellant.

¶ 9 We turn our attention next to Cross-Appellants’ challenge to the award of attorneys’ fees to Appellant’s counsel. An award of attorneys’ fees to a prevailing plaintiff is mandatory under the WPCL, but the trial court has discretion with respect to determining the appropriate amount of the fee award. Oberneder v. Link Computer Corp., 548 Pa. 201, 696 A.2d 148 (1997). Our standard of review, therefore, is whether the trial court abused its discretion in awarding Appellant attorneys’ fees in the aggregate amount of $864,067.

¶ 10 The first argument Liberty presents is that no attorneys’ fees should be awarded because Appellant and the class are not entitled to overtime as a matter of law. Because we have concluded that the issue of entitlement to the overtime award is a settled matter, see discussion above, we find no error in the award of counsel fees on this basis.

¶ 11 The second argument presented is that it was unreasonable as a matter of law to apply a multiplier to the fee award. Cross-Appellants maintain that the trial court failed to consider the weight or relevance of the amount of the class recovery in relation to the amount of the fee award, and that a contingency multiplier of 1.5 should not be applied where an award of attorneys’ fees is pursuant to statute. (Cross-Appellants’ Brief at 39-42). We disagree.

¶ 12 The prevailing party’s degree of success is the critical consideration in determining an appropriate fee award. Logan v. Marks, 704 A.2d 671, 674 (Pa.Super.1997). While the court may consider the relationship between the damages sought and those actually recovered, it may not lower a fee to achieve proportionality with the size of the verdict. Id. Here, the trial court did consider that the “successful results achieved justice in favor of the [c]lass by assuring that their overtime wages were configured as the law required-” (Trial Court Opinion at 29). The fees were awarded only for the time spent on the class claims, as opposed to on Signora’s individual claims, and the amount of compensatory damages awarded to the class correlated directly with the amount sought. Although the class also sought but was denied an award of liquidated damages, we conclude that the trial court’s refusal to award such was not of significance in its determination of the appropriate amount of attorneys’ fees to award.

¶ 13 As a general rule, the method of determining a fee for legal services provided on an hourly basis is to multiply the total number of hours reasonably expended by the reasonable hourly rate. The resulting figure is known as the ‘lodestar’ fee, and a court has the discretion to adjust the lodestar fee in light of the degree of success, the potential public benefit achieved, and the potential inadequacy of the private fee arrangement. Logan v. Marks, supra at 674.¹³ In addition, Rule Pa.R.C.P. 1716, pertaining to the award of counsel fees in class actions, explicitly permits the court to consider the contingent nature of the receipt of a fee in its calculation of an appropriate fee. Pa.R.C.P. 1716(5). Here, the trial court increased the lodestar fee based upon the contingencies and quality of work performed. The court properly considered the lengthy and unending defense challenges to the validity of the default judgment in its consideration of the contingency multiplier. (Trial Court Opinion at 28). Although Cross-Appellants would have us adopt the rule prohibiting an enhancement for contingency under statutory fee shifting provisions,¹⁴ we decline to do so absent clear direction from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that it would be inclined to follow the United States Supreme Court’s lead in its interpretation of federal law. Cross-Appellants have not demonstrated that Pennsylvania would adopt the federal approach in limiting the use of a contingency multiplier to cases other than those under fee shifting statutes. Therefore, we conclude that the trial court did not err or exceed the bounds of the permissible exercise of its discretion in assigning a contingency multiplier of 1.5 to the lodestar fee.

¶ 14 Next, Cross-Appellants maintain that the trial court should have allowed them to engage in more extensive discovery pertaining to the reasonableness of the hours claimed and the amount of the hourly rate charged by Appellants’ counsel. We note that they cite no legal authority for their claim of entitlement to greater discovery.¹⁵ We agree with the trial court that Cross-Appellants had an adequate opportunity to cross-examine Appellant’s counsel at the fee hearing held on September 8, 2003. The fact that defense counsel exercised their prerogative not to cross-examine opposing counsel does not mean that they lacked or were denied the opportunity to do so. It is counsel’s responsibility to elicit testimony at the date and time set by the court. We determine that the trial court did not err in refusing to allow further discovery where Cross-Appellants failed to establish a sufficient need therefor.

¶ 15 In support of their general challenge to the award of attorneys’ fees on the grounds of excessiveness, Cross-Appellants argue that the affidavit of an attorney in the employ of CSC Risk Management, Claims & Legal Solutions¹⁶ established that Appellant’s counsel charged unreasonable rates for services which were either unnecessary or improperly documented. The trial court was under no obligation to afford this evidence determinative weight, and acted well within the proper exercise of its discretion in accepting the testimony of Appellant’s counsel and expert as to the reasonableness and necessity of the legal services provided. (Trial Court Opinion at 21-22).

¶ 16 We find particularly bizarre Cross-Appellants’ argument against the award of attorneys’ fees, that the litigation would have proceeded to judgment more quickly if only Signora would have consented to the opening of the default judgment, and that she should be penalized .for defending the class-wide default.¹⁷ The only possible meaning which can be ascribed to this twisted contention is that the successful efforts of Signora and her attorneys in maintaining the integrity of the default judgment throughout more than nine years of litigation at both the trial and appellate levels is, somehow, a bad thing for Signora and the class: In effect, according to Cross-Appellants, winning is actually losing, and the plaintiffs should have adopted the defense strategy and litigated on the merits, ie., the matter of individual and class-wide entitlement to overtime wages, thus shortening the amount of attorney time required in the litigation. We trust that the mere articulation of this position is sufficient demonstration of the sagacity of the trial court’s rejection of it.

¶ 17 Finally, regarding the proper hourly rate to apply, we conclude that the trial court did not err in refusing to limit its consideration of hourly rates to those prevailing in Delaware County only. Cross-Appellants themselves submitted evidence pertaining to rates based on Philadelphia law firm market survey data.¹⁸ In addition, Appellant submitted evidence, including detailed time records and resumes of class lead counsel and co-counsel, to substantiate the trial court’s assessment as to the proper hourly rate to use. The trial court was able to determine from its review of the time records that they did not include any work on Signora’s individual claim. (Trial Court Opinion at 21-22). Thus, we conclude that the trial court did not err in its determination of the appropriate amount of counsel fees to award, and Cross-Appellants’ challenges to the award are without merit.

¶ 18 Based upon the foregoing analysis, we conclude that the trial court committed no abuse of discretion or error of law. Accordingly, we affirm the order appealed at Docket No. 489 EDA 2004 in its entirety-

¶ 19 In her appeal at Docket No. 538 EDA 2004, Signora presents the following three issues for review:¹⁹

1. WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED AS A MATTER OF LAW AND/OR ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN REFUSING TO ALLOW THE JURY TO CONSIDER THE AMOUNT OF STATUTORY LIQUIDATED DAMAGES TO BE AWARDED TO SIGNORA AND THE CLASS, IN FINDING THAT THE JURY COULD NOT AWARD BOTH INTEREST AND STATUTORY LIQUIDATED DAMAGES, IN REFUSING TO MOLD THE VERDICT TO AWARD STATUTORY LIQUIDATED DAMAGES TO SIGNORA AND THE CLASS, OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, IN REFUSING TO AWARD A NEW TRIAL ON THE ISSUE OF STATUTORY LIQUIDATED DAMAGES?

2. WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED AND/OR ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN REFUSING TO AWARD A NEW TRIAL SOLELY ON THE ISSUE OF SIGNORA’S DAMAGES FOR PAST LOST EARNINGS AND LOST EARNING CAPACITY, FUTURE LOST EARNINGS AND LOST EARNING CAPACITY, DAMAGED REPUTATION AND LOSS OF OCCUPATIONAL STANDING AND LOSS OF ENJOYMENT OF LIFE, WHERE THE JURY’S DETERMINATION THAT SIGNORA SUFFERED ZERO DAMAGES FOR THESE INJURIES WAS INCONSISTENT WITH THE DEFAULT JUDGMENT, AGAINST THE EVIDENCE AND/OR AGAINST THE WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE AND WAS SO CONTRARY TO THE EVIDENCE THAT IT SHOCKS ONE’S SENSE OF JUSTICE?

3.WHETHER THE LOWER COURT ERRED AND ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN REFUSING TO INCREASE THE AWARD OF PUNITIVE DAMAGES IN THE AMOUNT OF NINE TIMES SIGNORA’S COMPENSATORY DAMAGES, OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, IN REFUSING TO AWARD A NEW TRIAL ON THE ISSUE OF PUNITIVE DAMAGES?

(Appellant’s Brief at 5).

¶ 20 The substance of Appellant’s first issue which we are reviewing is whether the trial court erred in failing to allow the jury to consider an award of liquidated damages, pursuant to 43 P.S. § 260.10. Appellant argues that she and the class are entitled to both pre-judgment interest and liquidated damages. (Appellant’s Brief at 12-21). We completely disagree.

¶ 21 This Court has described the purpose and focus of the WPCL as follows:

“Pennsylvania enacted the WPCL to provide a vehicle for employees to enforce payment of their wages and compensation held by their employers.” Oberneder v. Link Computer Corp., 449 Pa.Super. 528, 530-31, 674 A.2d 720, 721 (1996), affirmed, 548 Pa. 201, 696 A.2d (1997). “The underlying purpose of the WPCL is tp remove some of the obstacles employees face in litigation by providing them with a statutory remedy when an employer breaches its contractual obligation to pay wages.” Id., 674 A.2d at 722. The WPCL “does not create an employee’s substantive right to compensation; rather, it only establishes an employee’s right to enforce payment of wages and compensation to which an employee is otherwise entitled by the terms of an agreement.” Banks Engineering Co., Inc. v. Polons, 697 A.2d 1020, 1024 (Pa.Super.1997), appeal granted, 550 Pa. 715, 706 A.2d 1210 (1998) (citation omitted).

Hartman v. Baker, 766 A.2d 347, 352 (Pa.Super.200,0). The liquidated damages provision of the WPCL states that when wages remain unpaid for thirty days beyond the regularly scheduled payday and there is no good-faith contest or dispute regarding the wage claim, employees are entitled to claim the greater of 25 per cent of the total amount of wages due or $500 as liquidated damages. 43 P.S. § 260.10.

¶22 The provisions of the WCPL are analogous to the protections afforded employees by the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219 (FLSA), which also provides a mechanism for employee, enforcement of minimum wage and wage collection laws. The United States Supreme Court has held that interest and liquidated damages are not both recoverable under the FLSA. Brooklyn Savings Bank v. O’Neil, 324 U.S. 697, 65 S.Ct. 895, 89 L.Ed. 1296 (1945). At least one federal court has determined that liquidated damages under the WPCL are not available to a successful plaintiff where interest has been awarded pursuant to the MWA. Friedrich v. U.S. Computer Systems, Inc., No. 90-1615, 1995 WL 412385 (E.D.Pa. July 10, 1995).

¶23 There is no existing authoritative precedent from Pennsylvania state courts regarding whether liquidated damages, pursuant to section 260.10 of the WPCL, and interest, pursuant to the WPCL and the MWA, may both be awarded. We are in agreement with the result reached by, and we adopt the reasoning of the federal court in Friedrich, supra, and conclude that the trial court did not err in restricting recovery to interest under the MWA.²⁰ The Friedrich rationale is persuasive in that both the liquidated damages and prejudgment interest are intended to compensate for the loss of use of the proper amount of wages payable. The fact that the liquidated damages provision under the WPCL predicates such an award upon a showing of a lack of good faith by the employer, does not cause us to view them as being punitive in nature. Rather, because the WPCL also applies to situations involving unpaid wages for reasons other than non-payment of the minimum wage, this provision for liquidated damages applies to instances where interest is not separately awardable.²¹ Instantly, however, because Appellant was entitled to interest, the additional award of liquidated damages would constitute dual payment, or a windfall. We are not convinced by the non-controlling authority cited by Appellant that our Supreme Court would rule that an employee and the class she represents are entitled to an award of both interest at the rate of 6 per cent per year of the total amount of wages due and also an award of 25 per cent of the total amount of wages due. Such an award would effectively require an employer to pay the employees twice for the loss of use of the funds due on a timely basis. Therefore, we conclude that the trial court did not err in refusing to instruct the jury that it should award liquidated damages and in refusing to grant a new trial for the purpose of calculating and awarding liquidated damages.

¶ 24 The next issue Signora presents is whether the trial court erred in denying her motion for a new trial on the basis of the jury’s returning a verdict omitting any damages for certain categories of loss associated with Signora’s claim of wrongful discharge. As noted previously, the jury did return a verdict in favor of Signora on her wrongful termination claim for compensatory damages for the following categories: emotional distress, aggravation, and inconvenience in the amount of $100,000.00, and for embarrassment and humiliation in the amount of $27,479.49. Signora maintains that the jury was obligated to award her some amount of damages for past lost earnings and lost earning capacity, future lost earnings and lost earning capacity, damaged reputation and loss of occupational standing, and loss of enjoyment of life. (Appellant’s Brief at 21-29). We cannot and do not agree.

¶ 25 Our Supreme Court has directed that:

[I]t is the duty of the trial court to control the amount of the verdict; it is in possession of all the facts as well as the atmosphere of the case, which will enable it to do more evenhanded justice between the parties than can an appellate court. Thus, a jury verdict is set aside for inadequacy when it appears to have been the product of passion, prejudice, partiality, or corruption, or where it clearly appears from uncontradicted evidence that the amount of the verdict bears no reasonable relation to the loss suffered by the plaintiff. Hence, a reversal on grounds of inadequacy of the verdict is appropriate only where the injustice of the verdict [stands] forth like a beacon.

Davis v. Mullen, 565 Pa. 386, 390-91, 773 A.2d 764, 766 (2001) (quotations and citations omitted). The alleged failure of a plaintiff to mitigate damages due to loss of income is an issue for the jury to determine regarding the amount of damages to award. Collincini v. Honeywell, Inc., 411 Pa.Super. 166, 601 A.2d 292, 297 (1991).

¶ 26 In the case sub judice, the defense presented evidence from which the jury was free to conclude that Signora did not mitigate either past lost earnings or future lost earnings. The jury was free to conclude that Signora could have obtained substitute employment without any loss of income. We find the following recitation by the trial court to be a succinct summary of the bases upon which the jury could properly have determined that Signora was not entitled to the elements of damages which she insists are her due:

The record is unassailable that Plaintiff attended college for a number of months following her termination from the Defendant, Liberty Travel, Inc., on February 7, 1995, and that she accepted lower ranking part-time employment at lower pay rates outside of the travel industry for some two years thereafter, whereupon she was hired as a full-time travel agent with Rosenbluth Travel. Plaintiff admitted that she once purposefully withheld from a potential employer that subsequently hired her information that she had been fired by Defendants. Plaintiff asserted that her reason for doing so was that she personally regarded the termination to be wrongful, and inferentially, illegitimate. Plaintiff listed the Defendant employer on her application nonetheless, and learned after she had been hired by that entity that Defendant had not informed this new employer of the circumstances of Plaintiffs dismissal. Plaintiff testified that she had assumed other employment with the assistance of personal friends where she was not required to submit an application or references in order to obtain it. Indeed, Plaintiff admitted further that it was her own preference not to pursue new employment in the travel industry based on her own embarrassment and reluctance to explain the circumstances of her dismissal, and not the result of any effort or conduct on the part of the Defendants designed to thwart her success in doing so.

(Trial Court Opinion at 38-39) (citations to record omitted). The evidence also established that two weeks prior to her termination, Signora had asked to be re-assigned from full-time employment to part-time employment with Liberty. (N.T., 7/22/03, at 67-68).

¶ 27 The jury did award Signora in excess of $127,000 in compensatory damages for emotional distress, aggravation, inconvenience, embarrassment and humiliation.²² Although she essentially ignores this recovery in her arguments on appeal, it represents a significant award upon a wrongful discharge claim where the plaintiff was an at-will employee, aged 23 years at the time of discharge, employed for less than two years prior to termination, and who resumed full-time employment in her chosen industry two years after termination. The verdict was clearly in an amount that bore a reasonable relation to the loss Signora suffered, and we conclude that it is not inadequate nor does it constitute an injustice “standing forth like a beacon.” See Davis, supra.

¶ 28 The final issue Signora raises is whether the trial court erred in not increasing the jury award of punitive damages from $1000 to an amount nine times the compensatory damages, specifically $1,147,315. (Appellant’s Brief at 29-36). We conclude that this issue is without merit.

¶29 The purpose of punitive damages is to punish a tortfeasor for outrageous conduct and to deter him or others from similar conduct. Kirkbride v. Lisbon Contractors, Inc., 521 Pa. 97, 103, 555 A.2d 800, 803 (1989). An award of punitive damages need not bear a reasonable relationship to the amount of compensatory damages awarded. Id.; Collincini, supra at 297. The degree of reprehensibileness of the defendant’s conduct is the primary indicator of the reasonableness of a punitive damages award. Reading Radio, Inc. v. Fink, 833 A.2d 199, 214 (Pa.Super.2003), appeal denied, 577 Pa. 723, 847 A.2d 1287 (2004). Punitive damages are awarded for acts committed with a bad motive or with a reckless indifference to the interests of others. Id. The amount of an award of punitive damages will not be reversed unless it shocks the conscience of the court. Id.

¶30 Instantly, Appellant focuses upon Liberty’s wealth as evidence of the jury’s ignorance or misunderstanding of its duty in determining an appropriate punitive damages award. However, as stated above, it is the level of outrageousness and reprehensibleness of Liberty’s conduct that is the touchstone of our review. We conclude that the jury’s finding that Liberty was liable for some amount of punitive damages did not require that the award of such damages be in any particular amount. It was within the prerogative of the jury to decide whether the wrongful discharge of an at-will employee, aged 23 years at the time of discharge, employed for less than two years prior to termination, who resumed full-time employment in her chosen industry two years after termination, warranted a more substantial punitive damages award. Its verdict indicates that it did not ascribe to Liberty’s conduct such a degree of reprehensibility as to require a large amount of punitive damages. As observed by the trial court:

Plaintiffs position with regard to punitive damages was that Defendants wrongfully fired her in a cold and cruel manner and with the intention of causing her harm in retaliation for questioning their method of paying overtime compensation, and then tried to cover this up with allegedly false evidence that she had been fired for manifesting gross insubordination and a bad attitude during an incident that occurred during her last day on the job. Nevertheless, the purportedly false evidence regarding her conduct was never shown to have manifested itself until Plaintiffs co-workers testified regarding the conduct underlying those charges at the trial! Plaintiff did not deny her involvement in an incident that resulted in a characterization of her conduct as insubordinate, and the jury could well have balanced this evidence in evaluating the character of Defendants’ conduct in arriving at its punitive damages award.... In addition, the jury knew that Plaintiff was an at-will employee of Defendants’ who could be dismissed from employment without cause and at any time, and weighed the impact of the incident from that perspective when deliberating on the question of reprehensibility as well.

(Trial Court Opinion at 43) (citation to record omitted).

¶31 On the basis of the foregoing, we conclude that the trial court did not commit legal error or abuse its discretion in declining to increase the amount of punitive damages and in denying Signora’s motion for a new trial on the issue of punitive damages. We find that there is no merit to any of the issues raised by either Liberty or Signora that would require the grant of relief on appellate review. We take this opportunity once more to commend the trial court for its thoroughness, both as the presiding officer over the trial and as the arbiter in the first instance of the issues raised post-trial.

¶32 Appeal at Docket No. 489 EDA 2004 affirmed.

¶ 33 Appeal at Docket No. 538 EDA 2004 affirmed.

¶ 34 McEWEN, President Judge Emeritus, files a Dissenting Statement.

1 . Pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 2136(a), we shall refer to Nancy J. Signora, plaintiff below and Appellant at Docket No. 538 EDA 2004, as "Appellant” or "Signora.”

2 . Pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 2136(a), we shall refer to Liberty Travel, Inc. and Barry S. Kaplan, defendants below and Appellants at Docket No. 489 EDA 2004, as "Cross-Appellants” or "Liberty.”

3 . The Honorable Charles B. Burr, II, presided over the stage of proceedings now under review.

4 . As observed by the trial court, these statements were "lengthy, repetitive, and far from concise.” (Trial Court Opinion, dated August 4, 2004, at 5.) Liberty's statement was 8 pages long, containing 25 paragraphs. Signora's statement was also 8 pages long and contained 46 separate paragraphs. We caution the parties, and more specifically their counsel, to heed this Court's recent admonitions against overly verbose Pa.R.A.P.1925(b) statements which do not concisely identify the issues they actually intend to raise on appeal. See Kanter v. Epstein, 866 A.2d 394 (Pa.Super.2004) (quashing appeal where voluminous Rule 1925(b) statements attempted to overwhelm trial court); see also Jones v. Jones, 878 A.2d 86 (Pa.Super.2005) (affirming and remanding for imposition of counsel fees where appellant submitted extravagant Rule 1925(b) statement to trial court). Here, the trial court performed a masterful job in distilling the arguments of each party to their essence, and for this reason alone do we conclude that our appellate review is not meaningfully compromised by counsels’ cavalier disregard of rudimentary principles of appellate practice.

5 . In that appeal, Liberty phrased its attack upon the validity of the default judgment in three discrete issues, none of which was found to have merit: "1) Are the appellants entitled to relief from the default judgment taken by appellee because it was improperly entered by her on July 28, 1995, in violation of and contrary to the July 21, 1995 and July 25, 1995 letters from her counsel, the terms of which granted [appellants] an extension of time to file an answer to the complaint until August 4, 1995?; 2) Are the appellants entitled to relief from the default judgment in that they acted quickly in raising the issue, explained the reason for not responding initially and raise issues of merit as to the substance of the underlying claim?; and 3) Are the appellants entitled to relief from the default judgment pursuant to the general equitable principles governing the opening of default judgments?” Signora v. Liberty Travel, Inc., No. 2370 PHL 1997, slip op. at 1-2, 718 A.2d 355 (Pa.Super. April 22, 1998).

6 . Our rendition of the procedural posture and legal status of the matter at that time was as follows: "Appellants originally attacked the entry of default judgment in 1995 upon the entry of default judgment in favor of Appellee.... On appeal, this Court affirmed the denial of Appellants' petition to open or strike such judgment. Thereafter, this judgment became final upon Appellants’ failure to seek further review in 1998. The entry of an order pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 1715 does not change the finality of the judgment entered in this case as there are no outstanding issues which remain to be determined in favor or against any potential class members. Therefore, Appellants cannot now seek again to open the default judgment which was final in 1998.” Signora v. Liberty Travel, Inc., No. 298 EDA 2000, slip op. at 4, 769 A.2d 1218 (Pa.Super. Dec. 4, 2000) (emphasis supplied).

7 . Our analysis parts company, as well, with that employed by the dissent, as the dissent focuses upon the effect of a default judgment when challenged by a petition to open and the direct appeal from the denial thereof. The cases cited by the dissent pertain to direct appeals from the denial of a petition to open a default judgment, such as the appeal before this Court in 1998, and do not- address the issue before us currently, to wit, the effect of res judicata and law of the case principles upon a collateral challenge to the entry of a default judgment.

8 . (Cross-Appellants’ Brief at 25).

9 . The dissent equally ignores the import of the above-cited cases as they relate to the application of principles of res judicata and law of the case in the context of default judgments. See Dissenting Statement at 3 n. 2. The dissent's sweeping rejection of the relevancy of Fox v. Gabler on the basis that it involved a discovery sanction fails to account for the prior precedential decisions which involved entry of default upon failure to respond to the allegations of a complaint.

10 . (Cross-Appellants’ Brief at 30).

11 . Rajneesh Foundation International v. McGreer, 303 Or. 139, 734 P.2d 871 (1987) and Productora e Importadora de Papel, S.A. de C.V. v. Fleming, 376 Mass. 826, 383 N.E.2d 1129 (1978).

12 . As Cross-Appellants admit in their brief, this Court's quashal of the prior appeal at No. 298 EDA 2000 was ordered because the special order granting class-wide relief "did not constitute a separate and new default judgment”. (Cross-Appellants’ Brief at 36). It still does not constitute a new default judgment and we remain without jurisdiction to exercise de novo review of the original default judgment. Our prior ruling constitutes the law of the case.

13 . In light of the explicit recognition in Logan v. Marks of the trial court’s discretion to diverge from the calculated lodestar amount in its determination of the ultimate attorneys’ fee to be awarded, we fail to understand the dissent’s reliance upon this case for the proposition that no multiplier is allowed in the calculation of attorneys’ fees. See Dissenting Statement at 13-14.

14 . Enhancement for contingency is not permitted under federal fee shifting statutes. City of Burlington v. Dague, 505 U.S. 557, 112 S.Ct. 2638, 120 L.Ed.2d 449 (1992).

15 . (Cross-Appellants’ Brief at 42-44).

16 . The affidavit which Cross-Appellants submitted was prepared by an attorney admitted to the bar of Pennsylvania in 1988, who has worked for CSC since 1992 performing and supervising audits of law firm invoices.

17 . (Cross-Appellants' Brief at 46).

18 . (Affidavit and fee schedule for 2001 submitted by a supervising attorney of Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, dated Nov. 20, 2003, R.R. at 262-64.)

19 . We do not treat Appellant's first enumerated issue, "[w]hether the lower court erred and/or abused its discretion in denying appellant’s motion for post-trial relief”, as it presents no discrete basis upon which to grant appellate relief.

20 . We note that at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, the award of interest was greater than what Appellant and the class could have expected to receive in liquidated damages at a flat rate of 25 per cent of the total amount of wages due.

21 . For example, under the WPCL, the term "wages” includes fringe benefits and wage supplements such as separation pay. McLaughlin v. Gastrointestinal Specialists, Inc., 696 A.2d 173, 175-76 (Pa.Super.1997).

22 . This Court has viewed and continues to view with disfavor jury instructions which separately catalog aspects of pain and suffering as discrete compensable elements of damages. Carpinet v. Mitchell, 853 A.2d 366, 373-74 (Pa.Super.2004).