The Tinsman Group v. Tri-State Garden Supply

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 24, 2019
Docket1087 MDA 2018
StatusUnpublished

This text of The Tinsman Group v. Tri-State Garden Supply (The Tinsman Group v. Tri-State Garden Supply) 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
The Tinsman Group v. Tri-State Garden Supply, (Pa. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

J-A06013-19

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

THE TINSMAN GROUP, INC. : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : TRI-STATE GARDEN SUPPLY, INC. : D/B/A GARDENSCAPE : : No. 1087 MDA 2018 Appellant :

Appeal from the Order Dated June 6, 2018 In the Court of Common Pleas of Cumberland County Civil Division at No(s): 2015-03146

BEFORE: OTT, J., NICHOLS, J., and PELLEGRINI*, J.

MEMORANDUM BY OTT, J.: FILED SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

Tri-State Garden Supply, Inc., d/b/a Gardenscape (“Tri-State Garden”)

appeals from the order entered on June 6, 2018, in the Cumberland County

Court of Common Pleas, which denied its petition to open a default judgment

entered against it and in favor of The Tinsman Group, Inc. (“Tinsman”). On

appeal, Tri-State Garden argues the trial court erred in failing to determine

that Tinsman’s counsel committed a fraud upon it and the court by

misrepresenting applicable case law at the default judgment hearing, which

caused the court to award specific damages in the amount of $183,983.83,

without having to prove such damages at a separate hearing. See Tri-State

Garden’s Brief at 1. Moreover, Tri-State Garden contends Tinsman’s counsel

acted fraudulently by failing to abide by Pennsylvania Rule of Professional

Conduct 3.3, which required Tinsman’s counsel to inform the court of material ____________________________________ * Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court. J-A06013-19

facts that would have required the court to deny entry of said damages

because Tinsman had not plead specific damages in its complaint. Id. Based

on the following, we quash the appeal.

The facts and procedural history as follows: On June 8, 2015, Tinsman

filed a breach of contract complaint, alleging Tri-State Garden “was in the

business of producing, transporting and distributing various garden products,

that [Tinsman] had served [Tri-State Garden] as an independent sales

representative, and that [Tri-State Garden] had failed to fully pay

commissions due to [Tinsman] for procuring sales of [Tri-State Garden’s]

products.” Trial Court Opinion, 8/14/2018, at 2.

Subsequently, on April 18, 2017, Tinsman filed a motion to compel

discovery responses and for sanctions. One day later, the court entered an

order, requiring Tri-State Garden to file answer to interrogatories and requests

for production of documents within 20 days of said order. The court stated:

“Failure to comply with the time period set forth in this Order may result in

the imposition of sanctions including the preclusion of evidence and the

imposition of attorney fees.” Order of Court, 4/19/2017. On May 15, 2017,

Tinsman filed a motion for sanctions with entry of default judgment against

Tri-State Garden pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 4019, alleging Tri-State Garden had

not responded to the order within the required time period. See Motion for

Sanctions with Entry of Default Judgment against Defendant Pursuant to

Pa.R.C.P. 4019, 5/15/2017, at ¶ 11. On May 22, 2017, the court entered an

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order, scheduling a hearing on August 2, 2017, to address Tinsman’s motion

for sanctions and to determine what “sanctions shall be imposed.” Order of

Court, 5/22/2017.

On August 1, 2017, Tri-State Garden filed a motion for continuance,

stating: (1) it had “not been able to locate all of the materials in their office

to properly respond to said Interrogatories” because it had been involved in a

large commercial litigation matter in another county that had required all of

its attention; and (2) its counsel had planned a family vacation which fell

during the time of the hearing. Motion for Continuance, 8/1/2017, at ¶¶ 4-5,

7.1 The following day, the trial court denied Tri-State Garden’s motion for a

____________________________________________

1 With respect to the date of the motion for continuance, the court noted the following: “As indicated in an earlier opinion in this case, ‘the Motion for Continuance was received at the Prothonotary’s office on the morning of July 31, 2017, but was not entered on the record until approximately 4:00 P.M. on August 01, 2017, due to a procedural defect in [Tri-State Garden]’s Motion.’” Trial Court Opinion, 8/14/2018, at 3 n.9, quoting Opinion and Order of Court, at 6 n.2, dated September 28, 2017 (Ebert, J.).

Moreover, in Tinsman’s response in opposition to Tri-State Garden’s motion for continuance, it alleged, in relevant part:

11. Undersigned counsel received no responses to the discovery requests, or any information from [Tri-State Garden]’s counsel, until July 27, 2017, when [Tri-State Garden] served upon undersigned counsel a courtesy copy of a Motion to Continue the August 2, 2017 hearing. A copy of [counsel for Tri-State Garden’s] July 26, 2017 correspondence is attached and marked as Exhibit “A.”

-3- J-A06013-19

continuance and a hearing on Tinsman’s motion for sanctions proceeded as

scheduled.

At this hearing, the court questioned [Tinsman]’s counsel as to the recovery amount being sought by [Tinsman], and [Tinsman]’s counsel responded that [its] records indicated approximately $73,837.34 in unpaid commissions and that Pennsylvania’s Sales Representative Act authorized double damages, reasonable costs and attorney’s fees where the nonpayment was willful. [Tinsman]’s counsel further noted that [Tinsman] was requesting additional attorney’s fees in connection with [Tinsman]’s motion to compel discovery, motion for sanctions, and appearance at the hearing then being held, in the amount of $1,470.00, as well as mileage expenses of [Tinsman]’s representative at the hearing, in the amount of $205.00. In addition, [Tinsman]’s counsel secured the admission into evidence of an exhibit relating to her firm’s attorney's fees, and requested that [Tri-State Garden]’s counterclaim in the case be dismissed. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Ebert asked [Tinsman]’s counsel to prepare a proposed order “that you think covers all of these various topics.”

Trial Court Opinion, 8/14/2018, at 3-4 (footnotes omitted).

12. [Tri-State Garden]’s counsel served said Motion via facsimile at 6:30 p.m. on July 26, 2017, and informed counsel that he would be on vacation starting July 27, 2017.

13. [Tri-State Garden]’s counsel did not seek undersigned counsel’s concurrence prior to filing said Motion.

Response in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion for Continuance, 8/2/2017, at ¶¶ 11-13.

-4- J-A06013-19

Thereafter, the court entered an order,2 which: (1) granted Tinsman’s

motion for sanctions with entry of default judgment; (2) awarded judgment

in favor of Tinsman and against Tri-State Garden in the amount of

$183,753.78;3 (3) entered judgment in favor of Tinsman and against Tri-State

Garden on Tri-State Garden’s counterclaim; and (4) ordered Tri-State Garden

to pay Tinsman the amount of $230.05, representing cost of mileage for

Tinsman’s representative to appear at the hearing pursuant to Pa.R.C.P.

4019(g)(1). See Order of Court, 8/3/2017, at unnumbered 1-2.

On August 11, 2017, Tri-State Garden filed a motion for reconsideration

and vacation of the court’s August 3, 2017, order. Tinsman filed a response

in opposition to Tri-State Garden’s motion on August 15, 2017. The trial court

did not rule upon Tri-State Garden’s motion within 30 days of the entry of the

order. Subsequently, on September 29, 2017, the court entered an order and

corresponding opinion, denying Tri-State Garden’s motion for

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The Tinsman Group v. Tri-State Garden Supply, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-tinsman-group-v-tri-state-garden-supply-pasuperct-2019.