Welsh Realty Co. v. Philadelphia Electric Co.

8 Pa. D. & C.3d 252, 1978 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 162
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedOctober 5, 1978
Docketno. 1890
StatusPublished

This text of 8 Pa. D. & C.3d 252 (Welsh Realty Co. v. Philadelphia Electric Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Welsh Realty Co. v. Philadelphia Electric Co., 8 Pa. D. & C.3d 252, 1978 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 162 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1978).

Opinion

GREENBERG, J.,

— Presently before the court is plaintiffs motion for sanction order under Pa.R.C.P. 4019(a).

The factual setting of this case is as follows.

Plaintiff filed a motion for production of documents, which was granted by the Hon. Eugene Gelfand on February 9, 1977, compelling defendant to produce all documents involved herein. On March 16, 1977, defendant’s counsel filed its first petition for reconsideration or in the alternative, motion for [253]*253protective order to which plaintiff filed an answer on March 21, 1977.

The parties thereafter entered into an agreement, dated December 20, 1977, concerning the disposition of plaintiffs motion for production of documents. In said stipulation counsel agreed that certain documents would be produced and further agreed to submit those documents on which they could not agree for an in camera review by the court to determine whether or not the documents should be produced or whether they were immune from discovery on the ground that they either were prepared in anticipation of litigation or in preparation for trial and/or contained expert opinion.

Part of the stipulation included a specific agreement with respect to certain disputed documents leaving it to the court to “render a decision on the merits based on the parties respective memoranda and oral arguments.” The parties involved herein did submit legal memoranda as to those items and on February 2,1978 oral argument was held before this court.

On February 16, 1978, we denied plaintiffs motion as to certain documents and granted it as to others and ordered defendant to furnish the latter documents to plaintiff. Counsel for defendant thereupon filed a petition to amend our order of February 16, 1978 to include a statement pursuant to section 501(b) of the Appellate Court Jurisdiction Act of July 31, 1970, P.L. 673, 17 P.S. §211.501, to which plaintiff filed an answer on March 14, 1978. Since this matter involved pre-trial discovery of documents and not any precedent setting or complex issues we denied the petition.

Plaintiffs counsel by letter dated March 28,1978, requested that defendant produce the documents [254]*254as ordered by us. Counsel for defendant did not furnish same and on April 3, 1978, filed a petition for writ of prohibition and supersedeas in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Defendant advanced as a basis for this unusual request for relief that during oral argument we indicated that under the proposed new discovery rules the items in question would be discoverable and that our ruling was based on that and that this represented such a departure from the present rules and law which, defendant alleged, would preclude discovery of the documents in question, as to require the immediate intervention of an appellate court. Defendant contended that in making our decision we committed such error that as a matter of law it amounted to an abuse of the jurisdiction of this court.

Plaintiff was required to and did respond in detail and provided to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania on April 11, 1978 its answer and memorandum of law to defendant’s writ of prohibition against the Hon. Stanley M. Greenberg. On April 26, 1978, the Superior Court per curiam denied defendant’s petition.

Plaintiffs counsel again requested that defendant produce the documents in question by letter dated May 1, 1978. Counsel for defendant did not comply with this request and filed a petition for writ of prohibition and application for stay with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, to which plaintiff filed answer on May 19, 1978. The basis for this petition was substantially the same as that contained in defendant’s petition for writ of prohibition and supersedeas filed in the Superior Court. On June 7, 1978, defendant’s petition for writ of prohibition and application for stay were denied per curiam.

[255]*255Plaintiff now seeks a sanction order from this court to compel production of those documents which were ordered to be produced by our order of February 16, 1978, within 48 hours or a default judgment be entered in favor of plaintiff and against defendant. In addition, plaintiff requests an award of counsel fees and costs in the amount of $1130 to cover the work necessitated in answering the various petitions filed by defendant after our original order was entered.

Defendant responds to plaintiffs present motion first by submitting that plaintiff has, in fact, received the various documents which we had ordered to be produced by defendant; therefore, that portion of plaintiffs motion for a default judgment against defendant has been rendered completely moot.

Second, in response to that portion of plaintiffs motion requesting counsel fees, defendant argues that it should not be penalized for invoking those remedies available to any party under the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure. Defendant contends that it has acted in good faith at all times sincerely believing that the documents plaintiff sought were not discoverable under the applicable Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure.

Furthermore, defendant submits that there is no authority for this court to impose attorney’s fees and expenses as sought by plaintiff. As enumerated by several subdivisions of Rule 4019, it argues, counsel fees may only be awarded in the specified situations. Defendant argues that the sanction of counsel fees sought by plaintiff in the instant case is unauthorized because the situation involved herein does not fall within any of the designated categories.

[256]*256We agree with defendant’s contention that plaintiffs request for an order compelling production of the previously ordered documents has been rendered moot. The parties have informed this court by letters dated June 28, June 30 and July 10, 1978, that all court ordered documents have been produced by defendant to plaintiff. Therefore, we need not concern ourselves with this aspect of plaintiffs motion.

However, it is evident that counsel fees are justified in this matter. Defendant’s subsequent proceedings, which plaintiff was compelled to answer and contest, unnecessarily and without justification, expended the time of this court, the Superior Court and the Supreme Court.

Pa.R.C.P. 4019 provides, in pertinent part: “(a) The court may, on motion, make an appropriate order if . . . (3) a party . . . refuses ... to obey an order of court. . . made under Rule 4009 to produce any tangible thing for inspection, copying, or photographing ...”

This section then goes on to specify which sanctions may be imposed in particular situations. However, contrary to defendant’s contention, the sanctions specified in Rule 4019 are not all inclusive. Rule 4019 is not a limiting rule; it does not restrict the court to the particular sanctions which are listed; it does not deprive the court of any of its inherent powers to compel compliance with its order. The rule is an enabling rule; it gives the court specific and definite powers of sanction, without regard to whether the court could impose such sanctions under its inherent powers; it also provides sanctions for disobedience of these rules in instances where no order of the court is involved: 10 Goodrich-Amram 2d §4019:1, 598.

Thus, we are not limited to imposing sanctions [257]*257only in the situations specifically listed in Rule 4019.

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8 Pa. D. & C.3d 252, 1978 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 162, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/welsh-realty-co-v-philadelphia-electric-co-pactcomplphilad-1978.