Opinion

Steiner v. Markel

  • 600 Pa. 515
  • 968 A.2d 1253
  • 2009 Pa. LEXIS 666
Court
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Filed
Apr 29, 2009
Status
Published
Author
Todd
On the bench
Castille, Saylor, Eakin, Baer, Todd, McCaffery, Greenspan
Cited by
142 cases

holding that an appellate court may not reverse a judgment on a basis that was not properly raised and preserved by the parties

How later courts described this case

  • holding that an appellate court may not reverse a judgment on a basis that was not properly raised and preserved by the parties
  • holding that inclusion of an issue in a 1925(b) statement that has not been previously preserved does not entitle litigant to appellate review of the unpreserved claim
  • holding that because the plaintiffs’ complaint failed to plead facts sufficient to apprise the defendants that the plaintiffs were raising a breach of contract claim, the plaintiffs essentially waived such claim
  • explaining that Pennsylvania is a fact-pleading jurisdiction that requires a plaintiff to plead facts giving rise to an enforceable right

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

*528 Justice TODD,

concurring.

I agree with the conclusion expressed in the Majority Opinion that Appellees waived their argument with respect to trial court error in not construing their professional malpractice claim as a claim for breach of contract. Because Appellees failed to raise this argument in response to Appellants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings, or in Appellees’ concise statement pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b), it is, in my view, clearly waived. Accordingly, I would not reach the underlying question of whether a trial court indeed has a duty to discern a cause of action from the facts stated in a complaint. I, therefore, join the Majority Opinion’s analysis and conclusion only with regard to waiver.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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