Pennsylvania Code
Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

• No statutes or acts will be found at this website.

The Pennsylvania Bulletin website includes the following: Rulemakings by State agencies; Proposed Rulemakings by State agencies; State agency notices; the Governor’s Proclamations and Executive Orders; Actions by the General Assembly; and Statewide and local court rules.

PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 03-1026

THE COURTS

Title 231--RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

PART I. GENERAL

[231 PA. CODE CH. 1000]

Amendment of Rule 1035.3 Governing Summary Judgment; No. 390 Civil Procedural Rules; Doc. No. 5

[33 Pa.B. 2587]

Order

Per Curiam:

   And Now, this 16th day of May, 2003, Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1035.3 is amended to read as follows.

   This Order shall be processed in accordance with Pa.R.J.A. 103(b) and shall be effective September 1, 2003.

Annex A

TITLE 231.  RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

PART I.  GENERAL

CHAPTER 1000.  ACTIONS AT LAW

Subchapter A.  CIVIL ACTION

PLEADINGS

Rule 1035.3.  Response. Judgment for Failure to Respond.

   (a)  [The] Except as provided in subdivision (e), the adverse party may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of the pleadings but must file a response within thirty days after service of the motion identifying

*      *      *      *      *

   (e)(1)  Nothing in this rule is intended to prohibit a court, at any time prior to trial, from ruling upon a motion for summary judgment without written responses or briefs if no party is prejudiced. A party is prejudiced if he or she is not given a full and fair opportunity to supplement the record and to oppose the motion.

   (2)  A court granting a motion under subdivision (e)(1) shall state the reasons for its decision in a written opinion or on the record.

   Official Note:  Subdivision (e) does not abrogate the requirement that a motion for summary judgment be timely filed pursuant to Rule 1035.2 or case management order.

   If a motion is not timely filed, subdivision (e) provides the court with the discretion as to the manner of proceeding, including whether to consider the motion at all. The court should not consider the motion except in the interests of justice.

Explanatory Comment

   As a result of a ruling on a motion in limine or another development in a case, shortly prior to trial a defendant may seek dismissal of the case on the ground that the plaintiff is without evidence to make out a prima facie case. While this ground may be raised through a motion for summary judgment, the rules governing summary judgment provide for the filing of a response within thirty days after the filing of a motion for summary judgment. The only other remedy for inability to make out a prima facie case is a compulsory nonsuit which may be entered pursuant to Rule 230.1(a)(1) only ''at the close of the plaintiff's case on liability.'' These rules leave a gap between the motion for summary judgment with the thirty-day response period and the nonsuit at the end of the plaintiff's case in chief.

   New subdivision (e) added to Rule 1035.3 eliminates the gap by providing that a court has the discretion to rule on a motion for summary judgment ''at any time prior to trial.'' However, the rule places two conditions upon the exercise of this discretion. First, each party must be given a full and fair opportunity to supplement the record and to oppose the motion so that ''no party is prejudiced.'' Second, if the motion is granted, the court must state the reasons for its decision in a written opinion or on the record.

By the Civil Procedural Rules Committee

R. STANTON WETTICK, Jr.,   
Chair

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 03-1026. Filed for public inspection May 30, 2003, 9:00 a.m.]


No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.

This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.