HARRISBURG - The Superior Court of Pennsylvania rejected a Scranton personal injury firm’s efforts to keep its dispute with a Pittsburgh firm in Lackawanna County.
On May 18, the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the trial court’s decision to transfer the case to Allegheny County. The court said Lackawanna-based Pisanchyn Law Firm LLC questioned whether the trial court erred or abused its discretion by “concluding that venue was improper in Lackawanna county."
The Superior Court opinion said the case stems from a referral the firm provided to attorney Matthew J. Scanlon of Allegheny County-based Scanlon & Wojton. Pisanchyn alleges that Scanlon never paid the “costs and expenses as well as an attorney fee” owed before the referral.
Judge Paula Francisco Ott
| PA Courts
Pisanchyn reportedly began representing three people involved in a motor vehicle accident in Susquehanna County, the opinion said. The clients signed a contingent fee agreement, and the firm eventually incurred more than $4,000 in fees and expenses. The Superior Court said the clients eventually sought to have Scanlon represent them in the case.
Pisanchyn notified Scanlon that the firm had a $39,238.67 lien in connection with the case. The opinion said Scanlon settled the case in August 2015, but didn’t pay Pisanchyn. In the venue dispute, Pisanchyn argued that the case should be heard in Lackawanna because the attorney at his firm who had entered into the agreement over the phone had been at the firm’s Scranton office.
However, Superior Court Judge Paula Francisco Ott said in the opinion that there was no evidence of a written agreement.
“Assuming arguendo that there was an agreement, the trial court properly reasoned ‘the place where the offer was accepted in this case would appear to be Allegheny County, where the defendants were located when they allegedly accepted the offer,’” Ott said in her opinion.
During a hearing, the trial court noted that there was no dispute that Scanlon wasn’t in Lackawanna County when the alleged contract was made. The trial court also cited Scanlon’s testimony that he doesn’t usually go to Lackawanna County. Pisanchyn argued that Scanlon must have ties to his office in Scranton, so Lackawanna was the proper venue for the dispute.
Ott disagreed.
“Because there is no clear evidence of a written or oral agreement, or a specific claim of quantum meruit, the trial court properly determined venue was proper in Allegheny County,” she said.