HARRISBURG – Apartment complex owners in Lackawanna County have lost their appeal of a motion for summary judgment in a breach of contract suit with an insurance company and a contractor, with $172,000 in damages at stake.
A Dec. 2 ruling from the Superior Court of Pennsylvania affirmed a trial court verdict from the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas, which granted summary judgment to defendants Aspen American Insurance Company and TSE, Inc., and against plaintiffs East Coast Summit Pointe, LLC and Morgan Properties Management Company, LLC.
The plaintiffs own an apartment complex in Lackawanna County, and sought bids for the construction of a replacement gas line, gas meter, and water meter pit.
TSE was one of the bidders and Aspen American issued the surety bond in connection with TSE’s bid. When TSE did not enter into the contract with the plaintiffs – because TSE had submitted a revised bid that the plaintiffs did not appear to consider – they filed a lawsuit, alleging breach of contract and seeking damages of more than $172,000.
In response, the defendants filed a contested motion for summary judgment, which was granted by the Lackawanna County trial court. Thereafter, the plaintiffs filed the instant appeal, questioning whether the trial court erred in determining TSE’s revised bid had revoked its original bid, erred in finding no contract existed between the parties and erred in finding issues of fact without any support in the record.
Superior Court Judge John T. Bender said that the Court’s standard of review for a summary judgment appeal was that it could only be granted where “there are no genuine issues of material fact and also demonstrates that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law”, and examination which must be done “in a light most favorable to the non-moving party.”
“We have reviewed the certified record, the briefs of the parties, the applicable law, and the thorough memorandum authored by the Hon. James A. Gibbons of the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas, dated April 22, 2020,” Bender said.
“We conclude that Judge Gibbons’ well-reasoned memorandum accurately disposes of the three issues presented by appellants on appeal and we discern no abuse of discretion or error of law. Accordingly, we adopt Judge Gibbons’ memorandum as our own for purposes of appellate review and affirm the order granting appellees’ motion for summary judgment.”
Superior Court of Pennsylvania case 706 MDA 2020
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com