S.B. v. S.S.

Full title: S.B., Respondent v. S.S., Petitioner

Court: SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA WESTERN DISTRICT

Date published: Mar 27, 2018

No. 20 WAL 2018 (Pa. Mar. 27, 2018)

Opinion

No. 20 WAL 2018 No. 21 WAL 2018

03-27-2018

S.B., Respondent v. S.S., Petitioner

PER CURIAM

Petition for Allowance of Appeal from the Unpublished Memorandum and Order of the Superior Court at No. 561 WDA 2017 entered on December 18, 2017, affirming the Order Dated of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas at No. FD-15-008183-10 entered on March 17, 2017 Petition for Allowance of Appeal from the Unpublished Memorandum and Order of the Superior Court at No. 562 WDA 2017 entered on December 18, 2017, affirming the Order Dated of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas at No. No. FD-15-008183-10 entered on March 16, 2017 ORDER PER CURIAM

AND NOW, this 27^th day of March, 2018, the Petition for Allowance of Appeal is GRANTED, LIMITED TO the issue set forth below. Allocatur is DENIED as to all remaining issues. The issue, as stated by Petitioner, is:

Rule 2744 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure provides that only an appellate court may award costs if it determines an appeal is frivolous or taken solely for delay. Did the Pennsylvania Superior Court err when it affirmed the trial court's award of counsel fees incurred in responding to

the King's Bench Application, filed in this Court, where the trial court lacked jurisdiction to make such an award and where the award was not based in law or fact?

The decision of the Superior Court is REVERSED IN PART to the extent that it affirmed the trial court's March 16, 2017 award of counsel fees to Respondent for having to answer Petitioner's king's bench application. The March 16, 2017 order of the trial court is VACATED IN PART, to the extent that the trial court awarded $3092.50 in counsel fees to Respondent for fees incurred in responding to Petitioner's king's bench application. Pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 2744, an appellate court, not a trial court, has authority to award reasonable counsel fees if the appellate court determines that an appeal is frivolous or taken in bad faith. See Thunberg v. Strause, 682 A.2d 295, 302 (Pa. 1996) (providing that an appellate court may award counsel fees upon a determination by the appellate court that an appeal is frivolous, taken only to delay the proceedings, or that a party's conduct was dilatory, obdurate, or vexatious).