Senter v. Mr. Rooter of Pittsburgh – Pa. Superior Court – April 27, 2021 – unreported memorandum decision**
In dictum in n. 3, the Court calls into question the validity of its own prior decision in a 2017 case, holding that a plaintiff under the state consumer protection law, 73 P.S. sec. 201-1 et seq., does not have a right to a jury trial.
Here’s what the Court said in n. 3:
The trial court reasoned that a plaintiff has no right to a jury trial on a UTPCPL claim, citing Krishnan v. Cutler Group, Inc., 171 A.3d 856 (Pa. Super. 2017). . . .However, the relevant statement in Krishnan appeared in a three-paragraph quotation of the trial court’s opinion, which also addressed other issues. See Krishnan, 171 A.3d at 863, quoting Trial Ct. Op. at 1-2 (“There being no right to a jury trial under the UTPCPL, the court scheduled the jury trial on [Appellees’] common law claims to begin[.]”). The remainder of the Krishnan opinion presented no discussion on the accuracy of this statement.
Our review of the UTPCPL and relevant decisional law reveals no such authority, for the principle that a UTPCPL claim may not be presented to a jury. Indeed, several decisions by this Court have implicitly approved — by not addressing the propriety of — the presentation of a UTPCPL claim to the jury. See, e.g. Berg v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 189 A.3d 1030, 1034 (Pa. Super. 2018) (jury found UTPCPL violation, but this Court vacated trial court’s finding of bad faith), appeal granted in part and affirmed on other grounds, 235 A.3d 1223 (Pa. 2020) (plurality); Bennett v. A.T. Masterpiece Homes at Broadsprings, LLC, 40 A.3d 145, 149 (Pa. Super. 2012) (affirming jury finding of UTPCPL violation); Neal v. Bavarian Motors, Inc., 882 A.2d 1022, 1032 (Pa. Super. 2005) (affirming jury finding of UTPCPL violation, but remanding for trial court to recalculate award of attorneys’ fees). Nevertheless, neither party has challenged the bifurcated nature of the trial.
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**An unreported, non-precedential Superior Court case decided after May 1, 2019, may be cited for its persuasive value, but it is not binding precedent. See 210 Pa. Code 65.37(B).
