Gross v. United Engineers & Constructors, Inc.
Gross v. United Engineers & Constructors, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This appeal presents an issue as to the sufficiency of the allegations of plaintiffs Complaint charging libel and slander. The lower court sustained defendant’s preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer and plaintiff has appealed.
Any information subsequently supplied by plaintiff upon deposition requested by defendant cannot bo used to supply the missing allegata of the Complaint. The sufficiency of the Complaint is governed by the facts alleged therein and the fact that the lacking information subsequently was or could be supplied is not governing. As summarized in 2A Anderson Pa. Civil Practice, §1019.8 (1969 Edition), page 86: “. . . the fact that the stipulation filed by both parties contains a specification of the damages not set forth in the complaint does not excuse the plaintiff from properly pleading the information in the complaint since The complaint should contain all necessary information in order to establish the plaintiff’s cause of action’, and liability cannot be predicated upon facts not set forth in the complaint.
“The duty of placing all material facts upon the record is not reduced by the fact that the adverse
That defendant would have knowledge of its own letter and conduct in the matter does not relieve plaintiff from his duty of pleading the material facts upon which he bases his claim of slander and libel. The rule is as stated in 2A Anderson Pa. Civil Practice, §1019.8 (1969 Edition), pages 85-86: “The pleader is not relieved of his duty of pleading the material facts on which his claim or defense is based by virtue of the circumstances that the adverse party has knowledge of such facts. . . .
“It is not sufficient that the defendant knows the basis for the plaintiff’s claim against him as the rules
“The fact that the defendant has as equal knowledge as the plaintiff of the fraud of the defendant’s agent does not excuse the plaintiff from the necessity of pleading a cause of action. Regardless of the knowledge of the adverse party, the pleader must aver the material facts so that the basis for his claim or defense appears of record, and so that both the trial and the appellate court can determine the issues to be tried.”
Plaintiff further contends that he should have been given an opportunity to secure from defendant by deposition the missing information which plaintiff claims reposes in defendant’s file. However, plaintiff has no such right after filing an inadequately pleaded Complaint to cure the defects therein by subsequent discovery and deposition of the defendant. “. . . a plaintiff is not excused from pleading the facts necessary to sustain his cause of action on the ground that the facts were known to the defendant and not to the plaintiff. The plaintiff still has the burden of filing a complaint which supports his claim, and if he lacks any information necessary to the preparation of his complaint he may obtain discovery2A Anderson Pa. Civil Practice §1019.8 (1969 Edition), page 85. The proper procedure, therefore, for plaintiff to have followed in obtaining information necessary to the preparation of an. adequate Complaint was to commence his action by filing a praecipe for a writ. “The action then having been commenced, the plaintiff would be free to obtain discovery within the scope and subject to the limitation of rules.” 5 Anderson Pa. Civil Practice, §4001.18 (1966 Edition), page 33.
The record reveals that plaintiff has been afforded numerous opportunities to amend his Complaint to include legally sufficient allegations of libel or slander. He has refused to so amend his Complaint and in fact
Order affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.