Summary
The Pennsylvania Superior Court consolidated four appeals concerning an Allegheny County Orphans’ Court order directing that structured-settlement payments owed to Zachary Barber be deposited with the court pending resolution of allegations involving statutory violations, forum shopping, and fraud. The court held that the order continued enforcement of the original settlement-approval order rather than constituted a preliminary injunction, and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by staying proceedings. Because the challenged order was neither final nor appealable as of right, the court quashed the appeals.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the January 31, 2020 order directing structured-settlement payments into court was a preliminary injunction subject to the hearing and bond requirements of Pa.R.C.P. 1531.
- Whether the Allegheny County Orphans' Court had continuing authority under the Pennsylvania Structured Settlement Protection Act to require its written approval before transfers of payments under its 2005 settlement approval order could be effective.
- Whether the trial court abused its discretion by staying all proceedings pending resolution of a related appeal.
- Whether the June 22, 2020 order was a final order or an appealable interlocutory order as of right.
Holdings
- The order directing future structured-settlement payments into court was not a preliminary injunction; it was an ancillary order enforcing and preserving the terms of the 2005 Settlement Approval Order pending adjudication of the disputed transfers.
- The court that originally approved a structured settlement must give written approval before a transfer of payment rights that contravenes the settlement's terms can become effective.
- The Allegheny County Orphans' Court did not abuse its discretion by staying all proceedings pending resolution of the related appeal concerning coordination of the Allegheny and Butler County matters.
- The June 22, 2020 order was neither a final appealable order nor an order appealable as of right under Pa.R.A.P. 311(a)(4).
Key quotations
“As the June 22, 2020 order, from which this appeal is taken, is neither a final order nor the proper subject of an interlocutory appeal as of right, the appeals are not properly before us and we quash.” (at 3-4)
“In other words, it was not issuing a preliminary injunction, but keeping the 2005 Settlement Approval Order in place until it could determine who was entitled to the payments to be made thereunder.” (at 29-30)
Factual background
In 2005, when Zachary Barber was a minor, the Allegheny County Orphans' Court approved a structured settlement providing him with approximately $2.7 million in future payments. Between 2012 and 2018, Zachary's father purportedly transferred more than $1.5 million of those payments to factoring companies through orders entered in Butler and Beaver Counties, without approval from the Allegheny County Orphans' Court. Shortly before Zachary reached majority, he challenged the transfers, alleging that his father concealed the settlement and that the transfers involved statutory violations, forum shopping, and fraud. The Allegheny County court directed future payments into court to preserve the funds while those allegations were adjudicated.
Procedural history
The Allegheny County Orphans' Court approved Zachary Barber's structured settlement in 2005. Other county courts later approved purported transfers of portions of the structured-settlement payments without written approval from the Allegheny County court. After Zachary challenged those transfers and alleged statutory violations, forum shopping, and fraud, the Allegheny County court ordered future payments deposited into court on January 31, 2020, and on June 22, 2020 stayed proceedings and left that order in effect. The Superior Court consolidated the appeals and quashed them as taken from a nonfinal, nonappealable order.