JOSEPH VACCONE and ROSE VACCONE, H/W, Appellants v. MARC J. SYKEN, ESQUIRE, Appellee v. FRANK D. BRANELLA, ESQUIRE, Appellant, 587 Pa. 380

Summary

On appeal, the state supreme court concluded that a trial court order disqualifying counsel in a civil case was an interlocutory order and was not immediately appealable because such an order did not meet all three prongs of the collateral order doctrine pursuant to Pa. R. App. P. 313. First, orders disqualifying counsel were not separable from the merits of the litigation. Second, the clients did not contend that they would be unable to find substitute counsel but simply that they would be inconvenienced because the attorney had been involved with the case from the beginning. Finally, appellants would not irreparably lose their right of review of the disqualification order if appeal was delayed until after the litigation was completed because if it was determined that the motion to disqualify the attorney was improperly granted, a new trial would be ordered. Also, the state supreme court was unwilling to invoke its broad powers of extraordinary jurisdiction pursuant to 42 Pa. Cons. ...