Scott SNYDER, Petitioner v. George M. THOMAS III, Executor of the Estate of George M. Thomas, Jr., also known as George Thomas, Deceased, and George M. Thomas III, Executor of the Estate of Dorothy L. Thomas, Deceased, Respondent

ORDER

PER CURIAM.

AND NOW, this 23rd day of January, 2015, the Petition for Allowance of Appeal is GRANTED. The order of the Superior Court is VACATED, in light of its failure to credit the trial court’s factual findings, which are. supported by the record. See Fizzano Brothers Concrete Products, Inc. v. XLN, Inc., 615 Pa. 242, 42 A.3d 951, 970-74 (2012). The case is REMANDED to the Superior Court for consideration of the other issues not addressed in respondent’s original appeal. Jurisdiction relinquished. Chief Justice SAYLOR files a Dissenting Statement in which Justice TODD joins.

Chief Justice SAYLOR,

dissenting.

I respectfully dissent from the majority’s summary disposition of this case on the allocatur docket. The Court’s Internal Operating Procedures require that “[a] per curiam order granting allowance of appeal and reversing an order of the lower court must cite to controlling legal authority or provide a full explanation of the reasons for reversal.” Supreme Court IOP § 6(B). The rule is plainly intended to provide litigants with a reasonably developed explanation as to why the Court is exercising its discretion to disturb the status quo attained in an as-of-right direct appeal. In this regard, the majority’s mere citation to a general legal principle, without any attempt to explain how that principle applies to the particular facts under review, is facially deficient.

Absent a citation to directly controlling authority involving an analogous paradigm, this Court should, at most, grant the request for allocatur and consider the merits upon full briefing by the parties.

Justice TODD joins this dissenting statement.