Section 313. Collateral Orders

(a) General Rule. An appeal may be taken as of right from a collateral order of an administrative agency or lower court.

(b) Definition. A collateral order is an order separable from and collateral to the main cause of action where the right involved is too important to be denied review and the question presented is such that if review is postponed until final judgment in the case, the claim will be irreparably lost.

Official Note

Rule 313 is a codification of existing case law with respect to collateral orders. See Pugar v. Greco, 483 Pa. 68, 73, 394 A.2d 542, 545 (1978) (quoting Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 337 U. S. 541 (1949)). Examples of collateral orders include orders denying pre-trial motions to dismiss based on double jeopardy in which the court does not find the motion frivolous, Commonwealth v. Brady, 510 Pa. 336, 508 A.2d 286, 289—91 (1986) (allowing an immediate appeal from denial of double jeopardy claim under collateral order doctrine where trial court does not make a finding of frivolousness); if the trial court finds the motion frivolous, the defendant may secure review only by first filing a petition for review under Pa.R.A.P. 1573. See Commonwealth v. Orie, 22 A.3d 1021 (Pa. 2011). Other examples of collateral orders are an order denying a petition to permit the payment of death taxes, Hankin v. Hankin, 338 Pa. Super. 442, 487 A.2d 1363 (1985); and an order denying a petition for removal of an executor, Re: Estate of Georgianna, 312 Pa. Super. 339, 458 A.2d 989 (1983), aff’d, 504 Pa. 510, 475 A.2d 744. Thorough discussions of the collateral order doctrine as it has been applied by Pennsylvania appellate courts are found in the following sources: Darlington, McKeon, Schuckers and Brown, 1 Pennsylvania Appellate Practice Second Edition, § § 313:1—313:201 (1994) and Byer, Appealable Orders under the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedures in Practice and Procedures in Pennsylvania Appellate Courts (PBI No. 1994-869); Pines, Pennsylvania Appellate Practice: Procedural Requirements and the Vagaries of Jurisdiction, 91 Dick.L.Rev. 55, 107—115 (1986).

If an order falls under Rule 313, an immediate appeal may be taken as of right simply by filing a notice of appeal. The procedures set forth in Rules 341(c) and 1311 do not apply under Rule 313.

The provisions of this Rule 313 adopted March 12, 1992, effective July 6, 1992, and shall govern all matters thereafter commenced; amended May 6, 1992, effective July 6, 1992, 22 Pa.B. 2675; amended July 7, 1997, effective in 60 days, 27 Pa.B. 3503; corrected August 8, 1997, 27 Pa.B. 3995; amended June 4, 2013, effective July 4, 2013, 43 Pa.B. 3327. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (363213) to (363214).