What Makes A Pennsylvania Superior Court Decision Non-Precedential?

In Carlitz v. Guse, No. 1370 MDA 2015 (Pa. Super. Apr. 4, 2017) the Superior Court recently issued a 49-page unpublished opinion affirming the lower court's grant of a new trial. The new trial was originally granted on the basis that the plaintiff was prejudiced by defense counsel's introduction of a new theory of causation in violation of a pre-trial order precluding that theory.

In deciding the matter, the majority crafted a 49-page opinion, to which the dissenting judge responded with a 12-page dissent, examining whether the new trial was warranted in light of defense counsel's conduct. The crux of the appeal was whether the "new" theory introduced at trial was within the fair scope of the expert's first report. These issues – the scope of related theories of causation, the proper remedy when a trial court fails to explicitly rule on whether an initial theory of causation encompasses a later related theory, and when attorney conduct constitutes prejudicial error