An appellate court tasked with reviewing a bench verdict when the trial judge has issued a scant opinion and is no longer available to explain the reasoning behind it has broad power to review the entire record, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled.

In Dolan v. Hurd Millwork, the justices unanimously reversed a ruling in which the Superior Court said it was forced to vacate a nearly $750,000 judgment and order a new trial because the trial judge who rendered the verdict failed to adequately explain his reasoning and had since retired from the bench.