Alston, C. v. Joseph, T.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 5, 2025
Docket2851 EDA 2024
StatusUnpublished

This text of Alston, C. v. Joseph, T. (Alston, C. v. Joseph, T.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alston, C. v. Joseph, T., (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

J-S31028-25

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

CHANTELL ALSTON : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : TODD JOSEPH PROPERTIES, LLC, : TODD JOSEPH, AND TODD J. : FENSTERMACHER A/K/A TODD : No. 2851 EDA 2024 JOSEPH FENSTERMACHER, LET OUT, : INC., ABC COMPANIES 1-4, JOHN : DOE 1-4, ABC COMPANIES 1-4 : : : APPEAL OF: TODD JOSEPH : PROPERTIES, LLC, TODD JOSEPH, : AND TODD J. FENSTERMACHER : A/K/A TODD JOSEPH : FENSTERMACHER

Appeal from the Order Entered September 25, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Civil Division at No(s): 230803114

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J.E., DUBOW, J., and NICHOLS, J.

MEMORANDUM BY DUBOW, J.: FILED NOVEMBER 5, 2025

Todd Joseph Properties, LLC (the “LLC”), Todd Joseph (“Mr. Joseph”),

and Todd J. Fenstermacher a/k/a Todd Joseph Fenstermacher (collectively,

“Appellants”) appeal from the September 25, 2024 order denying Appellants’

petition to strike or open the default judgment entered in favor of Chantell

Alston (“Appellee”), in this premises liability action. After careful review, we

affirm. J-S31028-25

The relevant facts and procedural history are as follows. On August 30,

2023, Appellee filed a complaint in which she claimed she was injured after

slipping on a rug at the front door of an event complex owned by Appellants.

According to the Philadelphia County Sheriff’s return of service, the sheriff

served the complaint on Appellants on November 17, 2023, at 7:35 AM at 713

Broad Acres Road, Narberth, PA 19072 (the “Narberth address”).

Appellants failed to file an answer to the complaint. Consequently, on

February 27, 2024, Appellee mailed a 10-day notice of intent to take a default

judgment to Appellants, at the Narberth address. On March 26, 2024,

Appellee filed a praecipe to enter default judgment.

More than five months later, on August 2, 2024, Appellants filed a

petition to strike or open the default judgment in which they claimed that

neither Mr. Joseph nor the LLC were ever served with the complaint.

Appellants asserted Mr. Joseph was not at the Narberth address on November

17, 2023, and, thus, that the affidavits of service reflecting service of the

complaint on both Mr. Joseph and the LLC at the Narberth address were

inaccurate. Appellants claimed that Mr. Joseph has not lived at the Narberth

address since 2021, that Mr. Joseph does not operate an LLC office from the

Narberth address, and that no agents or employees of Mr. Joseph live at the

Narberth address. Appellants further claimed that the Narberth address was

vacant on November 17, 2023.

With respect to Appellants’ petition to open the default judgment, they

asserted the purportedly meritorious defense that they were not operating the

-2- J-S31028-25

premises at which Appellee contends she was injured on the date of the

alleged accident and that Appellee failed to provide any evidence that she

suffered any harm or damages.

The trial court held a hearing on Appellants’ petition to strike or open at

which Mr. Joseph testified. The trial court, in its Pa.R.A.P, 1925(a) opinion,

set forth a comprehensive summary of Mr. Joseph’s testimony, which we

adopt for purposes of this appeal. See Trial Ct. Op., 2/4/25, at 3-7. Briefly,

Mr. Joseph testified that his counsel made him aware of this matter two weeks

prior to the hearing. Mr. Joseph explained that he owns approximately twenty

properties either in his own name or in the name of one of the numerous LLCs

owned by him. He reasserted his position that he was not present at Narberth

address on the date the sheriff served the complaint. He explained that three

houses shared the driveway used by the Narberth address and speculated that

an elderly visitor to one of the neighboring homes received and signed for the

complaint. Mr. Joseph did not offer any evidence to support this theory. On

cross-examination, Mr. Joseph testified that, after learning of the lawsuit, it

would have been “ridiculous” for him to ask his neighbors if any of them had

accepted service of the complaint and signed his name. N.T., 9/23/24, at 36.

Mr. Joseph offered no testimony regarding a purportedly meritorious defense

to Appellee’s claims and, in fact, conceded that he had no idea what Appellee

had asserted in her complaint.

On September 25, 2024, the trial court denied Appellants’ petition to

open or strike the default judgment. Characterizing Mr. Joseph as a “very

-3- J-S31028-25

experienced real estate investor,” the court explained that it found his

testimony not credible because it was “replete with finger pointing,

inconsistencies, speculation based on his credulous ‘expert opinion’ and

woefully uncorroborated arguments.” Trial Ct. Op at 3.

This timely appeal followed. Both Appellants and the trial court complied

with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.

Appellants raise the following issues on appeal:

1. Was it an abuse of discretion or error of law to deny [Appellants’] petition to open or strike the default judgment where [Appellants] demonstrated at the hearing on September 23, 20[2]4, and pursuant to said petition[,] that the judgment should be stricken for improper service of original process of the underlying complaint upon [Appellants], demonstrating that the court lacked jurisdiction over [Appellants]?

2. Was it an abuse of discretion or error of law to deny [Appellants’] petition to open or strike the default judgment where [Appellants] demonstrated at the hearing on September 23, 2024, and pursuant to said petition[,] that the judgment should be stricken for [improper] service of the ten-day notice upon [Appellants], demonstrating that the court lacked jurisdiction over [Appellants]?

3. Was it an abuse of discretion or error of law to deny [Appellants’] petition to open or strike the default judgment where [Appellants] demonstrated at the hearing on September 23, 2024, and pursuant to said petition[,] that the judgment should be opened for improper service of original process of the underlying complaint upon [Appellants], demonstrating that the court lacked jurisdiction over [Appellants]?

4. Was it an abuse of discretion or error of law to deny [Appellants’] petition to open or strike the default judgment where [Appellants] demonstrated at the hearing on September 23, 2024, and pursuant to said petition[,] that the judgment should be stricken for [improper] service of the ten-day notice

-4- J-S31028-25

upon [Appellants], demonstrating that the court lacked jurisdiction over [Appellants]?[1]

Appellants’ Brief at 5 (unnecessary capitalization omitted).

***

In Appellants’ first two issues, they challenge the denial of their petition

to strike the default judgment entered in Appellee’s favor. 2

“A petition to strike a judgment is a common law proceeding which

operates as a demurrer to the record [and] may be granted only for a fatal

defect or irregularity appearing on the face of the record.” Digit. Commc'ns

Warehouse, Inc. v. Allen Invs., LLC, 223 A.3d 278, 284 (Pa. Super. 2019)

(citation omitted). “A fatal defect on the face of the record denies the

prothonotary the authority to enter judgment.” Id. at 285. When considering

whether to grant a petition to strike judgment, “a court may only look at what

was in the record when the judgment was entered.” Cintas Corp. v. Lee's

Cleaning Servs., Inc., 700 A.2d 915, 917 (Pa.

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Bluebook (online)
Alston, C. v. Joseph, T., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alston-c-v-joseph-t-pasuperct-2025.