Barter v. Southmoore Golf Course Associates L.P.

48 Pa. D. & C.4th 206, 1999 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 27
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County
DecidedDecember 30, 1999
Docketno. 1998-C-294
StatusPublished

This text of 48 Pa. D. & C.4th 206 (Barter v. Southmoore Golf Course Associates L.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barter v. Southmoore Golf Course Associates L.P., 48 Pa. D. & C.4th 206, 1999 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 27 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1999).

Opinion

BARATIA, J.,

STATEMENT OF REASONS

This case involves a golf course owned by Southmoore Limited Partnership, whose general partner is a corporation known as Southmoore Golf Associates Inc. SGAI owns 98.25 percent of Southmoore’s limited partnership interest. Plaintiff, Peter Barter, owns 55 percent of the stock in SGAI; however, because of its structure, Barter has never been permitted to vote his shares. Arcangelo Diodoardo and his wife control SGAI in that they own all voting shares of that corporation.

Barter filed a mortgage foreclosure action against Southmoore Golf Course Associates L.P. on January 14, 1998. Barter had provided financing to Southmoore in the form of four separate loans. These loans were evidenced by four separate notes which, as of January 14, 1998, carried abalance of $4,428,612.72. The loans were secured by four mortgages from Southmoore. Barter contended that Southmoore had failed to make timely installment payments on the notes including the May, [208]*208June, July, August and the October 1997 payments. Southmoore answered and filed new matter denying that the balance claimed was due on those dates. It asserted that the balance was instead due June 1, 1999 (Southmoore answer 18(a)), and that it was not required to make the October 1997 payment and other earlier payments because Barter had waived those payments. (Southmoore answer 18(b).)

Southmoore also filed an 11-count counterclaim against Barter. Barter filed preliminary objections to all of the counterclaims.

On December 9, 1998, this court sustained Barter’s preliminary objections and struck all of Southmoore’s counterclaims. The court’s statement of reasons accompanying its order indicated that because Southmoore’s claims were not part of the creation of Barter’s security interest in the property, they were barred under Pa.R.C.P. 1148. Rule 1148 limits counterclaims in a mortgage foreclosure to matters which arise in the same transaction as the foreclosure instrument itself.

Southmoore then repleaded its initial answer and new matter, asserting that “the entire remaining balance due under the loan agreements is not due and payable until June 1, 1999.” (Southmoore’s new matter 50.)

On February 2, 1999, Barter filed his first amended complaint in the foreclosure action. In his first amended action, Barter additionally contended that Southmoore had failed to pay real estate taxes on the mortgaged property before interest or penalties become due. (Count II.) Barter’s first amended complaint also contended that Southmoore had breached its mortgage terms by failing to comply with an order of the zoning hearing board of Moore Township. As a result, Barter contended that [209]*209Moore Township had filed an equity action against the property on September 28, 1998, seeking an injunction and other relief. (Count III.) Finally, Barter contended that on October 28,1998, in violation of the mortgages, Southmoore granted an additional mortgage on the secured property to a corporation known as Lehigh Valley PIC, thereby creating additional liens on the property. (Count IV.)

On March 4, 1999, Southmoore filed its answer with new matter to the first amended complaint. Once again, Southmoore’s answer with new matter contained no allegations that Barter’s earlier complaint had interfered with its refinancing. Southmoore again confirmed, for the third time in its pleadings, that the mortgages were due June 1, 1999. (Answer and new matter 19(a).)

On June 4,1999, Barter filed his second amended complaint reasserting his previous claims and adding a Count V. Count V asserted that the entire mortgage balance, then $4,637,866, was due on June 1, 1999. Barter also pleaded that the balance had not been repaid on that date. On June 28,1999, Southmoore filed its answer with new matter to the second amended complaint. In its answer and new matter, Southmoore raised a new defense contending that the filing of the first mortgage foreclosure action by Barter had rendered Southmoore unable to obtain financing. Southmoore also raised the defense of waiver and reiterated several equitable defenses that had been stricken in our order of December 9,1998. Finally, Southmoore contested the total monies due, alleging that Barter’s calculation, which included attorney’s fees, was incorrect.

[210]*210I. Legal Standard

Summary judgment is granted properly where no genuine issue as to any material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Pa.R.C.P. 1035.2; O’Brien Energy Systems Inc. v. American Employers’ Insurance Co., 427 Pa. Super. 456, 629 A.2d 957 (1993). Summary judgment is appropriate only in those cases which are clear and free from doubt. Lyman v. Boonin, 535 Pa. 397, 635 A.2d 1029 (1993); Musser v. Vilsmeier Auction Co. Inc., 522 Pa. 367, 370, 562 A.2d 279, 280 (1989). The record must be viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact must be resolved against the moving party. Ertel v. Patriot-News Co., 544 Pa. 93, 98-99, 674 A.2d 1038, 1041 (1996). In an action for mortgage foreclosure, the entry of summary judgment is proper if the mortgage is in default and that the recorded mortgage is in the specified amount. This is so, even if the mortgagor does not admit the total amount of the indebtedness. See Landau v. Western Pennsylvania National Bank, 445 Pa. 217, 225-26, 282 A.2d 335, 340 (1971). See also, 22 Standard Pennsylvania Practice 2d 121:69. With this legal standard in mind, we will now address Barter’s motion.

II. Discussion

In Southmoore’s previous answers, Southmoore asserted as a defense that the indebtedness was not due until the date of the balloon payment, June 1, 1999. In its most recent answer, Southmoore now denies that the balloon payment was due on June 1, 1999.

[211]*211In support of this reversal of position, the defendant raises the defense of waiver alleging that, at various times, Barter waived monthly payments due under the loans during the calendar years of 1996 and 1997. Those monthly payment waivers were acknowledged by Barter in written letters. Clearly, those waivers were not a waiver of the principal sum due and owing on June 1, 1999. As a matter of fact, the written correspondence at issue was attached to defendant’s answer. In those letters, Barter waived certain monthly principal payments but asserted his desire to enforce the June 1, 1999 balloon payment and reserved his right to exercise his legal remedies under the terms of the loan documents. Therefore, the written documentation offered by defendant in support of its waiver defense contradicts its argument that the June 1, 1999 balloon payment was waived.

Additionally, each mortgage contains the following paragraph:

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Related

Lyman v. Boonin
635 A.2d 1029 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1993)
Ertel v. Patriot-News Co.
674 A.2d 1038 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1996)
Musser v. Vilsmeier Auction Co., Inc.
562 A.2d 279 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)
O'Brien Energy Systems, Inc. v. AMERICAN EMPLOYERS'INS. CO.
629 A.2d 957 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1993)
Chrysler First Business Credit Corp. v. Gourniak
601 A.2d 338 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Cunningham v. McWilliams
714 A.2d 1054 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1998)
Landau v. Western Pennsylvania National Bank
282 A.2d 335 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
48 Pa. D. & C.4th 206, 1999 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barter-v-southmoore-golf-course-associates-lp-pactcomplnortha-1999.