Dawson, C. v. Sonju, S.

2025 Pa. Super. 175
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 13, 2025
Docket2317 EDA 2024
StatusPublished

This text of 2025 Pa. Super. 175 (Dawson, C. v. Sonju, S.) 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
Dawson, C. v. Sonju, S., 2025 Pa. Super. 175 (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

J-A12025-25 & J-A12026-25

2025 PA Super 175

CARROLL S. DAWSON (TRUSTEE OF : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DAWSON FAMILY TRUST DATED : PENNSYLVANIA DECEMBER 5, 1989) : : : v. : : : SONIA SONJU : No. 2317 EDA 2024 : Appellant :

Appeal from the Order Entered September 3, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Civil Division at No(s): 2024-01339

CARROLL S. DAWSON (SUCCESSOR : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF IN INTEREST TO WILLIAM T. : PENNSYLVANIA DAWSON, DECEASED) : : : v. : : : SONIA SONJU : No. 2340 EDA 2024 : Appellant :

Appeal from the Order Entered August 2, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Civil Division at No(s): 2024-01328

BEFORE: STABILE, J., DUBOW, J., and SULLIVAN, J.

OPINION BY DUBOW, J.: FILED AUGUST 13, 2025

In these consolidated cases, Appellant Sonia Sonju appeals from the

August 2, 2024 and September 3, 2024 orders entered by the Montgomery

County Court of Common Pleas denying Appellant’s motions to strike and/or

open two foreign judgments entered by Appellee Carroll S. Dawson pursuant J-A12025-25 & J-A12026-25

to the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (“UEFJA” or “the Act”),

42 Pa.C.S. § 4306. After careful review, we affirm.

We glean the relevant facts and procedural history from the trial court’s

opinions and certified records.1 On January 24, 2024, at Mongomery County

Docket No. 2024-01328 (“Case 1”), Appellee filed a praecipe requesting that

the trial court transfer and enter on the Montgomery County judgment index

a judgment originally entered in Orange County, California in favor of Appellee

as “Successor in Interest to William T. Dawson, Deceased,” and against

Appellant in the amount of $1,374,148.77.2 Initially, Appellee mistakenly

attached to the praecipe a June 16, 1989 California order entering “judgment

of dissolution” of the marriage between Mr. Dawson and Appellant. Appellee

additionally attached California renewals of an unattached November 29, 1993

judgment naming Appellee as successor in interest to Mr. Dawson, dated

November 3, 2003, October 16, 2013, and August 15, 2023. On the same

day, Appellee filed, inter alia, a praecipe for writ of execution of the judgment

against Appellant and various financial institutions as garnishees, for an

updated total with interest of $1,418,667.43. On January 27, 2024, Appellee

praeciped to attach the referenced November 29, 1993 California judgment,

____________________________________________

1 After argument, this Court consolidated the cases as they involve the same

issues and related parties. Indeed, the trial court’s opinions and the parties’ briefs are nearly identical but for slight factual distinctions.

2 Mr. Dawson was previously married to Appellant and subsequently married

to Appellee, prior to his death on April 1, 1996. Mr. Dawson was also the settlor of the Dawson Family Trust.

-2- J-A12025-25 & J-A12026-25

providing for the distribution of marital property, including an award of

$175,615.00, plus interest, from Appellant to Mr. Dawson.

Similarly, on January 25, 2024, at Montgomery County Docket No.

2024-1339 (“Case 2”), Appellee as Trustee of the Dawson Family Trust filed a

praecipe requesting that the trial court transfer and enter on the Montgomery

County judgment index a judgment originally entered in Orange County,

California in favor of Appellee, as trustee, and against Appellant in the amount

of $519,695.60. Appellant attached a March 23, 1998 California judgment,

as well as February 20, 2008 and February 14, 2018 California renewals of

the judgment.3 Additionally, Appellee filed, inter alia, a praecipe for writ of

execution of the judgment against Appellant and various financial institutions

as garnishees for an updated total with interest of $822,364.89.

On March 8, 2024, Appellant filed an emergency petition to strike and/or

open the foreign judgment in both Case 1 and Case 2. She requested that

the court strike the judgments, claiming inter alia, that the twenty-year

limitation period set forth in 42 Pa.C.S. § 5529 barred execution of the original

California judgments entered in November 1993 and March 1998. She also

3 The original judgment, dated March 23, 1998, involved a March 12, 1998

jury award of $9,097.00 in damages for trespass plus costs and attorney fees, for a total judgment of approximately $141,000.00. The California court entered the original judgment in favor of Mr. Dawson and entities owned or controlled by Mr. Dawson. Appellee attached to the Pennsylvania filings a February 13, 2008 California notice indicating the assignment of rights from the related entities to the Dawson Family Trust.

-3- J-A12025-25 & J-A12026-25

maintained that Appellee failed to file docket entries as required by 42 Pa.C.S.

§ 4306(b).

A few days later, Appellee praeciped in both cases to attach a “complete

certified copy of docket entries” relating to the California judgments. Case 1

and Case 2 Praecipe to Attach, dated 3/11/24.

On March 13, 2024, the court entered an order at both dockets directing

Appellee’s counsel to maintain the funds previously received from one of the

garnishees in escrow and not to enter judgment against any other garnishees,

while ordering the garnishees to freeze Appellant’s funds until further order.

On July 29, 2024, the court presided over a hearing addressing both

Case 1 and Case 2. On August 2, 2024, the court denied Appellant’s

emergency petition to strike and/or open the foreign judgment in an order

listing only Case 1.

On August 30, 2024, Appellant filed notices of appeal in both cases,

even though the court had yet to enter an order in Case 2. On September 3,

2024, the court entered an order in Case 2 denying the emergency petition to

strike and/or open the foreign judgment.4 Appellant and the court complied

with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.

4 We deem Appellant’s notice of appeal in Case 2 timely filed as she filed it

following the order in Case 1, which involved the same legal issues and thus constituted an “announcement of a determination” for purposes of Case 2. Pa.R.A.P. 905(a)(5) (providing that where an appellant filed a notice of appeal “after the announcement of a determination but before the entry of an appealable order[,]” this Court will treat the notice “as filed after such entry and on the day thereof”).

-4- J-A12025-25 & J-A12026-25

In Case 1, Appellant raises the following issues:

1. Did the trial court err in holding that [Appellee’s] execution on a California judgment against the personal property of [Appellant] was not time-barred by the Pennsylvania 20-year statute of limitations under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5529, where the judgment was not registered in Pennsylvania until more than 30 years after the original entry of judgment in California in 1993?

2. Did the trial court err[] in denying [Appellant’s] petition to strike the foreign judgment registered by [Appellee], and to enjoin enforcement of the judgment, because [Appellee] failed to comply with 42 Pa.C.S. § 4306 when registering the judgment, including her failure to file the docket entries incidental to the foreign judgment as required by 42 Pa.C.S. § 4306(b); to file a copy of the judgment itself; and to establish her right to enforce the judgment?

Appellant’s Case 1 Br. at 5-6. In Case 2, Appellant raises the same issues as

in Case 1 and adds the following issue: 5

3.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Watkins v. Conway
385 U.S. 188 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Pan Energy v. Martin
813 P.2d 1142 (Utah Supreme Court, 1991)
Payne v. Claffy
315 S.E.2d 814 (Court of Appeals of South Carolina, 1984)
Drllevich Construction, Inc. v. Stock
1998 OK 39 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1998)
Stewart v. Stewart
743 A.2d 955 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
Bonfiglio v. Bonfiglio
781 A.2d 1197 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Morrissey v. Morrissey
713 A.2d 614 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1998)
Olympus Corp. v. Canady
962 A.2d 671 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
Nobel Well Service, Inc. v. Penn Energy, Inc.
502 A.2d 200 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1985)
Logemann Holding, Inc. v. Lieber
793 N.E.2d 135 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2003)
Singh v. Sidana
904 A.2d 721 (New Jersey Superior Court App Division, 2006)
Ware v. Everest Group, LLC
238 S.W.3d 855 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Galef v. Buena Vista Dairy
875 P.2d 1132 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1994)
Warner v. Warner
668 P.2d 193 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1983)
Standard Chartered Bank v. Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi & Bros.
99 A.3d 936 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Schmierer v. The Tribal Trust
427 P.3d 143 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2018)
Walnut Grove Products v. Schnell
659 S.W.2d 6 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1983)
Mee v. Sprague
144 Misc. 2d 1057 (New York Supreme Court, 1989)
Canizaro Trigiani Architects v. Crowe
815 So. 2d 386 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2002)
Stevenson v. Edgefield Holdings
225 A.3d 85 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2020)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2025 Pa. Super. 175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dawson-c-v-sonju-s-pasuperct-2025.