Dawson, C. v. Sonju, S.

2025 Pa. Super. 175
Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided August 13, 2025·No. 2317 EDA 2024·Published

Opinion

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

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.

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.

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”).

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. Was the entry of judgment against garnishee Bank of America, N.A., and the garnishee’s release of funds to [Appellee], violative of Pa.R.C[iv].P. 3123.1, where [Appellant] had filed a claim for exemption in a separate action between the same parties, both [Appellee] and garnishee were on notice of [Appellant’s] claim of exemption, and a hearing on the exemption claim was pending?

Appellant’s Case 2 Br. at 6. Appellant, however, did not include this issue in her Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) Statement. Accordingly, she waived this issue. Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b)(4)(vii).

Both of Appellant’s preserved issues challenge the trial court’s denial of

her petitions to strike the foreign judgments. “A petition to strike a judgment

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

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