HSBC Bank v. Carney, P.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided March 19, 2015·No. 125 EDA 2014·Unpublished

Opinion

J-A32004-14

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

HSBC BANK USA, NATIONAL ASSOC., AS IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF TRUSTEE FOR THE HOLDERS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY DEUTSCHE ALT-A SECURITIES MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST SERIES 2007-ARI

Appellee

v.

PAT CARNEY Appellant No. 125 EDA 2014

Appeal from the Order December 13, 2013 In the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County Civil Division at No(s): No. 10-5124

BEFORE: PANELLA, J., OLSON, J., and FITZGERALD, J.* JUDGMENT ORDER BY PANELLA, J. FILED MARCH 19, 2015 Pat Carney appeals pro se from the order denying his Petition to Set Aside the Sheriff Sale of his foreclosed property. We affirm.

Appellee, HSBC Bank USA, filed a complaint in mortgage foreclosure on April 27, 2010. Carney does not deny that he is the borrower of the refinancing funds underlying the mortgage. On July 2, 2010, the trial court entered default judgment against Carney due to his failure to file an answer to the complaint. On October 17, 2012, over two years following entry of default judgment and three months after the sheriff sale of the subject

*

Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.

J-A32004-14

property, Carney filed a Motion to Open/Strike Judgment. On March 7, 2013, Carney filed a Motion to Dismiss Complaint Due to Lack of Jurisdiction and to Void Sale. The trial court denied Carney’s motions on April 12, 2013.

On September 30, 2013, Carney filed a Petition to Set Aside Sale Based on Fraud and Lack of Authority, which is the subject of the instant appeal. The trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing. Thereafter, the trial court found, inter alia, that Carney’s Petition to Set Aside Sheriff’s Sale was filed nine months after the Sheriff’s conveyance of the deed to HSBC Bank USA, such that any alleged defects or irregularities in the proceedings were foreclosed pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 3132. The trial court additionally determined that Carney’s allegations of fraud and lack of authority were unsupported by any evidence of record and that Carney largely sought to relitigate claims previously deemed waived or otherwise disposed of by the court when it dismissed his Motion to Dismiss Complaint and Motion to Open/Strike Judgment. Accordingly, the trial court dismissed Carney’s petition.

In this timely pro se appeal, Carney argues that the trial court erred in denying his petition to set aside sheriff’s sale on the grounds of fraud and lack of authority. Having determined that the Honorable Charles B. Burr, II’s March 4, 2014 opinion ably and comprehensively disposes of Carney’s issues on appeal, with appropriate reference to the record and without legal error, we will affirm on the basis of that opinion.

Order affirmed.

J-A32004-14

Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq. Prothonotary

Date: 3/19/2015

IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA CIVIL ACTION - LAW

HSBC BANK USA, NATIONAL NO. 10-05124 ASSOC. AS TRUSTEE FOR THE Petition to Sct Aside Sheriff Sale

HOLDERS OF THE CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY DEUTSCHE ALT-A SECURITIES MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST SERIES 2007-ARI

v.

PATRICK CARNEY

MICHAEL D, LiPUMA, ESQUIRE, Attorney for the Plaintiff. Pro Se, Patrick Carney, for the Defendant.

OPINION

BURR, SJ. FILED: March 4,2014

The Defendant, Patrick Carney, has appealed from this Court's denial of his Petition to Set Aside the Sheriff Sale of his foreclosed property to the Plaintiff, HSBC Banle, USA, alleging grounds of fraud and Plaintiffs lack of authority to make the sale. The Defendant does not deny that he is the borrower of the refinancing funds underlying the mortgage securing the subject Note, but asserted that the actual lender was not properly before the Court and that the Plaintiff had not established that it was a real party in interest with the authority to collect from him the balance due and owing on this obligation by selling the foreclosed upon property.

The Plaintiff filed its Complaint in Mortgage Foreclosure on April 27, 2010. A default judgment was entered against the Defendant on July 2, 2010 due to his failure to file an Answer to the Complaint. The Defendant, on October 17, 2012, 01' over two years following entry of the default judgment and three months after the Sheriff Sale of his pl'operty situate at 308 White Avenue, Linwood, PA, Delawal'e County, PA Recorder of Deeds Folio #08-00-

01217-00, to the Plaintiff on July 20, 2012, I filed a Motion to Open/Strike Judgment and, on March 7, 2013, filed a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint and his first plea to Void the Sheriff Sale three months after conveyance of the Deed to the Plaintiff. These latter two Motions were denied on their merits by an Order issued on April 11,2013 by the Honorable G. Michael Green of this Court, with the Defendant subsequently withdrawing appeals therefrom to the PelIDsylvania Superior Court on May 31, 2013. The instant Petition, fully titled as a I'Petition to Set Aside Sale Based on Fraud and Lack of Authority", was filed on September 30, 2013.

The Defendant insisted at the Hearing held on this Petition on November 25, 2013 that he did not answer the Plaintiff s Complaint because he is a ''pro se" litigant who could not afford an attorney and that he did not know that he was required to file a response to the Complaint. (N. T. 11-13). Defendant fmiher claimed that he believed that his interactions with the law firm representing the Plaintiff, including the submission of a request to stay the Sheriff Sale based upon the grounds raised in this Petition, would be a suitable alternative to actually resolving the within matters in a court of law. (N. T. 8-11). The Defendant readily admits to waiving all of his defenses and claims in New Matter responsive to the allegations of the Complaint by failing to file Preliminary Objections or an Answer thereto contending fraud and the lack of authority to conduct a Sheriff Sale, as well as unilaterally and voluntarily bypassing and/or waiving all of the procedural requisites to which he had been subject, including the failure to pursue his appeals from substantive rulings against him on the foregoing issues. Nonetheless, Defendant believes and avers that he may, at any time, attack "fraud" on the part of the Plaintiff because, in his opinion, "ifthere is fraud here", it must be contested in court. (N.T. 12).

The Deed for the Defendant's property was conveyed, on December 5, 2012, by the Sheriff to the Plaintiff and recorded on January 24, 2013, in the Delaware County Office ofthe Recorder of Deeds in Book 5231, page 221. (Exhibit D to the Plaintiffs Response to the Defendant's Petition to Set Aside Sale Based on Fraud and Lack of Authority to Make Sale).

The Defendant vehemently insisted in that regard that, in his view, because the law provides no exception whatsoever to the necessity to adjudicate allegations of fraud, he must be allowed to raise and to litigate the issue whenever he chooses to do so. (Id., passim). Throughout the Hearing on this Petition, the Court reminded the Defendant that, although Defendant has represented himself pro se, he was required to learn and to follow the rules of court and to understand his legal status vis a vis the failure to pursue an appeal from Judge Green's decision against him on the merits of the within issues, as well as to possess knowledge of the relevant and applicable law as a litigant before the court? (N.T. 11-13, 18, 47-50, 54-55). Nowhere was Defendant's lack of preparation and readiness to support his allegations before this Court more obvious than when he insisted that Judge Green's rulings against him on the merits of the issues submitted in his prior Petitions seeking to Open the Plaintiffs Judgment in Foreclosure, to Dismiss the Complaint and Void the Sheriff Sale concerned the merits of only his VCC contentions because "the DCC" had been the primary subject of discussion at the hearing held by Judge Green. (N.T. 32, 46-47, 58).

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