Madden v. Silverman

57 Pa. D. & C. 566, 1946 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 199
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedOctober 14, 1946
Docketno. 4399
StatusPublished

This text of 57 Pa. D. & C. 566 (Madden v. Silverman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Madden v. Silverman, 57 Pa. D. & C. 566, 1946 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 199 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1946).

Opinion

Sloane, J.,

I. Statement

Plaintiff, Caroline Madden, brings this bill in equity as lessee of a rooming house at 2223 North Fifteenth [567]*567Street, Philadelphia, against Samuel Silverman, owner-lessor of the property, and others — a magistrate, constables, real estate agents — seeking to restrain them from evicting her from the property by virtue of a judgment of possession obtained by Silverman against her before the magistrate, or from removing her furniture or attempting to collect the rents from the tenants. She avers that the judgment was improperly obtained.

Plaintiff states that she is in possession of the property under a yearly lease commencing May 1, 1941 (dated March 26, 1941), from Abram Stark, then owner, as lessor, at the monthly rental of $55 per month; that this lease required 60 days’ notice of termination at the end of the term, otherwise continuing for another year, and so on from year to year, and that due notice of termination under this lease was never given to her. She avers that the property was sold by Stark to Silverman on October 5, 1945, and the lease transferred to Silverman, to whom plaintiff attorned and thereafter paid the rent.

Plaintiff further avers that one Diamond, a real estate agent, gave her a written notice on May 3, 1946, purporting to give her notice to quit on May 13, 1946. On May 17, 1946, a summons was issued by Magistrate Levin erroneously stating that Silverman was in possession on November 7,1940, and then leased by monthly lease to plaintiff at the monthly rental of $45, that he gave her notice on February 19, 1946, to remove at the expiration of 30 days, and summoned her to appear on May 24,1946, to show cause why possession of the premises should not be restored to Silver-man. She avers that though the foregoing facts were made known to the magistrate he entered judgment against her on May 31, 1946, and that subsequently writs of possession were issued against her.

The present action is to restrain all process founded upon the “illegal, erroneous and improvidently entered judgment for possession”.

[568]*568A preliminary injunction against defendants was issued on August 19,1946, by Oliver, P. J., to continue for five days. At the expiration of the five days a hearing on the application to continue the injunction was held, which by agreement became the final hearing on the merits. No answers had been filed by defendants (the time for answering had not yet expired); plaintiff therefore assumed the burden of proving the averments made by her.

II. Findings of fact

1. Proceedings for possession of premises 2223 North Fifteenth Street, Philadelphia, were commenced before Magistrate George Levin (court no. 7) on May 17, 1946, by Samuel Silverman, lessor (here a defendant) against Caroline Madden, lessee (here plaintiff) .

2. Service of the summons was duly made on May 18, 1946, and a hearing held on May 24, 1946, continued to May 31, 1946.

3. Judgment in favor of Silverman, plaintiff in that proceeding, was given against Caroline Madden by Magistrate Levin on May 31, 1946, ordering restitution of possession of the above premises.

4. On June 10, 1946, Caroline Madden took an appeal from the judgment of the magistrate, which appeal was filed in the Municipal Court on June 22,1946, as of June term, 1946, no. 427.

5. On July 15, 1946, the appeal to the Municipal Court was marked “stricken from the record” upon order of plaintiff’s attorney, for failure to file proof of record of notice of the appeal.

III. Discussion

Plaintiff seeks to restrain enforcement of a judgment for possession of certain premises, given against her by a magistrate, alleging that the judgment was improperly entered. She says it was obtained under an [569]*569expired lease. The theory of plaintiff’s case is that the proceeding for possession before the magistrate was brought against her under the “wrong lease”; that she was sued and judgment given under a 1940 monthly lease no longer in effect. She claims she is in possession under a yearly lease, from May 1,1941, and that under this presently valid lease, 60 days’ notice of termination has to be given at the end of the term, otherwise she holds over for another year; that proper notice of termination was never given under this lease.

The evidence adduced at the hearing gave factual support to plaintiff’s version of the leases, but it does not enáble this court to help her without usurping jurisdiction which is not ours. That defendant Silver-man (apparently as straw man for his father-in-law Bernstein, another of the defendants) acquired title to the premises from one Stark on October 5, 1945, is admitted, and the proof shows that the correct lease under which plaintiff was in possession was the 1941 yearly lease from Stark rather than an older monthly lease dated in 1940.

But the defense that she was sued under the wrong lease was one that could be made in the proceeding before the magistrate. In fact plaintiff did make such defense, for in the bill she says, “notwithstanding the foregoing facts having been fully made known personally unto the said George Levin, Esq., said Magistrate . . . entered judgment against the said Caroline Madden”. What it comes to: plaintiff does not contend that the magistrate lacked jurisdiction, but that he decided the matter wrongly. Plaintiff cites authority to the effect that the jurisdiction of the magistrate may be ousted by bill in equity. Speaking of the landlord and tenant acts, it is clear enough that the jurisdiction of a magistrate is sharply defined by those acts, and equity, in a proper case, has the right to interfere: Davis v. Davis, 115 Pa. 261, 266 (1887). The magis[570]*570trate is beyond his depth of jurisdiction under these acts except in plain cases, “and the statutes were not intended to give exclusive jurisdiction to him where elements of fraud or decisions of intricate questions of law were involved”: White et al. v. Long et al., 289 Pa. 525, 530 (1927); Bluestone v. DeRoy et al., 298 Pa. 267 (1929). In Davis v. Davis, supra, it is said that the special and summary jurisdiction given by the Landlord and Tenant Act of December 14, 1863, P. L. (1864) 1125, 68 PS §364, is “limited to a class of cases that are of easy solution”. See Denny v. Fronheiser, 207 Pa. 174 (1903), Kaufman v. Liggett, 209 Pa. 87 (1904), and Steiner v. Central T. & T. Co., 274 Pa. 341 (1922).

In the present case no question of fraud or complicated question of law was presented; it was a simple issue of fact. Thinking herself aggrieved by the magistrate’s ruling, plaintiff had a right of appeal to the Municipal Court where a trial de novo might be held: Act of May 18, 1933, P. L. 809, sec. 1, 17 PS §702; see Bauman v. Bittner, 152 Pa. Superior Ct. 628 (1943). Indeed she recognized this to be the proper procedure by filing such appeal. Neither party offered the municipal court record in evidence, but it was stipulated that such appeal was taken as of June term, 1946, no. 427, and that subsequently this appeal was stricken off.

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

Related

White v. Long
137 A. 673 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1927)
Kelchner's Estate
192 A. 666 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1937)
Bluestone v. Deroy
148 A. 110 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1929)
McFadden v. Pennzoil Company
191 A. 584 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1937)
Bauman v. Bittner
33 A.2d 273 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1943)
Davis v. Davis
7 A. 746 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1887)
Denny v. Fronheiser
56 A. 406 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1903)
Kaufmann v. Liggett
67 L.R.A. 353 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1904)
Steiner v. Central Trust & Title Co.
118 A. 221 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1922)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 Pa. D. & C. 566, 1946 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/madden-v-silverman-pactcomplphilad-1946.