Marine National Bank v. Northwest Pennsylvania Bank & Trust Co.

454 A.2d 67, 308 Pa. Super. 154, 1982 Pa. Super. LEXIS 5951
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 17, 1982
Docket164
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 454 A.2d 67 (Marine National Bank v. Northwest Pennsylvania Bank & Trust Co.) 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
Marine National Bank v. Northwest Pennsylvania Bank & Trust Co., 454 A.2d 67, 308 Pa. Super. 154, 1982 Pa. Super. LEXIS 5951 (Pa. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinions

PRICE, Judge:

This is an appeal in an action to quiet title to rentals due under a lease. We modify and, as modified, we affirm.

Anne and Myron Brink (“debtor-lessors”) owned an undivided one-half interest in a certain tract of land together [156]*156with a commercial building erected thereon. In 1973, this property was leased for a period of ten (10) years to a joint venture doing business as Edinboro Donuts (“tenants”). Debtor-lessors at all pertinent times owed both appellant and appellee substantial sums of money.

On December 12, 1974, appellee Marine confessed a judgment against debtor-lessors. By reason of 41 P.S. § 407, Marine was precluded from executing on this judgment until it had filed and proceeded to judgment in an independent action. That statute contemplates that the subsequent judgment will then “merge” with the earlier confessed judgment. 41 P.S. § 407(a).1

On May 30, 1975, appellant entered judgment against debtor-lessors and filed a Writ of Execution together with interrogatories in attachment to the tenants. On June 24, 1975, tenants answered that they owed the debtor-lessors rent for the remaining term of the lease.

On November 18, 1975, appellant entered judgment against tenants in the attachment proceedings for the rentals due and owing and to become owing to debtor-lessors. No execution was ever issued on this judgment.

Also on November 18, 1975, Marine secured its final merged judgment against debtor-lessors under 41 P.S. § 407. On April 1, 1976, Marine finally issued a Writ of Execution on its judgment. On May 14, 1976, the Sheriff sold all that real property constituting debtor-lessors’ undivided one-half interest to the high bidder, Marine.

Marine then brought this action to quiet title to the unaccrued rents due from the tenants for the remaining term of the lease.

The court below, per Judge Pfadt, held that appellant Northwest was entitled to the remaining rentals due because Marine’s prior judgment became a lien only as to debtor-lessors’ real property and, further, the unaccrued [157]*157rents were not real property but rather were personal property as to which Marine’s prior judgment did not become a lien before Northwest had attached the rentals due and to become due. Opinion and Order of November 7, 1978 at 5-7.

On review by the court en banc, this determination was reversed on the grounds that Northwest’s writ of attachment was only effective “until judgment” under Rule 3111(b), Pa.R.Civ.P. Opinion and Order of January 29, 1980. The court en banc ordered that the rents due “from November 18, 1975” should go to Marine and all prior rents should go to Northwest under its writ of attachment.

Appellant first argues that Marine did not argue Rule 3111(b) to Judge Pfadt and therefore that Marine failed to properly raise and preserve that point for appeal. The unstated premise for this argument is that Rule 1038, Pa.R.Civ.P., states that “matters not covered by exceptions are deemed waived unless, prior to final judgment, leave is granted to file exceptions raising these matters.” 2

Since the trial judge’s opinion is only interlocutory, the “final judgment” referred to in Rule 1038 is the determination by the court en banc. First Valley Bank v. Steinmann, 253 Pa.Superior Ct. 8, 12, 384 A.2d 949, 951 (1978). We hold that the en banc panel’s actions constituted constructive compliance with the proviso of Rule 1038, Pa.R. Civ.P. The “Supplemental Briefs” filed had the force and effect of filing, with leave from the en banc panel, additional exceptions raising the applicability of Rule 3111(b)’s limiting language. See generally Pomerantz v. Goldstein, 479 Pa. 175, 177, 387 A.2d 1280, 1281 (1978).

Moreover, Judge Pfadt himself quoted Rule 3111(b), Pa. R.Civ.P., at length, albeit for a contrary conclusion. Opinion and Order of November 7, 1978 at 7. To hold that the force and effect of this rule quoted and relied on by both the trial judge and the en banc panel was waived by the [158]*158failure to file an exception specifically raising that rule’s limitations in haec verba given the “Supplemental Briefs” filed addressing that very issue would ignore the substance of the proceedings below.

We also hold that Marine’s first exception substantially raised the issue of the priority between the attachment creditor and the prior judgment creditor. It is not necessary to raise authorities in support of exceptions in the exceptions. It is only necessary to raise the issue.

We are next urged, by appellee, that the purchaser of real estate at a Sheriff’s sale is entitled to all rentals which accrue after the sale and that it has always been thus. This argument, however, assumes that the execution and Sheriff’s sale of the real property were not subject to the prior attachment and conveyed the right to unaccrued rents as part of the real estate. This being a large portion of the question presented, this argument, while perhaps historically sound, begs the question. More particularly, property which has been attached is in custodia legis, 10 Goodrich-Amram, Std.Pa.Prac., Attachments, § 87 (collecting cases at 132, n. 10), § 127 (collecting cases at 188, n. 2) and § 301 (collecting cases at 375, n. 3); see also In Re Consol. Container Carriers, Inc., 385 F.2d 362, 364 (3d Cir.1967) (Pa. Law), aff'g, 254 F.Supp. 605, 607 (E.D.Pa. 1966), and is therefore immune to execution. Commonwealth v. Myers, 298 Pa.Superior Ct. 272, 444 A.2d 1170, 1175 (1982).3

Property so attached remains in custodia legis until the attachment is properly dissolved. By its own force, the writ of attachment continues in effect “until judgment” under Rule 3111(b), Pa.R.Civ.P. At that point, should judgment be for plaintiff, the prior attachment is merged in that judgment.

[159]*159The legal force and effect of the merged writ of attachment in the subsequent judgment is at the heart of the dispute in this case. Appellant claims that the writ of attachment continues in effect automatically and appellee contends that the writ simply dissolves.

We disagree with both parties. The attaching creditor’s rights may be continued in the attached property after judgment in the garnishment proceeding has been rendered in favor of the plaintiff therein, but this must be done by execution process on the judgment against the garnishee under Rule 3148, Pa.R.Civ.P. This is what was meant in Lewycka v. Springfield Mut. Ins. Co., 201 Pa.Superior Ct. 341, 344, 191 A.2d 925, 926 (1963), when it was said that the judgment against the garnishee “created a vested right in this plaintiff.” That right was the right to have execution issue against the property in the garnishee’s hands due to the judgment debtor.4

No such process was sought below.

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Marine National Bank v. Northwest Pennsylvania Bank & Trust Co.
454 A.2d 67 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
454 A.2d 67, 308 Pa. Super. 154, 1982 Pa. Super. LEXIS 5951, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marine-national-bank-v-northwest-pennsylvania-bank-trust-co-pasuperct-1982.