Taggart, K. v. Mortgage Electronic Registration

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 13, 2018
Docket1018 EDA 2017
StatusUnpublished

This text of Taggart, K. v. Mortgage Electronic Registration (Taggart, K. v. Mortgage Electronic Registration) 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
Taggart, K. v. Mortgage Electronic Registration, (Pa. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

J-S06033-18

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

KENNETH TAGGART, : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA Appellant : : : v. : : : MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC : REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC; : OCWEN LOAN SERVCING, LLC; : EVERBANK; MERSCORP, INC.; : GINNIE MAE; GMAC MORTGAGE, : INC.; ANGELA MCFADDEN; LISA : ROACH; ALLY BANK/GMAC : MORTGAGE : No. 1018 EDA 2017

Appeal from the Order February 6, 2017 in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, Civil Division at No(s): No. 2015-29789

BEFORE: BOWES, J., McLAUGHLIN, J., and MUSMANNO, J.

MEMORANDUM BY MUSMANNO, J.: FILED APRIL 13, 2018

Kenneth Taggart (“Taggart”) appeals from the Order (hereinafter, “the

Dismissal Order”) granting the Motion to Dismiss filed by Mortgage Electronic

Registration Systems, Inc.; Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC; EverBank;

MERSCORP, Inc.; Ginnie Mae; GMAC Mortgage, Inc.; Angela McFadden; Lisa

Roach; and Ally Bank/GMAC Mortgage (collectively, the “Defendants”), and

dismissing Taggart’s Complaint, with prejudice. We affirm.

Taggart initially instituted this quiet title action in November 2015.

Taggart contested the validity of a 2008 mortgage to an investment property

located in Telford, Pennsylvania (hereinafter, “the Property”) that he had J-S06033-18

secured from certain of the Defendants.1 Following a tortured procedural

history that is not relevant to the instant appeal, Taggart, pro se, filed a Third

Amended Complaint against Defendants on April 20, 2016.2, 3

On May 20, 2016, Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss Taggart’s Third

____________________________________________

1 In his initial Complaint and all subsequent Amended Complaints, Taggart sought a declaration that he is entitled to ownership of the Property, which he had purchased for over $500,000, free and clear of any mortgage, despite, inter alia, his failure to make any mortgage payments since 2009.

2 Throughout the duration of the proceedings up to this point, Taggart had acted pro se. Moreover, Taggart has a long history of instituting, in both state and federal courts, myriad pro se actions against his various mortgage lenders, including some of the Defendants herein.

3 After his initial Complaint, Taggart amended his Complaint three times in a span of five months, each of which mooted separate Preliminary Objections filed by Defendants. All of these Amended Complaints were largely identical.

-2- J-S06033-18

Amended Complaint pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 233.1.4

Therein, Defendants argued that the trial court should dismiss Taggart’s

frivolous, pro se action because, inter alia, it raises essentially the same claims

against the same or related Defendants as Taggart did in several prior actions.

A few days thereafter, Taggart filed a pro se Motion for Enlargement of Time,

urging the trial court to (1) give him more time in which to respond to all

outstanding Motions and pleadings because he had just recently retained

counsel, who needed time to review the record; and (2) permit Taggart to file

a counseled amended complaint. Before the trial court ruled on the Motion

for Enlargement of Time, Taggart’s counsel filed a Fourth Amended Complaint

4 Rule 233.1 provides, in relevant part, as follows:

(a) Upon the commencement of any action filed by a pro se plaintiff in the court of common pleas, a defendant may file a motion to dismiss the action on the basis that

(1) the pro se plaintiff is alleging the same or related claims which the pro se plaintiff raised in a prior action against the same or related defendants, and

(2) these claims have already been resolved pursuant to a written settlement agreement or a court proceeding.

***

(c) Upon granting the motion and dismissing the action, the court may bar the pro se plaintiff from pursuing additional pro se litigation against the same or related defendants raising the same or related claims without leave of court.

Pa.R.C.P. 233.1(a), (c).

-3- J-S06033-18

on June 28, 2016. The trial court thereafter denied the Motion for

Enlargement of Time.

Following a procedural history that is not relevant to this appeal, on

February 6, 2017, the trial court entered the Dismissal Order, granting

Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Taggart’s Third Amended Complaint, with

prejudice. Additionally, the Dismissal Order precluded Taggart from pursuing

further litigation against Defendants related to the Property without leave of

the trial court. Importantly to this appeal, merely one day prior to the date

of the Dismissal Order, Taggart filed a Praecipe to voluntarily discontinue all

claims against all Defendants, without prejudice. Taggart filed a Motion for

Reconsideration of the Dismissal Order, which the trial court later denied.

Taggart filed a timely Notice of Appeal from the Dismissal Order, in

response to which the trial court ordered him to file a Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b)

concise statement of errors complained of on appeal. Taggart timely filed a

Concise Statement, presenting 17 separate allegations of error. The trial court

thereafter issued a Rule 1925(a) Opinion, consolidating Taggart’s numerous

claims into three main issues.

Taggart now presents the following questions for our review:

1. Whether the trial court erred in finding that it had subject matter jurisdiction to enter an Order after the case had been voluntarily terminated by [Taggart?]

2. Whether the trial court erred in finding that the Motion pursuant to [] Rule 233.1 was properly before the court[?]

-4- J-S06033-18

3. Whether the trial court erred in entering an Order[,] which granted a Motion to Dismiss [Taggart’s] third Amended Complaint[,] after the case had been voluntarily discontinued as to all Defendants by [Taggart], and a fourth Amended Complaint had been filed by counsel[?]

4. Whether the trial court erred in finding that [] Rule 233.1 was applicable to the case when it entered the [Dismissal] Order on February [6], 2017[?]

5. Whether the trial court erred in finding that it had legal authority to [d]ismiss [Taggart’s c]laims with [p]rejudice and without a hearing[?]

6. Whether the trial court erred in finding that [] Rule 233.1 was applicable when [Taggart] was represented by counsel[?]

7. Whether the trial court erred in finding that it had legal authority to [d]ismiss [the] third Amended Complaint[,] filed by [Taggart] pro se[,] when it was rendered moot by a fourth Amended Complaint filed by counsel[?]

8. Whether the trial court erred in terminating the [d]ue [p]rocess [r]ights of [Taggart] without a hearing prior to entering an [O]rder barring claims with prejudice on February [6], 2017[?]

9. Whether the trial court erred in [v]acating the Order denying [the] Motion to Dismiss the third Amended Complaint[,] … which properly denied the Motion to Dismiss the third Amended Complaint[?]

10. Whether the trial court erred in [d]enying [Taggart’s] Motion for Reconsideration [of] the [O]rder dated July 21, 2016 … [?]

11. Whether the trial court erred in finding that failing to allow safe[]guards for [Taggart] to [a]ttend a [m]eeting[?]

12. Whether the trial court erred in failing to find that the Motion pursuant to[] [Rule] 233.1 was not timely filed by [Defendants?]

-5- J-S06033-18

13. Whether the trial court erred in failing to allow claim to be adjudicated on the merits and which have not been resolved[?]

14.

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Taggart, K. v. Mortgage Electronic Registration, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taggart-k-v-mortgage-electronic-registration-pasuperct-2018.