Wentz v. Albert

50 Pa. D. & C. 600, 1944 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 121
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County
DecidedFebruary 21, 1944
Docketno. 59
StatusPublished

This text of 50 Pa. D. & C. 600 (Wentz v. Albert) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wentz v. Albert, 50 Pa. D. & C. 600, 1944 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 121 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1944).

Opinion

Barthold, J.,

This is a rule for a more specific statement. Plaintiffs, Albert L. Wentz and Paul I. Wentz, co-partners, trading as Service Supply Company, seek to recover from defendants, Michael Albert and Ruth Molovinsky, remaining executrix of the last will and testament of Gizella Albert, deceased, the sum of $4,107.42 with interest, an alleged deficiency upon a mortgage bond executed by defendants Michael Albert and Gizella Albert, his wife. Letters testamentary on the estate of Gizella Albert, deceased, were issued to defendants Ruth Molovinsky and Michael Albert. Michael Albert was removed by decree of the orphans’ court as co-executor, leaving Ruth Molovinsky sole executrix of the last will and testament of Gizella Albert, deceased.

[601]*601Paragraph 6 of the statement of claim recites the execution on November 26, 1940, of a mortgage bond in the sum of $6,000, by defendant Michael Albert and Gizella Albert, his wife. Paragraph 7 recites payments on account by Michael Albert and his wife, leaving a principal balance due of $4,108.42, with interest at 5% percent from June 28, 1941. Paragraph 8 recites that, upon foreclosure sale of the premises covered by the mortgage accompanying the bond in suit, $1 was realized, leaving a deficiency on the total bond obligation in the amount of $4,107.42. In the same paragraph it is averred that the “sale was made to a purchaser other than and not privy with the mortgage plaintiff partnership, herein named in said instrument of mortgage”. Paragraph 9 recites that “no payment was ever made or credit applied or to be applied on the said ^deficiency of $4,107.42 either before or since the death of the said Gizella Albert”. Paragraph 10 sets forth the requisite averments of demand and refusal.

Ruth Molovinsky, remaining executrix of the estate of Gizella Albert, deceased, and one of the defendants herein, has filed a motion for a more specific statement of claim alleging “that said statement is vague, indefinite and lacking in particularity in the following respects: (a) That said statement of claim fails to identify and disclose the name of the purchaser of the real estate sold on foreclosure proceedings instituted by the plaintiffs on mortgage accompanying the bond upon which the alleged cause of action is based.”

Plaintiffs, in opposition to the motion, assert: (1) “Plaintiffs’ action is on a bond necessitating a pleading only of its presentation according to its terms and an allegation of nonpayment thereof”; (2) “the relevancy of the identity of purchaser at the sheriff’s sale, referred to in the within proceedings, is applicable only in relation to the Deficiency Judgments- Act”; (3) “the said relevancy and its exclusive application, [602]*602as above, is prima facie nullified by the denial contained in the statement of claim that neither plaintiffs nor anyone privy with them were the purchasers at the said sale, unless such denial is controverted and issue taken thereon by defendant”; and (4) “the identity of the purchaser at the said sale constitutes a part of defendant’s proof in support of the position, if taken, controverting plaintiffs’ denial as aforesaid.”

We conclude from the respective contentions advanced, that the sole question for decision is the following:

In an action on a bond to recover a deficiency judgment following a mortgage sale, must plaintiff set forth the name of the purchaser of the premises sold on foreclosure as an essential allegation in the statement of claim?

“Generally — Where the holder of a bond and mortgage elects to proceed in rem against the mortgaged premises by an action of scire facias sur mortgage, the recovery is limited to proceeds of the sale of the mortgaged lands, with such limitations as may be imposed by statute. The foreclosure of a mortgage ends merely the mortgage debt, as distinguished from the bond of the mortgagor which it secures. With the foreclosure of a mortgage the terre-tenant’s liability as respects the mortgage debt itself is terminated. The situation is otherwise as respects the mortgagor himself; for unless the foreclosure sale brings a price sufficient to pay the mortgage debt in full, he is liable for the deficiency on the bond. But a deficiency judgment cannot be entered in a sci. fa. sur mortgage proceeding. The deficiency is obtained by a suit on the accompanying bond or note”: 13 Standard Pa. Practice 606.

Prior to the passage of the several Deficiency Judgment Acts, it was the settled law of Pennsylvania that “the amount realized at a sheriff’s sale is conclusive as to the value of the premises in determining what [603]*603deficiency may be recovered on the bond accompanying the mortgage, even though the mortgagee himself is the bidder at the sale, in the absence of fraud or other infirmity in the sale”: 13 Standard Pa. Practice 607, 608. This rule of law has been modified by the provisions of the Act of July 16, 1941, P. L. 400, 12 PS §§2621.1-2621.11, commonly known as the “Deficiency Judgments Act”.

Section 1 thereof contains the following provisions in connection with the collection of a deficiency after purchase by plaintiff:

“Whenever any real property has heretofore been or is hereafter sold, directly or indirectly, to the plaintiff in execution proceedings and the price for which such property has been sold was or is not sufficient to satisfy the amount of the judgment, interest and costs, and the plaintiff seeks to collect the balance due on said judgment, interest and costs, the plaintiff or plaintiffs shall petition the court having jurisdiction to fix the fair market value of the real property sold as aforesaid. Said petition shall be signed and sworn to by the plaintiff or plaintiffs.”

Section 6 thereof provides for the release and discharge of the debtor to the extent of the fair market value, after hearing on the petition, and authorizes the petitioner thereupon to proceed to collect the balance of the debt. Section 7 thereof provides for the filing of all petitions not later than six months after the sale of any real property, and further provides that, if no petition is filed within the prescribed period, the debtor or any other person liable directly or indirectly to plaintiff for the payment of the debt shall be released and discharged of his liability to' plaintiff. Section 7 thereof provides that, if plaintiff shall fail to present such petition within six months after the sale, the debtor, or any other person liable directly or indirectly to plaintiff or any other person interested, may present a petition setting forth the facts of sale, [604]*604and that no petition has been filed in accordance with the act, whereupon the court, upon proof of the service required and being satisfied of the facts, shall direct the prothonotary to mark the judgment satisfied, released, and discharged. Section 10 thereof provides that it shall be incompetent for any debtor, obligor, or guarantor to waive the benefits of the act or to release any obligee from compliance with its terms, and further provides that any such waiver or release shall be absolutely void, unenforcible, and of no effect.

The constitutionality of the above act has been upheld by the Supreme Court in Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Co. v. Allen et al., 343 Pa. 428, and Pennsylvania Co., etc., v. Scott, 346 Pa. 13.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
50 Pa. D. & C. 600, 1944 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 121, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wentz-v-albert-pactcomplnortha-1944.