IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Bethlehem Area School District :

:

v. : No. 89 C.D. 2017

: Submitted: May 19, 2017

Alvin S. Kanofsky and United :

States of America :

:

Appeal of: Alvin S. Kanofsky :

BEFORE: HONORABLE P. KEVIN BROBSON, Judge

HONORABLE JULIA K. HEARTHWAY, Judge1

HONORABLE BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER, Senior Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BY JUDGE BROBSON FILED: September 12, 2017

Appellant Alvin S. Kanofsky (Kanofsky), pro se, appeals from an 

order of the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County (trial court), dated 

December 21, 2016, which granted Appellee Bethlehem Area School District’s 

(School District) Motion for Judgment for Want of Sufficient Affidavit of Defense 

(Motion). For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. 

Kanofsky is the owner of real property located at 32 East Third Street, 

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (Property). On March 28, 2016, the School District filed 

a tax claim against the Property for the non-payment of 2014/2015 school real 

estate taxes in the amount of $2,448.36. Thereafter, on April 18, 2016, the School 

 

1

This decision was reached before Judge Hearthway’s service with the Court ended on 

September 1, 2017.
2

District filed a writ of scire facias,

2

seeking to reduce the tax claim to a judgment 

against Kanofsky. In response thereto, Kanofsky, who was acting pro se, filed a 

document he entitled: “Brief in Response to [the School District’s] Tax Lien” and 

a “Counter Complaint,” which the trial court appears to have treated as Kanofsky’s 

Affidavit of Defense (Affidavit). Subsequently, on October 7, 2016, the School 

District filed its Motion. The trial court held oral argument on the School 

District’s Motion on November 29, 2016. By order dated December 21, 2016, the 

trial court granted the School District’s Motion. In so doing, the trial court 

determined that Kanofsky’s Affidavit failed to show how the tax claim was 

inaccurate or otherwise defective. (Trial Ct. Order, Dec. 21, 2016.) The trial court 

also determined that what is commonly referred to as the Municipal Claims and 

Tax Liens Act (MCTLA)

3

provided a statutory appeal process and did not 

authorize the filing of a counter complaint as a defense to a writ of scire facias. 

(Id.) As a result, the trial court did not consider Kanofsky’s counter complaint. 

(Id.)

Kanofsky appealed the trial court’s order to this Court, and the trial 

court directed Kanofsky to file a concise statement of errors complained of on 

appeal pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 1925(b) (1925(b) 

statement). On February 13, 2017, Kanofsky filed his 1925(b) statement. Rather 

than set forth the reasons for his appeal or the alleged errors committed by the trial 

 

2 On September 28, 2016, after discovering that there were federal tax liens filed against 

Kanofsky and the Property, the School District filed a motion to amend its writ of scire facias, 

seeking to add the United States of America as a defendant. By order dated September 28, 2016, 

the trial court granted the motion. 

3 Act of May 16, 1923, P.L. 207, as amended, 53 P.S. §§ 7101-7505.
3

court, Kanofsky simply referenced and attached statements of errors complained of 

on appeal that he had filed in previous tax lien appeals. Thus, in its 

1925(a) opinion, the trial court concluded that Kanofsky had failed to raise any 

cognizable claims on appeal and requested that Kanofsky’s appeal be dismissed. 

(Trial Ct. Op., Feb. 14, 2017.)

On appeal, Kanofsky appears to argue that the trial court erred in 

granting the School District’s Motion because he set forth valid defenses to the 

School District’s tax claim in his Affidavit.

4

 In response, the School District 

argues that the trial court properly determined that the School District was entitled 

to have its tax claim reduced to judgment for want of sufficient affidavit of defense 

because Kanofsky failed to “raise any issues related to the validity or accuracy of 

the delinquent taxes” in his Affidavit. (School District’s Br. at 7.) The School 

District argues further that the trial court properly chose not to consider

Kanofsky’s counter complaint because there was no basis for Kanofsky to include 

a counter complaint with his Affidavit.5

 

4

In the “Questions Involved” and “Questions Asked” sections of his brief, Kanofsky 

identifies fourteen issues for consideration by this Court on appeal. The majority of Kanofsky’s 

issues, however, involve matters that are irrelevant and in no way relate to this appeal and/or 

have no basis in the record. As a result, such issues are not properly before this Court and will 

not be addressed in this opinion.

5

The School District also argues that Kanofsky failed to adequately develop any issues 

for appellate review in his brief to this Court because his brief “consists of a series of vague 

allegations presented in scattershot fashion that have no relevance to whether he owes [school] 

real estate taxes on the Property for the year 2014/2015” and his argument “lacks any citation to 

legal authority, any legal argument, any explanation of how his allegations relate to the issues 

listed in his (multiple) statements of the questions involved, or any explanation of how the [t]rial 

[c]ourt erred.” (School District’s Br. at 5-6.) We disagree. Although Kanofsky’s brief sets forth 

matters that in no way relate to this appeal and/or have no basis in the record, when read as a 

(Footnote continued on next page...)
4

We need not reach the merits of Kanofsky’s argument because the 

record demonstrates that he failed to properly raise any cognizable issues in his 

1925(b) statement. Although not argued by the School District,6it is well-settled 

that this Court may dismiss an appeal sua sponte based on an appellant’s failure to 

properly preserve issues for appellate review. Gibraltar Rock, Inc. v. New 

Hanover Twp., 118 A.3d 461, 464 (Pa. Cmwlth.), appeal denied, 128 A.3d 222 

(Pa. 2015). When a party wishes to appeal an order of a trial court, the 

Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure require that, upon the order of the trial 

court, an appellant must file a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal. 

Pa. R.A.P. 1925(b). The appellant’s statement must “concisely identify each ruling 

or error that the appellant intends to challenge with sufficient detail to identify all 

pertinent issues for the judge.” Pa. R.A.P. 1925(b)(4)(ii). Failure to do so results 

in the waiver of any issues not included in the statement. 

Pa. R.A.P. 1925(b)(4)(vii). 

Here, Kanofsky’s 1925(b) statement failed to set forth the reasons for 

his appeal or the alleged errors committed by the trial court. Kanofsky simply 

referenced and attached statements of errors complained of on appeal that he had 

filed in previous tax lien appeals, which do not in any way relate to the tax claim 

that is the subject of this appeal—i.e., the non-payment of the 2014/2015 school 

 

(continued...)

whole, Kanofsky’s brief adequately develops the issue of whether the trial court properly granted 

the School District’s Motion. 

6 As explained more fully in footnote 5 of this opinion, the School District argued that 

Kanofsky failed to adequately develop any appellate issues in his brief to this Court. The School 

District’s argument in no way related to Kanofsky’s 1925(b) statement. 
5

real estate taxes for the Property. Kanofsky has, therefore, failed to identify any 

cognizable issues in his 1925(b) statement, and, pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of 

Appellate Procedure 1925(b), all issues are waived for the purposes of this appeal, 

including whether the trial court erred in granting the School District’s Motion. 

Even if we did not dismiss Kanofsky’s appeal for failure to comply 

with Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 1925(b), Kanofsky’s argument that 

the trial court erred in granting the School District’s Motion is without merit. The

procedure governing municipal claims in Pennsylvania was previously explained 

by this Court in Western Clinton County Municipal Authority v. Estate of 

Rosamilia, 826 A.2d 52 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2003):

[M]unicipal claim procedure in general and scire facias 

procedure in particular, is purely statutory [and is 

governed by the MCTLA]. Once the municipality files a 

claim for services, the claim becomes a lien on the 

property. If the owner does not dispute the claim and 

assessment, the owner simply pays and removes the lien. 

To contest the claim or amount of assessment and to 

force the issue to an original hearing, the owner may file 

and serve a notice upon the claimant municipality to 

issue a writ of scire facias. In the proceeding 

commenced by the writ of scire facias, the owner then 

files an “affidavit of defense.” In that affidavit the 

owner may raise all defenses he or she has to the 

municipal claim. 

Alternatively, the municipality may pursue a writ 

of scire facias without waiting for prompting by the 

owner, which is what occurred in the present case. In 

response to the writ, the owner may file an affidavit of 

defense raising all defenses.

. . . .

Where a judgment for insufficient affidavit of 

defense is sought, the averments in the affidavit of 

defense are taken as true. The court may not go outside 

the case as presented by the pleadings for the purpose of 
6

considering extraneous facts, either in support of or 

against the line of defense disclosed by the affidavit. In 

this regard, the procedure followed is analogous to a 

motion for judgment on the pleadings. A rule for 

judgment for insufficient affidavit of defense may be 

discharged where the appellate court thinks it advisable 

that the case go to trial so that the facts may be more 

fully developed and passed upon. 

Estate of Rosamilia, 826 A.2d at 56-57 (citations omitted). Thus, Kanofsky was 

required to raise any defenses that he had to the School District’s tax claim in his 

Affidavit. Kanofsky did not do so, as his Affidavit does not set forth any facts or 

allegations regarding the existence, validity, or accuracy of the School District’s 

tax claim. Rather, it appears that Kanofsky used his Affidavit, as well as his brief 

to this Court, to make excuses for why he has not paid the 2014/2015 school real 

estate taxes and to complain about other matters. Because Kanofsky has failed to 

set forth any defense to the School District’s tax claim, we cannot conclude that the 

trial court erred in granting the School District’s Motion.7

For all of the above stated reasons, we affirm the trial court’s order. 

 

 P. KEVIN BROBSON, Judge

 

7

The trial court also properly chose not to consider Kanofsky’s counter complaint as the 

MCTLA provides a purely statutory mechanism to challenge a municipal claim and the 

Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure do not apply to any such proceedings. See Shapiro v. Ctr.

Twp., Butler Cnty., 632 A.2d 994, 999 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1993), appeal denied, 642 A.2d 488 (Pa. 

1994).
IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Bethlehem Area School District :

:

v. : No. 89 C.D. 2017

:

Alvin S. Kanofsky and United :

States of America :

:

Appeal of: Alvin S. Kanofsky :

O R D E R

AND NOW, this 12th day of September, 2017, the order of the Court 

of Common Pleas of Northampton County is hereby AFFIRMED. 

 

 P. KEVIN BROBSON, Judge