J-A19027-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

BR HOLDING FUND, LLC

v.

SHAHEIDA MCKENDRICK 

(MORTGAGOR AND REAL OWNER) 

AND SHACONDA MCKENDRICK 

(REAL OWNER)

APPEAL OF: SHAHEIDA 

MCKENDRICK

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 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF

 PENNSYLVANIA

 No. 3530 EDA 2019

Appeal from the Order Entered November 7, 2019

In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Civil Division at 

No(s): No. 150501159

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J., McLAUGHLIN, J., and McCAFFERY, J.

MEMORANDUM BY McLAUGHLIN, J.: FILED DECEMBER 11, 2020

Shaheida McKendrick appeals from the order fixing fair market value for 

the real property located at 113 South Street in Philadelphia (“the property”)

and entering a deficiency judgment against her. McKendrick argues that the 

court erred in imposing personal liability in a mortgage foreclosure action and 

that the underlying judgment in mortgage foreclosure was void. We affirm. 

In 2007, McKendrick executed a mortgage on the property and a 

promissory note in favor of Alternative Business Credit, LLC in exchange for a 

$765,000 loan. See BR Holding Fund LLC v. McKendrick, No. 385 EDA 

2018, 2018 WL 6839353, at *1 (Pa.Super. Dec. 31, 2018) (unpublished 

memorandum). Alternative Business Credit, LLC assigned its interest to Patriot 
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Group, LLC, which in turn assigned its interest to Fairway Fund III, LLC 

(“Fairway Fund”). Fairway Fund initiated mortgage foreclosure proceedings 

against the property in 2009. The action ended in 2014, when the trial court 

entered judgment non pros. 

Fairway Fund then assigned its interest to BR Holding Fund, LLC (“BR 

Holding”). BR Holding initiated a new foreclosure action on the property in 

2015. By that time, McKendrick co-owned the property along with her sister, 

Shaconda McKendrick, whom BR Holding named as a defendant in the 

mortgage foreclosure proceedings. Following a bench trial, the court entered 

judgment against the McKendricks and assessed damages at $1,866,100.85,

plus interest accruing at $317.54 per day as of July 10, 2017. See Judgment 

in Mortgage Foreclosure, filed 8/23/17.

The McKendricks appealed the foreclosure judgment but did not post a 

supersedeas bond. As a result, while the case was pending on appeal, the 

property went to sheriff’s sale and BR Holding bought it for $71,700. We thus 

dismissed the McKendricks’ appeal as moot, because they no longer had any 

ownership interest in the property. See McKendrick, No. 385 EDA 2018, 

2018 WL 6839353, at *2. The Supreme Court denied the McKendricks’ petition 

for allowance of appeal.

Meanwhile, BR Holding filed a Motion to Fix Fair Market Value of Real 

Property and Establish Deficiency Judgment against McKendrick, pursuant to 

the Deficiency Judgment Act. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 8103(a). BR Holding later 

filed an Amended Petition and Second Amended Petition, each accompanied 
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by a Notice to Defend. McKendrick filed an Answer, but, after a hearing, the 

Court granted the Motion. The court entered an order fixing fair market value 

of the property at $429,721.59. The order also announced a deficiency 

judgment against McKendrick in the amount of $1,958.036.67, with interest 

accruing at $317.54 per day, plus attorney’s fees.

McKendrick appealed, and raises the following issues:

I. Did the lower court err in deeming the in rem foreclosure 

judgment an in personam judgment against [a]ppellant Shaheida 

McKendrick when said judgment was fully satisfied by the Sheriff’s 

sale of the realty at 113 South Street, Philadelphia, PA?

II. Was the underlying judgment in this case improperly obtained 

because the Plaintiff failed to comply with Pa.R.C.P. 3051 as a 

prerequisite to BR Holding’s action in the mortgage foreclosure, 

which foreclosure was the subject of a non pros by concurrent 

Order in the same court at CP 091002793, and neither the plaintiff 

in the earlier case nor its assignee/appellee proceeded pursuant 

to the rule?

McKendrick’s Br. at 5.

“The scope of appellate review in a deficiency judgment proceeding is 

limited to assessing whether sufficient evidence exists to sustain the trial 

court’s order, or whether the court committed a reversible error of law.” Home 

Sav. & Loan Co. of Youngstown, Ohio v. Irongate Ventures, LLC, 19 

A.3d 1074, 1078 (Pa.Super. 2011). 

Deficiency Judgment

McKendrick argues the court erred in entering a deficiency judgment 

against her following the judgment in mortgage foreclosure because a 

mortgage foreclosure proceeding is an in rem proceeding and cannot support 
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an in personam deficiency judgment. McKendrick’s Br. at 15-16. McKendrick 

claims that in Irongate Ventures, we only interpreted the Deficiency 

Judgment Act insofar as we explained that a petition to fix fair market value 

must be filed within six months and on a mortgage foreclosure docket, as 

opposed to a confessed judgment docket. She claims we did not upset longstanding precedent that mortgage foreclosure itself is strictly an in rem

proceeding that imposes no personal liability. She further argues that 

Pa.R.C.P. 1141(a) prohibits including a personal liability action within a 

mortgage foreclosure action.

The Deficiency Judgment Act provides a mechanism for a judgment 

creditor to obtain a deficiency judgment against the judgment debtor. It allows 

a judgment creditor that purchased the subject property in execution

proceedings to petition the court to fix the fair market value of the property,

if the purchase price does not satisfy the judgment, interest, and costs, and 

the judgment creditor wishes to collect the balance due on such amounts. 42 

Pa.C.S.A. § 8103(a). Once the court determines the fair market value of the 

property, the judgment debtor is released and discharged of liability to the 

extent of the fair market value (less liens, costs, taxes, and claims not 

discharged by the sale or paid at distribution of the sale). Id. at § 8103(c)(5). 

The judgment creditor may then “proceed by appropriate proceedings to 

collect the balance of the debt.” Id.

The proceeding pursuant to the Act is a supplementary proceeding in 

“the matter in which the judgment was entered.” Id. at § 8103(a); Irongate 
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Ventures, 19 A.3d at 1078. “Judgment” here means “[t]he judgment which 

was enforced by the execution proceedings” to which Section 8103(a) refers, 

“whether that judgment is a judgment in personam such as a judgment 

requiring the payment of money or a judgment de terris or in rem such as a 

judgment entered in an action of mortgage foreclosure . . . .” 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 

8103(g). 

McKendrick is correct that a mortgage foreclosure action in Pennsylvania 

is “strictly an in rem or ‘de terris’ proceeding.” Nicholas v. Hofmann, 158 

A.3d 675, 696 (Pa.Super. 2017). Such de terris or in rem proceedings are in 

contrast to an in personam action, and the purpose of a mortgage foreclosure 

action “is solely to effect a judicial sale of the mortgaged property.” Id.

McKendrick is also correct that the Rules of Civil Procedure preclude the 

inclusion of personal liability claims in a mortgage foreclosure complaint, as 

well as any counterclaims not related to the origination of the mortgage. See 

Pa.R.C.P. 1141(a), 1148; Nicholas, 158 A.3d at 697.

However, McKendrick’s argument that the foreclosure judgment cannot 

give rise to an in personam obligation ignores the language of the Deficiency 

Judgment Act. Although originally Depression-era legislation,1the General 

Assembly amended the Act in 1978, 1998, and 2004. In Irongate Ventures, 

we observed these amendments “removed the historical obstacles to the filing 

of petitions to fix fair market value as a supplement to mortgage foreclosure 

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1 See First Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n of Carnegie v. Keisling, 746 A.2d 

1150, 1155 (Pa.Super. 2000). 
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actions.” 19 A.3d at 1080. The plain language of the Act presently permits a 

petition to fix fair market value “as a supplementary proceeding in the matter 

in which the judgment was entered,” even if that judgment was de terris or in 

rem, such as a foreclosure judgment. 42 Pa.C.S.A. at § 8103(a), (g). These 

subsections, when read together, permit a judgment creditor to file a petition 

to fix fair market value as a supplementary proceeding in the foreclosure 

action, following execution of the foreclosure judgment, and obtain a 

determination of “the balance of the debt[.]” 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 8103(c)(5);

Irongate Ventures, 19 A.3d at 1080; accord Nicholas, 158 A.3d at 696 

n.34. 

In addition, the Supreme Court has amended the Rules of Civil 

Procedure governing deficiency judgment actions consistent with the 

amendments to the Act. See Irongate Ventures, 19 A.3d at 1080 n.7. In 

particular, Rule 3278 provides that a deficiency judgment action be brought 

“as a supplemental proceeding in the execution proceeding.” Pa.R.C.P. 3278.2

As the Explanatory Comment to Rule 3276 explains, “[i]n allowing a deficiency 

judgment proceeding to be brought supplementary to an action de terris or in 

rem, the character of the action is not altered.” Pa.R.C.P. No. 3276, 

Explanatory Comment—1996.

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2 The Rules further outline the procedure for the deficiency judgment action. 

See Pa.R.C.P. 3276-91. For example, Rule 3282 provides that a deficiency 

judgment petition include a request to fix fair market value and be 

accompanied by a Notice to Defend, and Rule 3285 provides for a trial. See

Pa.R.C.P. 3282, 3285.
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Here, McKendrick does not argue that BR Holding failed to follow the 

Rules governing deficiency actions, or that the court erred in fixing the fair 

market value of the property, or in calculating the deficiency of the debt. 

McKendrick argues only that a personal deficiency judgment cannot flow from 

a mortgage foreclosure judgment. Given the foregoing changes in the law, 

this argument holds no water. See Irongate Ventures, 19 A.3d at 1080.

Rule 3051

McKendrick next argues the court erred in fixing fair market value of the 

property and entering deficiency judgment against her because BR Holding 

never moved to open or strike the judgment of non pros entered in the prior 

foreclosure action. McKendrick argues that BR holding had to file a petition to 

strike or open the judgment of non pros, rather than institute a new 

foreclosure action. McKendrick emphasizes that foreclosure on the mortgage 

was subject to the same defenses as it was prior to its assignment to BR 

Holding.

The trial court found no merit to this argument. It stated, “Pennsylvania 

jurisprudence is clear that judgments of non pros do not preclude a plaintiff 

from bringing a new claim with the same cause of action within the statute of 

limitations.” Trial Court Opinion, 2/11/20, at 6-7. The court also found the 

claim was previously litigated because McKendrick had raised it in her appeal 

from the mortgage foreclosure judgment. 

We agree that McKendrick cannot now litigate this issue, as she already 

raised it during her direct appeal of the judgment of mortgage foreclosure. 
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See McKendrick, No. 385 EDA 2018, 2018 WL 6839353, at *1 n.1; Riccio 

v. Am. Republic Ins. Co., 705 A.2d 422, 425 (Pa. 1997) (explaining the law 

of the case doctrine). We also agree that the issue is meritless, as the entry 

of a judgment of non pros does not preclude a plaintiff from commencing a

new action on the same cause of action, within the statute of limitations. See 

Hatchigian v. Koch, 553 A.2d 1018, 1020 (Pa.Super. 1989).

Order affirmed.

Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.

Prothonotary

Date: 12/11/2020