Opinion ID: 393683
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Confession of Judgment

Text: 20 Pennsylvania's procedures governing confession of judgment for money due, Pa.R.Civ.P. 2950-2962, do not have a specific venue provision analogous to assumpsit's Rule 1006. However, the rule providing procedures to obtain relief from a judgment by confession, Pa.R.Civ.P. 2959, currently serves the purpose. Rule 2959, 13 in relevant part, provides: 21 (a) Relief from a judgment by confession shall be sought by petition. All grounds for relief, whether to strike off the judgment or to open it, must be asserted in a single petition. The petition may be filed in the county in which the judgment was originally entered, in any county to which the judgment has been transferred or in any other county in which the sheriff has received a writ of execution directed to him to enforce the judgment. 22 Under this rule, defendants have the option of challenging by petition the confession of judgment in several locations. Assuming that the debtor has property only in the county of his residence, before a plaintiff could execute on the judgment, the judgment would have to be transferred to the county of the debtor, or a writ of execution directed to the sheriff of that county. At such a time, the Court of Common Pleas of the debtor's home county would have venue of a petition from the debtor challenging the judgment. Thus, Rule 2959 appears to satisfy the objection of the federal plaintiffs in this case that confessing judgment in Dauphin County denies them due process. Before any injury will be sustained, the court in their home county will have obtained venue. 23 A second feature of Pennsylvania's confession of judgment rules, alluded to earlier, see note 13 supra, is relevant to our inquiry into the adequacy of Pennsylvania rules. Under both the present and prior Rule 2959(a), a defendant could strike off or open a confessed judgment only by filing a petition. Regardless of the location of the court or the financial status of the parties, only by submitting a legal instrument is relief available. 14 Pennsylvania's rules permit the use of the mails for both filing of such papers, Pa.R.Civ.P. 205.1, and service of such papers on opposing parties. Pa.R.Civ.P. 233. Thus, in regard to initial attempts to challenge a confession, venue is irrelevant: the required petition can be as easily mailed 200 miles as across the street. The indigent defendant living far distant from a Court of Common Pleas in which a plaintiff has sought to enter a confession of judgment has the same access to that court under Pennsylvania's rules as does a non-indigent defendant residing in the county in which the court is located. 15 24 Keeping in mind these rules of civil procedure, we turn now to consideration of the district court's disposition of the various claims of plaintiffs and the arguments PHEAA has asserted on this appeal against those dispositions.