Opinion ID: 1969320
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appeal of the Landaus

Text: The claims of the Landaus respecting the Western Pennsylvania-Kroger subordination and attornment agreement are largely similar to those made by the mortgagors and may be easily dismissed, for much of our previous discussion is equally applicable in the Landaus' appeal. The Landaus as judgment creditors stood in the shoes of their debtors, Carroll and Jennings, and did not acquire any rights in the subject property greater than those possessed by Carroll and Jennings. See Miners Savings Bank v. Thomas, 140 Pa. Superior Ct. 5, 12 A. 2d 810 (1940) (opinion by KELLER, P.J.). As Carroll and Jennings do not possess any legally cognizable right to be compensated for the Western Pennsylvania subordination agreement, the Landaus, claiming through Carroll and Jennings, have no right to vitiate the agreement. Furthermore, the Landaus' position is devoid of equity. Had there been no mortgage, it is clear that the Landaus' judgment lien would have been subordinate to the Kroger lease. In effect, they are now asking a court of equity to require the paramount lienor (Western Pennsylvania) to forego its own business judgment and exercise its right to abrogate the Kroger lease, thereby altering the priorities which would otherwise exist and elevating their junior judgment lien above the lease. Neither the court below nor this Court has been furnished with any reason why they deserve such a windfall. The Landaus' lien priority was not adversely affected by the subordination and attornment agreement, and the Kroger lease, which should have alerted any junior lienor to the possibility of such a subordination, was recorded more than one year before the execution of the judgment note. The release of a portion of mortgaged premises from the lien of the mortgage is and has been for many years a common practice in the financial world. See Harp Building & Loan Association, supra. There is no reason for equity to restrain such a release in the instant case. In a manner similar to that attempted by appellants Carroll and Jennings, the Landaus seek to cast a pall of suspicion over the otherwise innocent and lawful subordination and attornment agreement by alleging that the agreement was part of a conspiracy and fraud. In paragraph 22 of their complaint in equity, they allege that Western Pennsylvania and Kroger, acting in concert together, contrived, connived and conspired unjustifiably to reduce the value of their judgment lien and to interfere as well with the rights of other creditors, and paragraph 25 of the complaint reads as follows: That the action by and between both Defendants in the execution and filing of the subordination and attornment agreement on August 4, 1970 amounts, Plaintiffs believe and therefore aver, to a fraud upon Plaintiffs and all other lien creditors upon the premises. The allegation of the conspiracy suffers from the same defect as the conspiracy allegation of appellants Carroll and Jennings in that it fails to recite the material facts upon which the conspiracy claim is based, see Pa. R.C.P. 1019(a), and the conclusory allegation of fraud is insufficient a fortiori, for Pa. R.C.P. 1019(b) additionally provides that [a]verments of fraud or mistake shall be averred with particularity. See Bata v. Central-Penn National Bank, 423 Pa. 373, 224 A. 2d 174 (1966); Anderson, supra, § 1019.18. Accordingly, the court en banc did not err in granting summary judgment in the face of such bald and unsupported allegations of conspiracy and fraud. The decree of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County granting summary judgments is affirmed. Each party to pay own costs.