Court Opinion

ID: 9637571
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:10:40.650681+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:57.862702
License: Public Domain

*184JOHNSON, Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
I agree with the majority to the extent that it appears that the judgment in the instant case should not stand. However, I disagree with the majority’s finding that the instant case is a proper one for a petition to strike; rather, I believe that the trial court should have addressed appellee’s motion to open the judgment.
As the majority noted in its opinion, a petition to strike is a common law proceeding and operates as a demurrer to the record. Such a petition will not be granted unless a fatal defect in the judgment appears on the face of the record and the facts are not controverted. Conti v. Shapiro, Eisenstat, Capizola, O’Neil, Lisitski and Gabage, PA, 203 Pa.Super. 301, 439 A.2d 122 (1981). In contradistinction, a motion to open judgment is equitable in nature and addresses itself to irregularities predicated upon matters outside the record. National Recovery Systems v. Monaghan, 322 Pa.Super. 183, 469 A.2d 244 (1983). Where the claim is that a judgment should not have been entered for reasons not appearing of record, the proper remedy is not a motion to strike but a motion to open the judgment. In re Estate of McCauley, 478 Pa. 83, 385 A.2d 1324 (1978). To open a judgment, a petitioner must aver a valid defense and must establish equitable considerations which impress the court with the need for relief. Sanctis v. Lagerbusch, 213 Pa.Super. 483, 249 A.2d 919 (1968).
In the instant case, the resolution of the issue regarding the Deficiency Judgment Act, presented to the court in Cumberland County, turns on matters contained on the docket in Dauphin County. It is necessary to ascertain whether the underlying debt obligation is the same in both instances. We neither have before us a certified copy of the docket from Dauphin County nor do we have Valley Trust’s admission that the underlying debt is the same in both cases. The Lapitskys have filed an uncertified copy of the complaint in mortgage execution, which was said to have been filed in Dauphin County, and it would appear from this document that the underlying debt is the same. *185For this reason, I believe that the correct procedure would have been for the trial court to grant the Lapitskys’ petition to open judgment to allow in evidence of their defense.
I, therefore, would reverse the trial court’s granting of the petition to strike and I would remand this case to the lower court for a ruling upon the Lapitskys’ petition to open.