Gould v. Randal
Gould v. Randal
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
We must affirm this decree or reverse our judgment in Randal v. Gould, 225 Pa. 42. That was an action of ejectment for the real estate involved in this controversy, and was brought in the court of common pleas No. 2 of Philadelphia county by the defendant in this proceeding against Gould, the plaintiff, who filed this bill. The plain
The present proceeding is a bill filed by Gould against Randal while the ejectment was pending, and prays that the judgment entered in common pleas No. 5 on the bond given by Mary C. Bell to Randal be opened and that all proceedings thereon be declared void; that the sheriff’s sale made thereon be set aside and the sheriff’s
The appellant lays stress on the fact that on the trial of the ejectment case in common pleas No. 2 the court would not permit the judgment entered in common pleas No. 5 by Randal against Mrs. Bell on which the real estate was sold to be attacked. This was clearly right. It is not alleged that the judgment was collusive or was entered to defraud Gould, and hence he, as a third party, has no right to attack it either directly or collaterally: Drexel’s App., 6 Pa. 272. If, however, Gould had any standing to attack Randal’s judgment against Mrs. Bell on any ground whatever, except for fraud or collusion which is not alleged, he could not do so in the ejectment suit. The judgment was entered by virtue of a warrant of
The judgment of Randal against Bell being valid and subsisting and ripe for execution, the plaintiff had the right to enforce payment by execution process. This he did, and it resulted in the sale by the sheriff of the defendant’s real estate which the plaintiff in the writ purchased and for which he brought the ejectment. To sustain his title he was compelled to rely on the regularity and legality of the proceedings on his judgment which, therefore, became an issue in that action and was finally and conclusively adjudicated by the judgment of this court entered in that case.
Randal’s judgment against Mrs. Bell was entered on May 8, 1902, and laches now prevent her administrator from attacking its validity. After the lapse of so many years and the collection of the judgment by execution process, it is too late to invoke the equitable powers- of the court to open or strike it off and thereby invalidate the title to real estate depending on its validity.
The bill in equity to open the judgment and set aside the proceedings thereon, subsequently prosecuted to a final decree, was pending at the time the same relief on the same facts was asked by a petition presented to the law side of the court. The plaintiff could not maintain both proceedings at the same time and, therefore, the court did not err in refusing the petition: Freeman v. Lafferty, 207 Pa. 32; Mellerio v. Freeman, 211 Pa. 202.
The order refusing the petition to open the judgment is affirmed, as is also the decree dismissing the bill in equity.
Reference
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- Equity — Opening judgment — Real estate — Prior ejectment suit — Res adjudicata — Laches. 1. Where in an action of ejectment the plaintiff claims title through a sheriff’s sale on a judgment and the defendant claims that the -plaintiff’s title is defective in that the bond on which the judgment was entered was void because the mortgage accompanying it was a nullity, that the vend. ex. on which the sale was made was void because it was issued after the death of the defendant in the judgment without notice to the latter’s legal representative and that the trial court had no jurisdiction because of the Act of April 20, 1905, P. L. 239, and the verdict in the ejectment suit is rendered for the plaintiff, the defendant in the ejectment is not entitled thereafter to maintain a bill in equity praying that the judgment entered on the bond be opened, and that ■all proceedings thereon be declared void; that the sheriff’s sale made thereon be set aside and the sheriff’s deed canceled; that the judgment be stricken off; that the complainant be authorized to make defense to the judgment, and that the administrator of the defendant in the judgment on the bond be required to make defense to the judgment. 2. In such a proceeding the fact that the trial court in the ejectment case would not permit the judgment on which the real estate was sold to be attacked is immaterial, especially in the absence of any allegation that the judgment was collusive or intended to defraud complainant. Judgments — Collateral attack. 3. A third party has no right to attack a judgment entered on a warrant of attorney either directly or collaterally in the absence of any allegation that such judgment was collusive or was entered to defraud such third party. 4. A judgment entered by virtue of a warrant'of attorney, until set aside or reversed in an appropriate proceeding instituted for the purpose, has all the qualities and effect of a judgment entered on a verdict after a trial. 5. A judgment will not be opened at the instance of the administrator of the defendant after the expiration of nine years where it appears that the judgment had been collected by execution process, and that the opening or setting aside of the.judgment would invalidate title to real estate depending on its validity.