Noetzel v. Glasgow, Inc.

• Decision Date: 07 March 1985
• Citation: 338 Pa.Super. 458,487 A.2d 1372
• Parties: Stephen S. NOETZEL and Marilyn B. Noetzel, his wife, Appellees, v. GLASGOW, INC., Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 1372

487 A.2d 1372

338 Pa.Super. 458

Stephen S. NOETZEL and Marilyn B. Noetzel, his wife, Appellees, v. GLASGOW, INC., Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued March 27, 1984.

Filed Jan. 30, 1985.

Reargument Denied March 7, 1985.

Edward W. Mullinix, Philadelphia, for appellant.

John M. Sheridan, Norristown, for appellee.

Before BROSKY, WIEAND and McEWEN, JJ.

WIEAND, Judge:

This is an appeal from an order denying a petition to strike/open a judgment for $300,000 which was recovered in West Virginia and transferred to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, pursuant to the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. ¹ Appellant contends that the West Virginia judgment is not entitled to full faith and credit in Pennsylvania because it was obtained in violation of due process requirements. We disagree and, therefore, affirm the order refusing to strike the judgment. However, we will direct that the judgment be amended to reflect partial satisfaction effected by payments admittedly received in West Virginia.

Stephen and Marilyn Noetzel, husband and wife, brought suit in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia, to recover for personal injuries sustained in an automobile accident on Interstate Route 79 in Kanawha County. Named as defendant was Glasgow, Inc., a Pennsylvania corporation, which had contracted with the West Virginia Department of Highways to perform road work. It was alleged in the Noetzel complaint that Glasgow had negligently erected "Detour" barriers, without proper warning signs, thus causing the Noetzel vehicle to crash. Service of the complaint was effected on June 18, 1979 by making service on the Secretary of State of West Virginia who, pursuant to W.Va.Code § 31-1-15, had been designated attorney-in-fact for foreign corporations. The Secretary of State mailed the complaint to Glasgow's West Virginia agent, C.T. Corporation System, in Charleston, West Virginia. It was there received by W.M. Woodroe, who forwarded it to the C.T. Corporation in Philadelphia. Finally, it was transmitted to the offices of Glasgow's general counsel. By inadvertence and mistake thereafter occurring, the complaint was not answered; and, on August 13, 1979, a default judgment was entered without further notice to Glasgow. On March 19, 1980, the action was certified for jury trial to determine damages. Again, no notice was given to Glasgow, and the trial to assess damages proceeded ex parte on June 25, 1980. The verdict awarded damages to Stephen Noetzel in the amount of $100,000 and to Marilyn Noetzel in the amount of $200,000.

On February 27, 1981, the Noetzels issued a writ of execution and garnished moneys payable to Glasgow by the West Virginia Department of Highways. Glasgow then learned of the judgment which had been entered against it for the first time and moved, on March 23, 1981, for relief from the judgment. Its request was denied by the West Virginia court on April 9, 1981. The court held that service had been lawful, that Glasgow had been entitled to no further notice after it had failed to enter an appearance, and that Glasgow had failed to prove fraud in obtaining the judgment. Moreover, the Court held, the averments of Glasgow's motion that default had occurred as a result of inadvertence, mistake, surprise or fraud "were not made within eight (8) months of the entry of the judgment order herein and therefore [pursuant to W.Va.R.Civ.P. 60(b) ] cannot be considered as grounds to set aside the ... order." No appeal was taken from that order. However, on May 22, 1981, Glasgow filed a petition for writ of prohibition in the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia seeking to prohibit further proceedings on the judgment. Relief was denied on June 2, 1981. An attempt to obtain relief in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia was also unsuccessful. See: Glasgow, Inc. v. Noetzel, 556 F.Supp. 595 (S.D.W.Va.1983).

As a result of attachment execution issued against the Department of Highways in West Virginia, the Noetzels were able to collect $218,811.54 on account of their judgment. Then, on December 22, 1981, they filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a praecipe for judgment "in the amount of [$300,000] in favor of [p]laintiffs, Stephen S. Noetzel and Marilyn B. Noetzel pursuant to the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act." The Court of Common Pleas denied a motion to open/strike the judgment thus recorded in Montgomery County, and Glasgow appealed. It contends that "the Noetzels manipulated the procedural rules [in West Virginia] in a manner that deprived Glasgow of its due process rights to notice and an opportunity to be heard" and that "Rule 60(b) of the West Virginia Rules of Civil Procedure is unconstitutional because it provides an absolute bar to relief from judgments entered without notice or hearing by plaintiffs who deliberately conceal the judgments until the limited time for seeking relief ha[s] expired." Because its due process rights were violated, Glasgow contends, the judgment against it is not entitled to full faith and credit and therefore is not entitled to be accepted or enforced in Pennsylvania pursuant to the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act.

The Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act provides:

(b) Filing and status of foreign judgments.--A copy of any foreign judgment including the docket entries incidental thereto authenticated in accordance with act of Congress or this title may be filed in the office of the clerk of any court of common pleas of this Commonwealth. The clerk shall treat the foreign judgment in the same manner as a judgment of any court of common pleas of this Commonwealth. A judgment so filed shall be a lien as of the date of filing and shall have the same effect and be subject to the same procedures, defenses and proceedings for reopening, vacating, or staying as a judgment of any court of common pleas of this Commonwealth and may be enforced or satisfied in like manner.

42 Pa.C.S. § 4306(b). A "foreign judgment" is defined in the Act as "any judgment, decree, or order of a court of the United States or of any other court requiring the payment of money which is entitled to full faith and credit in this Commonwealth." 42 Pa.C.S. § 4306(f).

A foreign judgment is entitled to full faith and credit in Pennsylvania so long as "there was jurisdiction by the court which originally awarded the judgment, see Stambaugh v. Stambaugh, 458 Pa. 147, 329 A.2d 483 (1974), and the defendant had an opportunity to appear and defend, see Morris Lapidus Associates v. Airportels, Inc., 240 Pa.Super. 80, 361 A.2d 660 (1976)." Everson v. Everson, 494 Pa. 348, 361, 431 A.2d 889, 895-896 (1981). The courts in Pennsylvania will refuse to give full faith and credit to a foreign judgment if it was obtained in derogation of a basic, due process right of the defendant. Hanson v. Denckla, 357 U.S. 235, 255, 78 S.Ct. 1228, 1240, 2 L.Ed.2d 1283, 1298 (1958). However, when "the court of another state has purported to act on the merits of a case, its jurisdiction to do so and the regularity of its proceedings are presumptively valid." Barnes v. Buck, 464 Pa. 357, 364, 346 A.2d 778, 782 (1975). The party challenging the validity of the judgment, therefore, bears the burden of showing any irregularity in the proceedings. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation v. Granito, 70 Pa.Cmwlth. 123, 127, 452 A.2d 889, 891 (1982).

The first problem which appellant encounters is that a prior request for relief from the default judgment was made to the court in West Virginia and was denied. The West Virginia court, which clearly had jurisdiction to determine the integrity of its own judgment, upheld the finality of appellees' judgment against appellant in the face of a petition by appellant which challenged its validity. In denying appellant's request for relief, the court found that the judgment had not been fraudulently obtained and that there was neither factual nor legal basis for relief. This determination of the West Virginia court, from which no appeal was taken, is res judicata with respect to the validity of the judgment. When a court of competent jurisdiction has determined a litigated cause on its merits, the judgment entered and not reversed on appeal is, forever and under all circumstances, final and conclusive as between the parties to the suit and their privies, in respect to every fact which might properly be considered in reaching a judicial determination of the controversy, and in respect to all points of law there adjudged, as those points relate directly to the cause of action in litigation. Bearoff v. Bearoff Bros., Inc., 458 Pa. 494, 498, 327 A.2d 72, 74 (1974); Stevenson v. Silverman, 417 Pa. 187, 191, 208 A.2d 786, 787-788, cert. denied, 382 U.S. 833, 86 S.Ct. 76, 15 L.Ed.2d 76 (1965). A final, valid, judicial determination on the merits by a court of competent jurisdiction bars any future litigation between the same parties on the same cause of action. Id., 417 Pa. at 190, 208 A.2d at 787; Goldstein v. Ahrens, 379 Pa. 330, 108 A.2d 693 (1954). It bars relitigation of issues raised, as well as arguments which might have been raised. General Accident Fire & Life Assurance Corp. v. Flamini, 299 Pa.Super. 312, 316, 445 A.2d 770, 772 (1982). This doctrine of res judicata is a part of the "national jurisprudence" by virtue of the full faith and credit clause of the federal constitution. Riley v. New York Trust Co., 315 U.S. 343, 349, 62 S.Ct. 608, 612, 86 L.Ed. 885, 891 (1942). It follows that appellant is precluded from attacking the validity of the West Virginia judgment a second time in the courts of Pennsylvania. Indeed, it was in part because of principles of res judicata that the federal court refused to consider appellant's request for relief in that court. Glasgow, Inc. v. Noetzel, supra.

Appellant contends that because of the eight month statute...