J-A18024-20
2020 PA Super 210
JENNIFER CATANZARO : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
Appellant :
:
:
v. :
:
:
EILEEN V. PENNELL : No. 1792 WDA 2019
Appeal from the Order Entered November 25, 2019
In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County Civil Division at
No(s): GD-19-008564
BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., DUBOW, J., and NICHOLS, J.
OPINION BY DUBOW, J.: FILED SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
Appellant, Jennifer Catanzaro, appeals from the Order entered
November 25, 2019, which sustained Preliminary Objections filed by Appellee,
Eileen V. Pennell, and dismissed Appellant’s Amended Complaint with
prejudice. After careful review, we affirm.
In 1987, Helma V. Gouker permitted Appellant to place a trailer on Ms.
Gouker’s property (“Property”) in Clairton.1 Appellant has maintained a trailer
on the Property since that time, initially living in the trailer and later renting
it to others.
In 1990, Ms. Gouker deeded the Property to Appellee and Emmett L.
Gouker, both her children, as joint tenants with right of survivorship, reserving
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1 In light of the procedural posture of this case, we derive this background
from the pleadings in Appellant’s Amended Complaint.
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for herself a life estate.2 The deed was recorded; however, shortly thereafter,
Ms. Gouker sought return of the Property. When Appellee declined, Ms.
Gouker commenced litigation, alleging that the Property transfer was
fraudulent and the result of undue influence. In 1992, Ms. Gouker secured a
default judgment but never executed on the judgment. Ms. Gouker died
intestate in 2002. Emmett Gouker died in 2016.
Based on these facts, Appellant asserts a possessory interest in the
Property and that Appellee is not the rightful owner of the Property.
In June 2019, Appellant commenced litigation against Appellee in two
counts, seeking to quiet title (1) by enforcing the default judgment entered in
1992 and returning the Property to Ms. Gouker’s estate; and (2) by adverse
possession. Appellee filed Preliminary Objections, asserting insufficient
specificity, legal insufficiency, lack of capacity to sue, and nonjoinder of a
necessary party. Upon review, the trial court directed Appellant to amend her
Complaint to join indispensable parties relevant to Count 1 and dismissed
Count 2 with prejudice.
In October 2019, Appellant filed an Amended Complaint. Appellant did
not join additional parties, nor did she premise her prayer for relief on the
same legal theories as in her initial Complaint. In her sole count, Appellant
sought to quiet title by forcing Appellee to commence an action in ejectment.
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2 Ms. Gouker was Appellant’sgrandmother. However, neither Appellee nor
Emmett Gouker are parents to Appellant.
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In so doing, Appellant did not abandon or amend her averments describing
the 1992 default judgment, and it remains integral to her prayer for relief.
However, enforcing the default judgment was no longer the legal premise of
her claim; rather, Appellant relied on the default judgment as a factual
predicate for her assertion that Appellee has no viable ownership interest in
the Property.
Appellee again filed Preliminary Objections, asserting Appellant’s failure
to conform to rule of court, insufficient specificity, legal insufficiency, lack of
capacity to sue, and nonjoinder of a necessary party. The trial court sustained
these Preliminary Objections and dismissed Appellant’s Amended Complaint
with prejudice.
Appellant timely appealed and filed a court-ordered Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b)
Statement. The trial court issued a responsive Opinion.
In this appeal, Appellant raises the following issues, rephrased for clarity
and reordered for ease of analysis:
1. Whether the trial court erred in sustaining Appellee’s
Preliminary Objections asserting legal insufficiency, as
Appellant pleaded possession of the Property since 1987 as a
“true owner” would, and “by reasonable inference” pleaded
that Appellee was not in possession of the Property, thereby
stating a claim pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 1061(b)(1);
2. Whether the trial court erred in sustaining Appellee’s
Preliminary Objections asserting failure to conform to rule of
court and nonjoinder of an indispensable party, as Appellant
pleaded possession of the Property and requested that the
court compel Appellee to commence an action in ejectment
pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 1061(b)(1), 1066(b)(1); and
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3. Whether the trial court erred in sustaining Appellee’s
Preliminary Objections asserting lack of capacity to sue under
Pa.R.C.P. 1061(b)(1), as Appellant pleaded possession of the
Property, undisputedly has an interest in the Property, and
could lose that interest absent relief from the trial court.
See Appellant’s Br. at 3-4.3
In her first issue, Appellant asserts that her Amended Complaint set
forth legally sufficient pleadings to sustain a claim to quiet title. See
Appellant’s Br. at 13-17. In particular, Appellant references those pleadings
in which she averred that she has maintained possession of the Property since
1987 and that Appellee fraudulently claims title pursuant to the 1990 deed.
See Appellant’s Br. at 15-16. Thus, Appellant challenges the trial court’s
decision to sustain Appellee’s Preliminary Objections in the nature of a
demurrer.
“Preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer test the legal
sufficiency of the complaint.” Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Domtar Paper Co.,
77 A.3d 1282, 1285 (Pa. Super. 2013) (citation omitted). We review the trial
court’s decision for an error of law.
Id. As this presents a purely legal
question, the standard of our review is de novo. Bruno v. Erie Ins. Co.,
106
A.3d 48, 56 (Pa. 2014).
“Pennsylvania is a fact-pleading state[.]” Foster v. UPMC S. Side
Hosp., 2 A.3d 655, 666 (Pa. Super. 2010) (citation omitted). To be legally
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3 Appellant’s presentation of the issues has somewhat hindered our review.
The headings to Appellant’s Argument do not correspond to the issues
preserved in her Statement of Questions involved. See Appellant’s Br. at 3-
4, 13, 17, 19. We, therefore, admonish Appellant to conform to our Rules of
Appellate Procedure in the future. Pa.R.A.P. 2101, 2116, 2119.
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sufficient, “a complaint must not only give the defendant notice of what the
plaintiff's claim is and the grounds upon which it rests, but the complaint must
also formulate the issues by summarizing those facts essential to support the
claim.” Feingold v. Hendrzak, 15 A.3d 937, 942 (Pa. Super. 2011) (citation
omitted).
“Preliminary objections which seek the dismissal of a cause of action
should be sustained only in cases in which it is clear and free from doubt that
the pleader will be unable to prove facts legally sufficient to establish the right
to relief.” Id. at 941 (citation omitted).
In reviewing the propriety of the court’s grant of preliminary objections
in the nature of a demurrer, we apply the same standard as the trial court,
which must resolve the objections “solely on the basis of the pleadings[.]”
Hill v. Ofalt, 85 A.3d 540, 547 (Pa. Super. 2014) (citation omitted). “All
material facts set forth in the pleading[s] and all inferences reasonably
deducible therefrom must be admitted as true.”
Id. (citation omitted). “[N]o
. . . evidence outside the complaint may be adduced and the court may not
address the merits of matters represented in the complaint.” In re Adoption
of S.P.T.,
783 A.2d 779, 782 (Pa. Super. 2001).
In this case, Appellant asserts a claim to quiet title pursuant to
Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1061(b)(1), whereby a successful plaintiff
in possession of property may “compel an adverse party to commence an
action of ejectment[.]” Pa.R.C.P. 1061(b)(1). To prevail, a plaintiff must
prove three elements: “that [she] is in possession [of the property], that the
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defendant is out of possession, and that there is a dispute [between the
parties] as to the title of land . . . in question.” Seven Springs Farm, Inc.
v. King, 344 A.2d 641, 644 (Pa. Super. 1975) (citation omitted).4 If
successful, the trial court may grant the plaintiff relief by ordering the
defendant to commence ejectment proceedings within thirty days or “be
forever barred from asserting any right, lien, title or interest in the land
inconsistent with the interest or claim of the plaintiff[.]” Pa.R.C.P. 1066(b)(1).
Here, the trial court sustained Appellee’s demurrer based on the
following observation:
[T]he record failed to show who is in actual possession of the
Property. . . . Possession does not require occupancy. It does,
however, require dominion over the Property. The only proffered
evidence of control is that [Appellant] has maintained a trailer on
the Property since 1987, initially living there and later renting it
out to others.
Trial Ct. Op., 2/30/20, at 6-7.
As noted above, the trial court need only consider whether Appellant
pleaded a possessory interest. At the preliminary objection stage of the
litigation, the trial court must accept as true a plaintiff’s well-pleaded
averments. Thus, the trial court’s criticism that Appellant has proffered
insufficient “evidence” that she has exerted dominion over the Property is
premature and an erroneous basis upon which to ground a demurrer.
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4 The underlying merits of the parties’ competing claims to title are not
resolved in an action brought under this Rule but are deferred until the
ejectment proceedings. See id.
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Following our de novo review of Appellant’s Amended Complaint, we
conclude that Appellant has sufficiently pleaded her continuous possession of
the Property for more than thirty years, first as a resident and later as a lessor.
See Amended Complaint, 10/4/19, ¶¶ 6-9, 36. Further, it is reasonable to
infer from these averments that Appellee is not in possession of the Property.
Thus, we conclude that Appellant sufficiently pleaded two of the three
requirements to state a quiet title claim pursuant to Rule 1061(b)(1).
However, in addition to the two possessory elements of Appellant’s Rule
1061(b)(1) claim, she must also aver a dispute as to title, i.e., that she has
a competing ownership interest in the Property. She has not done so. Even
if we accept as true—as we must—her pleadings that Appellee’s ownership
interest is flawed, Appellant pleads no countervailing ownership interest of her
own.
In her arguments to this Court, Appellant ignores her obligation to plead
a dispute as to title, asserting rather that she need only plead possession and
a claim of title by the adverse party. See Appellant’s Br. at 12. This is
incorrect. As set forth above, our courts have long recognized three elements
to the claim: a plaintiff in possession, a defendant out of possession, and
competing claims to title in the disputed real estate. See, e.g., Fearl v. City
of Johnstown, 65 A. 549, 551 (Pa. 1907) (deferring consideration of “merits
of the [parties’] respective titles”); Seven Springs Farm, Inc.,
344 A.2d at
644 (noting plaintiff’s claim to title arose “by virtue of a conveyance of an
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adjoining parcel of land . . . or, alternatively, by virtue of adverse
possession”).
Mindful of this third requirement, it is noteworthy that in granting the
Preliminary Objections filed against Appellant’s original Complaint, the trial
court dismissed with prejudice Appellant’s claim of adverse possession, a claim
to title. Appellant has not appealed that decision and, thus, abandoned that
claim. Further, Appellant avers no factual or legal ground from which to
conclude that, if the court were to grant Appellant’s request to enforce the
1992 default judgment, thus returning the Property to Helma Gouker’s estate,
Appellant would thereby obtain an ownership interest in the Property.
Appellant makes no claim to title here, and this omission is fatal to her
claim. Absent a claimed ownership interest in the Property, it is clear that
Appellant cannot establish a dispute as to title. Therefore, although we
disagree with the trial court’s analysis, we also conclude that Appellant’s claim
to quiet title is legally insufficient and affirm the court’s decision to dismiss
Appellant’s Amended Complaint with prejudice.5, 6
Order affirmed.
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5 We may affirm the trial court on any valid basis. Juszczyszyn v. Taiwo,
113 A.3d 853, 858 n.5 (Pa. Super. 2015).
6 The legal insufficiency of Appellant’s claim is dispositive. Thus, we decline
to address Appellant’s remaining claims.
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Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 9/1/2020
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