Stop Blight Inc. v. Marcia M. Dinardo

Summary

The Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the dismissal of Stop Blight, Inc.’s petition to appoint a conservator over a blighted property under the Abandoned and Blighted Property Conservatorship Act. The court held that the mortgage foreclosure action remained pending because the foreclosure judgment had not been satisfied by a completed sheriff’s sale, despite periods of delay and the absence of an active writ of execution when the conservatorship petition was filed. The court also rejected the trial court’s waiver ruling based on deficiencies in the Rule 1925(b) order and the effect of the bankruptcy stay.

Holdings

1. A mortgage foreclosure action remains pending until the sheriff's sale is concluded; entry of a foreclosure judgment alone does not terminate the action.
2. The foreclosure action remained pending despite the seven-month delay between dismissal of Dinardo's bankruptcy case and the intervenor's renewed request for a writ of execution because the delays were not so egregious or unreasonable as to render the action fatally inactive.
3. Stop Blight's issues were not waived because the trial court's Rule 1925(b) order did not strictly comply with the rule and was therefore unenforceable.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a mortgage foreclosure action remains pending under 68 P.S. § 1105(d)(3) after entry of a foreclosure judgment but before completion of a sheriff's sale.
2. Whether the absence of an active writ of execution at the time of the conservatorship petition caused the foreclosure action to cease being pending.
3. Whether Stop Blight waived its appellate issues by filing its Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement late.

Disposition

affirmed