## Facts

- A wife obtained a $3,024.60 judgment against her former husband for child-support arrears.
- To collect, she issued a writ of execution and directed the sheriff to levy on the husband’s personal property.
- The sheriff seized a Bronco II and a pop-up camper and sold them at sheriff’s sale.
- The wife bought both items for $89.34, an amount reflecting only the sheriff’s execution costs.
- The vehicle and camper were subject to a purchase-money security interest held by a credit company, which later repossessed them to satisfy the secured debt.
- The husband petitioned to have the arrears judgment marked satisfied based on the levy and sale; the trial court denied relief, finding the wife realized no gain.
- The husband appealed from the order denying entry of satisfaction.

## Issues

1. Whether a levy on a judgment debtor’s personal property, by itself, satisfies the underlying judgment in full.
2. Whether a sheriff’s sale of the debtor’s personal property satisfies the judgment in full when the judgment creditor realizes less than the full judgment amount through the execution process.
3. Whether a creditor’s purchase at sheriff’s sale requires crediting the judgment by the property’s value rather than the amount actually paid/realized.

## Decision

- The Superior Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the order denying the husband’s request to mark the judgment satisfied.
- Neither the levy nor the sheriff’s sale automatically satisfied the judgment in full.
- The judgment was discharged only to the extent of proceeds the creditor actually obtained through execution (here, only the amount paid at sale/costs).
- The repossession by a senior secured creditor meant the wife obtained no meaningful value from the property and the arrears remained largely unpaid.

## Legal Principles

- A support-arrears judgment is enforceable by execution under Pennsylvania procedure.
- A levy is a procedural step in execution and does not constitute satisfaction of the judgment.
- A sheriff’s sale does not satisfy a judgment in full unless the execution yields full payment; the judgment is reduced only by the proceeds actually realized by the creditor.
- When a judgment creditor purchases at sheriff’s sale, the judgment is credited only by what the creditor actually pays/realizes, not by the property’s nominal or market value, particularly where senior security interests eliminate any net value to the creditor.
- Judgment creditors take subject to prior perfected security interests; unsuccessful execution does not extinguish the judgment.

## Conclusion

The court held that execution against personal property—by levy and sheriff’s sale—reduces a judgment only by the actual proceeds realized by the judgment creditor; because the creditor received only minimal costs and no net value due to a prior purchase-money security interest, the child-support arrears judgment was not satisfied.


Simmons v. Simmons, 356 Pa. Super. 32, 514 A.2d 128 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1986)