Rule 2954.Judgment in Name of Holder, Assignee or Transferee.

This one-sentence rule controls whose name goes on a confessed judgment as the plaintiff. Judgment may be entered only in the name of a holder, assignee, or other transferee. A person with none of those ties to the instrument can’t have judgment entered in their own name.

The rule works alongside the complaint requirements. Rule 2952(a)(2) requires the complaint to attach the instrument, or a copy showing the defendant’s signature, and Rule 2952(a)(4) requires a statement of any assignment. Together they let the record show how the plaintiff came to hold the instrument. A defendant who disputes that may raise it in a petition to strike or open the judgment under Rule 2959, which requires every ground for relief to be asserted in a single petition.