Sungsuk Kim v. Unlimited Settlement Services

── Sungsuk Kim v. Unlimited Settlement Services ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Date: April 16, 2026 Category: General NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ___________ No. 25-1949 ___________ SUNGSUK KIM, Appellant v. UNLIMITED SETTLEMENT SERVICES; LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE CO; PHH MORTGAGE CORP; OCWEN LOAN SERVICING; ALL-STATE INSURANCE; CATHERINE HARRINGTON; WILLIAM DAVIS; IRWIN STEIN; THOMAS CIALINO; CHRISTOPHER POLECK; ROBERT GROLNICK ____________________________________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (D.C. Civil Action No. 2:25-cv-00505) District Judge: Honorable Mitchell S. Goldberg ____________________________________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) April 10, 2026 Before: BIBAS, CHUNG, and BOVE, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: April 16, 2026) _________ OPINION* _________ * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. PER CURIAM Sungsuk Kim appeals from an order dismissing her complaint with prejudice. We will affirm the dismissal but will modify it so that it is without prejudice. I. This case concerns events that have been the subject of litigation in at least five civil actions in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas for Philadelphia County. Though Kim filed some of these actions pro se, she was represented by counsel in others and has been represented by at least four separate lawyers during these events. In brief, Kim owned a property at 2200 Christian Street in Philadelphia that was subject to a mortgage. In the first state-court action (Phila. C.C.P. No. 130402945), her mortgage company sought to foreclose. While that action was pending, the house on Kim’s property was damaged by a fire in 2017. Kim then filed the second state-court action (Phila. C.C.P. No. 180802855). She named as defendants her neighbor Irwin Stein, whom she accused of negligently causing the fire, and her homeowner’s insurance company Liberty Mutual Insurance, which she accused of failing to pay what her policy required. Meanwhile, back in the first action, Kim’s mortgage company obtained a judgment against her. Kim’s mortgage company and related parties later joined the second action and filed a cross-claim against Liberty claiming the right to any additional insurance proceeds. Kim then filed the third state-court action (Phila. C.C.P. No. 220201092) against the mortgage-company parties seeking to quiet title to the property. Kim, Liberty and the mortgage-company parties ultimately settled these 2 actions by an agreement that entailed, inter alia, the sale of Kim’s property and additional payments to her. As a result of the settlement, these parties discontinued the actions in 2022, and Kim’s claims against her neighbor Stein proceeded to arbitration. The arbitration ended with an award in Stein’s favor on May 22, 2023. Although these matters appeared to have concluded, Kim filed two more state- court actions in December 2023. In the fourth state-court action (Phila. C.C.P. No. 231202771), Kim filed suit against one of the mortgage companies, one of its lawyers, and an employee of the settlement service that the partie