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Robin held a senior deed of trust. Crowell held a junior lien on the same property. Robin commenced a judicial foreclosure action against the debtor and the property but failed to name and serve Crowell as a defendnat in the suit. Some years after the judicial foreclosure sale, Robin brought this quiet title action against Crowell to "complete" the judicial… Read More
Under Civ. Code 2924.15, HBOR's provisions apply only to owner-occupied properties. But the section goes on to define "owner-occupied" as property that is the borrower's principal residence and security for a loan made for consumer purposes. This decision reads the definition literally, holding that so long as the property is the borrower's principal residence, HBOR's provisions apply even if the… Read More
Plaintiff stated a viable claim for unjust enrichment after it contracted with a property owner to appeal property tax assessments in return for 30% of any resulting refund, but the property was foreclosed upon by defendant before the tax refund came through. Read More
A homeowner should have been allowed to amend his complaint to allege that the party foreclosing on his house lacked any interest in his loan since that the prior owner of the loan had already assigned it to someone else before executing the assignment to the foreclosing party. Read More
The catch-all federal four-year statute of limitations applies to violations of the foreclosure prohibitions in the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Read More
This California case is at the intersection of interpleader and foreclosure litigation. A foreclosure trustee interpleaded surplus funds following a foreclosure sale that was challenged by the borrower in a wrongful foreclosure action. It shouldn’t have. An interpleader lies only where the holder of third-party funds may face multiple liabilities, but Civil Code section 2924k sets forth exactly how surplus… Read More
A good faith purchaser of the contents of a self-storage unit takes the contents free and clear of the unit lessee’s claims, even if the lessor had violated the Storage Facility Act by failing to enter into a written lease with the lessee. Read More
Interpleader cross-complaint filed by the trustee of a deed of trust was correctly dismissed because there was no question that surplus proceeds from a foreclosure sale belonged to the trustor, notwithstanding the trustor’s ongoing wrongful foreclosure lawsuit. Read More
Sanctions were improperly awarded under CCP 128.7 since plaintiffs’ suit was not frivolous; they had a nonfrivolous argument that their agreement to settle a prior action did not release the defendants in this follow-on suit. Read More
