Branch Banking & Trust Co. v. D.M.S.I., L.L.C.

The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (“FIRREA”) preempts a Nevada law that limited deficiency judgments on foreclosure to the amount by which the price the owner paid to acquire the loan exceeded the foreclosure sale price.  BB&T acquired three loans from the same group of defendants when it bought Colonial Bank’s assets from…

BRE DDR BR Whittwood CA LLC v. Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach

If a tenant’s leasehold interest is foreclosed upon, the purchaser at the foreclosure sale succeeds, as assignee, to the tenant’s right to occupy the premises and to all covenants of the lease that run with the land, but not to the lease contract itself absent express assumption.  Upon foreclosure of a deed of trust on…

Hovannisian v. First American Title Ins. Co.

Coverage under a standard California lender’s policy of title insurance terminates once the property is sold, without warranty, at a foreclosure sale.  To secure its loan to the owners, Wells Fargo obtained what was labelled “First Deed of Trust,” and it obtained a title policy insuring its lien’s status as the senior lien on the…

Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. v. Pyle

A void default judgment, obtained without proper service on the defendant, cannot be the foundation of a valid claim of title to property, so the secured lender against whom the default judgment was entered prevails over a bona fide purchaser from the plaintiff.  Following OC Interior Services, LLC v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC (2017) 7 Cal.App.5th…

Schep v. Capital One, N.A.

Given the clear chain of title leading to deed of trust and one defendant’s status as its trustee, foreclosing defendants were justified in their good faith belief in their right to foreclose; so recording of foreclosure-related documents was privileged activity, and no viable cause of action could arise therefrom.  Under Civ. Code 2924(d)(1) and (2),…

Hilliard v. Harbour

Senior citizen who held controlling interest in corporate borrower could not state elder abuse claim against lender that foreclosed on borrower; the senior citizen suffered only derivative harm; any damage claim belonged solely to the corporate borrower.  Hilliard, a 78-year-old, owned a controlling interest in Crystal Companies, which owned radio stations.  Wells Fargo lent $20…

In re Turner (Turner v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.)

A borrower lacks standing to challenge foreclosure based on late assignment of the loan to a securitized trust as breach of the trust agreement renders the assignment voidable, not void, the borrower is not a third party beneficiary of that agreement, and the defects do not harm the borrower who would be foreclosed anyway.  A…

Black Sky Capital, LLC v. Cobb

CCP 580d does not bar a creditor from suing a borrower to collect on a note secured by a junior lien that was extinguished by a non-judicial foreclosure of a senior lien, even if the creditor also held the senior lien on which it non-judicially foreclosed.  Disagreeing with Simon v. Superior Court (1992) 4 Cal.App.4th…