CALIFORNIA CASE SUMMARY UPDATE: April 2025 Real Property Case Summaries

By Monty A. McIntyre, Esq.

Monty A. McIntyre, Esq.
Helping Attorneys Get Excellent Results

Publisher: California Case Summaries™: Know More. Win More.
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Here are the case summaries from last month:

CALIFORNIA COURTS OF APPEAL

Real Property

Amundson et al. v. Catello (2025) _ Cal.App.5th _, 2025 WL 868169: The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s interlocutory order identifying the owners of real property as cross-defendant Ruth Catello (Catello) and the estate of decedent Leslie J. Knoles (decedent) and ordering a partition by sale. Decedent had four surviving siblings. Catello and decedent originally acquired title to the real property as joint tenants. About one month before her death, decedent recorded a quitclaim deed that, if valid, severed the joint tenancy and created a tenancy in common with no right of survivorship. Catello and the siblings filed dueling petitions in the probate court. Those proceedings were not yet concluded when the Court of Appeal issued its decision. This appeal arose after Catello filed an action against two of the siblings to cancel the quitclaim deed and for quiet title to the real property, the siblings later filed a cross-claim seeking to partition the real property by sale, and the trial court entered its interlocutory judgment. The Court of Appeal reversed the interlocutory judgment because the siblings did not have standing to bring the partition action. Code of Civil Procedure section 872.210(a)(2) provides that a partition action may be commenced and maintained by an owner of an estate of inheritance in real property. The probate proceedings, however, had not yet determined whether the real property was a part of decedent’s estate. Because the party seeking partition must have clear title, the uncertainty of the outcome of the probate proceedings precluded the siblings from establishing the ownership interest required to bring a partition claim under section 872.210. (C.A. 4th, March 20, 2025.)

Kim v. New Life Oasis Church (2025) _ Cal.App.5th _, 2025 WL 670345: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s order granting defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, without leave to amend, to plaintiff’s complaint alleging that plaintiff’s lien, which had been expunged in an earlier lawsuit, was valid. Plaintiff, an attorney, originally took a lien against his client’s real property to secure his attorney fee. In an earlier lawsuit, the trial court ordered plaintiff’s client to convey the real property to fulfill a sales contract. Plaintiff’s lien was obstructing the sale, and that trial court expunged his lien. Plaintiff’s client (but not plaintiff) appealed, and the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. No one sought review in the Supreme Court, and the judgment became final in 2018. Three days later, plaintiff brought this lawsuit against the same buyer of the same property. The trial court properly concluded that plaintiff’s action was barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel. (C.A. 2nd, March 3, 2025.)