Real Property Law

CASE SUMMARY UPDATE: August 2022 Real Property Case Summaries

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By Monty McIntyre, Esq.

California Case Summaries™ (https://cacasesummaries.com)
Monty A. McIntyre, Esq. is the publisher of California Case Summaries™ which provides short summaries, organized by legal topic, of every new published civil and family law case helping California lawyers easily master the new case law in their practice areas, get better results and referrals, and grow their law practice. Monthly, quarterly and annual subscriptions are available, as well as annual Practice Area subscriptions in the areas of Employment, Family Law, Real Property and Torts. Monty hasbeen a California civil trial lawyer since 1980 and a member of ABOTA since 1995. He currently works as a full-time mediator, arbitrator and referee with ADR Services, Inc. conducing Zoom hearings throughout California (to use Monty contact his case manager Haward Cho, haward@adrservices.com, (619) 233-1323).  Monty also helps lawyers improve their skills and practices with his Lawyer Master Mentoring™ services (for info visit Monty’s web at https://montymcintyre-law.com).

CALIFORNIA COURTS OF APPEAL

Real Property

Petrolink, Inc. v. Lantel Enterprises (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 2733801: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s order granting defendant’s motion to compel performance of the amended judgment. This was a vigorously litigated case involving two appeals before this one. The second prior appeal affirmed the entry of an amended judgment requiring the parties to complete the real property sales transaction with plaintiff to deposit $948,404 in escrow and defendant to deliver title to the property “by grant deed free and clear of all encumbrances.” Eleven days after the Court of Appeal issued its opinion in the second appeal, and four days after plaintiff deposited the purchase funds in escrow, the State of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) filed an eminent domain action pertaining to the real property at issue, and the filing of the Caltrans action prevented defendant from being able to convey unencumbered title as required by the amended judgment. After Caltrans filed the eminent domain action, plaintiff refused to close escrow on the property, stating that it would do so only if defendant deposited unencumbered title to the property in escrow. The Court of Appeal concluded that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by ordering plaintiff to accept title encumbered by the Caltrans eminent domain action. The filing of the eminent domain action rendered it impossible for defendant to convey unencumbered title as contemplated by the terms of the amended judgment, through no fault of either party. Faced with this scenario, the trial court properly weighed the equities and concluded that it would be more equitable for plaintiff to bear any burden of the encumbrance created by the filing of the Caltrans action. (C.A. 4th, July 14, 2022.)

Shoker v. Superior Court of Alameda County (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 2763345: The Court of Appeal granted a petition for writ of mandate directing the trial court to vacate its order expunging a notice of lis pendens. The trial court erred by concluding that plaintiffs’ constructive trust claim—which sought reconveyance of plaintiffs’ 10 rental properties that defendant Jasbir S. Phangureh allegedly obtained fraudulently—was not a real property claim. Plaintiffs’ causes of action against defendant Phangureh alleged that he wrongfully acquired their properties via a conspiracy (with defendant Sukhjinder Singh Ghuman) involving fraud and breach of fiduciary duties, and they further alleged that they were entitled to a constructive trust returning those same real properties to them. The Court of Appeal concluded that plaintiffs’ claim fell squarely within the plain language of the Code of Civil Procedure section 405.4 because it would, if meritorious, affect title to real property. (C.A. 1st, July 15, 2022.)


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