The “Sham Guaranty” Defense is Not Easy to Establish
Under California anti-deficiency law, borrowers enjoy robust protections. Guarantors — not so much. The statutory protections afforded to borrowers cannot be waived, while for guarantors, they…
Lender Limits Liability for Breach of Loan Agreement
California Civil Code section 1668 states: “All contracts which have for their object, directly or indirectly, to exempt any one from responsibility for his own fraud,…
Immunity for Deed of Trust Foreclosure Trustees — Absolute or Qualified?
Under California Civil Code section 2924(d), a trustee’s communications and actions that are necessary to conduct a nonjudicial foreclosure sale pursuant to a deed of trust…
Court Clarifies Value of “Performance Deed of Trust” in Foreclosure
This post was primarily authored by Daniel Zarchy, a “Rising Star” for seven of the past eight years who is a litigation attorney at Patton Sullivan…
Receivers Gone Wild
Receivership is a provisional remedy within a court’s broad equitable jurisdiction. The statute most commonly used in obtaining a receivership is Code of Civil Procedure section…
Eviction After Foreclosure: Further Developments from the Courts
A foreclosure sale purchaser attempting to evict a tenant on the property can encounter pitfalls, as made clear in a series of court cases in recent…
Guarantor Liability: Assignment of Note Doesn’t Automatically Assign Guaranty Too
Obligations reduced to a promissory note are often accompanied by a written guaranty. The law treats the guaranty as an independent obligation. A case recently decided…
A Lis Pendens Recorded Before a Trustee’s Sale is a “Cloud on Title” that Might Thwart an Unlawful Detainer Claim
In a December 2018 post, Money and Dirt covered a California Supreme Court case — Dr. Leevil, LLC v. Westlake Health Care Center — in which…
Relying on a Void Quiet Title Judgment — Redux
In May 2021, Money and Dirt covered a case published by California’s Second Appellate District — Tsasu LLC v. U.S. Bank Trust, N.A. — holding that…
Easements and the “Merger” Doctrine
Under California’s easement “merger” (merger of title) doctrine set forth in Civil Code sections 811 and 805, an easement (or servitude) is “extinguished” by “the vesting…