Property Law & Real Estate Case Summaries

[05/17] Hererra v. Federal National Mortgage Ass'n
In a suit by defaulting homeowners to set aside a nonjudicial foreclosure sale on the grounds of an invalid assignment of the deed of trust, the trial court's sustaining of a demurrer without leave to amend is affirmed, where: 1) the plaintiffs granted a nominee beneficiary authority to assign when they signed the deed of trust; 2) judicially noticed documents established a chain of title in which the beneficiary assigned its interest to the lender's successor, which assigned its interest to the defendant; 3) there was no error in sustaining the demurrer as to the cause of action for violation of Civil Code section 2932.5, since that section is inapplicable to deeds of trust.

[05/16] City of Livermore v. Baca
In an action for eminent domain by the City of Livermore seeking three takings of portions of commercial property owned by the appellant, a stipulated judgment is reversed, where: 1) the trial court erred in excluding all of the appellant's proffered evidence of permanent and temporary severance damages related to the takings during in limine motions; and 2) the trial court erred in its definition of the project, including work by the State of California, which was not a party to the condemnation action.

[05/16] Assessor for County of Santa Barbara v. Assessment Appeals Board No. 1
In a case involving the tax assessment of transfers of ownership in two tenant-owned mobilehome parks, in which an assessment appeals board overturned a county assessor's valuation of land underlying mobilehomes, the trial court's denial of a petition for administrative mandamus is affirmed, where: 1) Rev. and Tax. Code section 62.1(c)(1) and (2) require valuation of the underlying space by using a formula based a pro rata portion of the real property of the park; and 2) as to the properties at issue, the Board applied the appropriate valuation method correctly and its findings were supported by substantial evidence.

[05/14] Robertson v. Sea Pines Real Estates Cos., Inc.
In two consolidated putative class actions brought by purchasers of real estate brokerage services in South Carolina, alleging that the real estate brokerages serving as board members of the local multiple listing service (MLS) conspired to unfairly restrain market competition in violation of section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the district court's denial of the defendants' motions to dismiss the complaints is affirmed, where: 1) the plaintiffs sufficiently pled the plurality of actors necessary for section 1 to apply, as the actions and deliberations of the MLS were not intracorporate activity; and 2) the plaintiffs adequately pled a conspiracy and a restraint of trade.

[05/14] In re Heritage Highgate, Inc.
In a residential home builder's Chapter 11 proceedings, the Bankruptcy Court's determination that the secured claims of a group of secondary creditors should be valued at zero is affirmed, where: 1) in proceedings to value secured claims under section 506(a) of the Bankruptcy Code, a burden-shifting analysis is appropriate; 2) the Bankruptcy Court properly concluded that the fair market value of the debtor's project as of the plan confirmation date controlled whether the creditors' claims were secured; 3) denying the creditors future lot sale proceeds that exceed the project's judicially determined value as of confirmation did not constitute a form of impermissible lien stripping; and 4) the Bankruptcy Court did not clearly err in determining the value of the collateral securing the secured debt.

[05/10] City of Malibu v. California Coastal Commission
In a case in which the California Coastal Commission rejected a city's local coastal program (LCP) amendment and certified an overlay district proposed by state agencies as an LCP amendment, the trial court's grant of petitions for writ of mandate seeking declaratory and injunctive relief is affirmed, as the Coastal Commission exceeded its jurisdiction, where the amendments were not requested to undertake a public works project or energy facility development, but instead changed the city's land use policies and development standards as they would apply to future plans for development within the city.

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