LA Jolla Grp. II v. Bruce
| Decision Date | 28 November 2012 |
| Citation | 211 Cal.App.4th 461,149 Cal.Rptr.3d 716 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | LA JOLLA GROUP II et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. Daniel A. BRUCE et al., Defendants and Respondents. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Fresno County. Donald S. Black, Judge. (Super.Ct. No. 10CECG02268)
Wilkins, Drolshagen & Czeshinski, James H. Wilkins, Fresno, and Quentin Cedar for Plaintiffs and Appellants.
Betts, Rubin & McGuinness, James B. Betts, Fresno, and Joseph D. Rubin for Defendants and Respondents.
When their family home in Fresno, California (the Property) was foreclosed on pursuant to a forged or fraudulent second deed of trust, Rebecca and Victorino Baquiran filed an action to quiet title to the Property and recorded a lis pendens. Thereafter, the party that had purchased the Property in good faith at the foreclosure sale, La Jolla Group II and its partners, Leroy Kleim and Alan Boyajian (collectively appellants), filed a complaint for slander of title against the Baquirans and the Baquirans' attorney, Daniel A. Bruce and the Law Office of Zinkin & Bruce (collectively respondents), alleging that the recording of the lis pendens was unprivileged and wrongfully prevented appellants from being able to sell the Property. Respondents then filed a special motion to strike the slander of title complaint under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 ().1 In ruling on the motion, the trial court concluded that (1) the recording of the lis pendens was a protected activity under section 425.16 and (2) appellants did not establish a probability of prevailing on their slander of title complaint. The trial court reached the latter conclusion because the evidence of forgery reflected the second deed of trust was void (not merely voidable) and because the absolute privilege of Civil Code section 47, subdivision (b) (hereafter Civil Code section 47(b)) applied to the recording of the lis pendens. Accordingly, respondents' special motion to strike was granted. Appellants appeal from that order. We will affirm.
On or about June 28, 1989, Victorino Baquiran purchased the Property. At that time, Mr. Baquiran executed a first deed of trust to secure the loan used to purchase the Property. His wife, Rebecca Baquiran, was placed on title to the Property and the Baquirans made it their family home for more than 16 years, until they were evicted by appellants in June 2005.
In July 2003, the Baquirans received notice that foreclosure proceedings were being commenced based on a second deed of trust on the Property securing a promissory note in favor of Steven and Carrie Mahlum. Prior to receiving that notice, the Baquirans had no knowledge that a deed of trust in favor of the Mahlums had been recorded on the Property. Indeed, the Baquirans had never borrowed money from, or even met, the Mahlums. The Mahlums likewise acknowledged that although they had received some payments from Zarrell Williams, which they thought related to the second deed of trust, they had never received any payments from the Baquirans.
It was later discovered that the second deed of trust was procured through the fraud or forgery of the Baquirans' former mortgage broker, Williams. Williams had brokered a refinance of the Baquirans' first deed of trust in April 1997, just prior to the date appearing on the second deed of trust naming the Mahlums as beneficiaries. Although the Baquirans admitted their signatures on the second deed of trust appeared to be authentic, they contended they were deceived because the document was materially altered and they never intended to sign a deed of trust in favor of the Mahlums. It was the Baquirans' theory that during the refinance transaction in 1997, Williams, by means of fraud and deceit, had them execute documents not related to or utilized in the refinance, which documents Williams later altered to fraudulently obtain a loan from the Mahlums in the Baquirans' name, and then Williams converted the proceeds of that loan for his own use. James A. Blanco, a handwriting and document expert retained by respondents, examined the second deed of trust and concluded that it had been materially altered. At various places, information had been covered over with “whiteout” and replaced by other information. For example, under the beneficiary section of the document, two names were covered over using a masking fluid and replaced with the names of Steven and Carrie Mahlum.
On February 24, 2004, before the forgery by Williams had been brought to light, the Property was foreclosed upon and sold at a nonjudicial foreclosure sale to La Jolla Group II and David and Linda Hovannisian. On March 17, 2004, appellants initiated eviction proceedings against the Baquirans. The Baquirans initially hired attorney Joseph C. Raineri, who was able to obtain a stay of eviction until January 2005. However, the Baquirans eventually concluded that Mr. Raineri had abandoned them and was not protecting their rights. Thereafter, in February 2005, the Baquirans retained Mr. Bruce to represent them in this matter.
On May 25, 2005, the Baquirans, represented by Mr. Bruce, filed a complaint to quiet title against, among others, appellant La Jolla Group II. In that complaint, the Baquirans alleged the disputed second deed of trust was “a forgery and/or a fraudulently obtained document that was created by Williams,” and they sought (1) to cancel the purported foreclosure sale based upon the forged deed of trust and (2) to restore possession and title of the Property to the Baquirans. On June 14, 2005, the Baquirans recorded a notice of pending action (the lis pendens) concerning the Property. The pending action specified in the lis pendens was the Baquirans' complaint to quiet title. The lis pendens was signed by Mr. Bruce.
On December 16, 2005, appellant La Jolla Group II filed a motion to expunge the lis pendens. On February 2, 2006, the motion proceeded to hearing. The Honorable Judge Alan M. Simpson considered the papers, evidence and arguments presented by the parties and declined to expunge the lis pendens. As part of his written order denying the motion, Judge Simpson found that the Baquirans “ha[d] shown the probable validity of their claim.” The written order further explained: “The Rebecca Baquiran declaration, combined with the evidence of alteration of the deed of trust pursuant to which the property was sold, support [the Baquirans'] theory that the deed of trust was a forgery.”
Meanwhile, criminal charges were filed by the Fresno County District Attorney against Williams for multiple acts of theft, forgery and similar crimes against several victims. As to Williams's conduct perpetrated against the Baquirans, the consolidated information specifically charged Williams with four distinct crimes: grand theft of money, forgery of a deed of trust, knowingly performing notarial act on a false or forged trust deed, and procuring or offering a false or forged instrument (deed of trust) for filing or recording. The consolidated information set forth the following facts in support of these particular counts: 2 (1) Williams was a loan broker who first worked with Rebecca Baquiran in the early 1990's when she obtained a personal loan, and again in 1997 when he arranged a consolidation loan for the Baquirans through EquiCredit. In the same time period, Williams made a number of hard money property loans on behalf of the Mahlums. (2) When the Mahlums failed to receive certain payments on those property loans, Williams advised them that he had a loan, including a note and deed of trust, on the Property. (3) Williams produced for the Mahlums a deed of trust and assignment of rents purportedly signed by the Baquirans that had been filed with the Fresno County Recorder's Office on June 4, 1998. That deed of trust was subsequently found to have been altered by Williams. (4) The deed of trust and assignment of rents was forged by Williams with intent to defraud. (5) The forged deed of trust was notarized by Williams with knowledge that it contained a false statement or was forged.
On September 13, 2006, the jury found Williams guilty as charged on each of the counts relating to the Property, including forgery of the deed of trust, knowingly performing a notarial act on a false or forged trust deed, and procuring or offering a false or forged deed of trust for filing or recording. Williams was also convicted on all but one of the other crimes charged against him that involved other defrauded victims. He was sentenced to serve three years four months in prison.
On July 6, 2009, the Baquirans recorded a notice of withdrawal of lis pendens. According to Mr. Bruce, the lis pendens was withdrawn as part of a negotiated settlement reached between the Baquirans, the Mahlums and All–Cal Foreclosure Services, Inc. The Mahlums and All–Cal Foreclosure Services, Inc. were additional defendants in the quiet title action.
On June 29, 2010, appellants filed their complaint for slander of title against respondents. The complaint for slander of title alleged that the recording of the lis pendens was not privileged and wrongfully prevented appellants from being able to sell the Property from June 2005 to July 2009, resulting in damages to appellants. Allegedly, the Baquirans' admission that their signatures on the second deed of trust were authentic established that there was no justifiable basis for alleging the second deed of trust was a forgery or for seeking to invalidate the foreclosure sale. Thus, according to the complaint for slander of title, the recording of the lis pendens was false,...
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