Quality Loan Service Corp. v. Szanto CA4/3

Filed 3/19/26 Quality Loan Service Corp. v. Szanto CA4/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

QUALITY LOAN SERVICE CORP.,

Plaintiff, G063598

v. (Super. Ct. No. 30-2022- 01298592) PETER SZANTO, OPINION Defendant, Cross-complainant and Appellant;

BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.,

Defendant, Cross-defendant and Respondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Layne H. Melzer, Judge. Affirmed. Request for judicial notice and motion to strike denied. Peter Szanto, in pro. per., for Defendant, Cross-complainant and Appellant. McGuireWoods and Shailika Shah Kotiya for Defendant, Cross- defendant and Respondent.

Peter Szanto appeals from the judgment entered after the trial court awarded the surplus proceeds from a nonjudicial foreclosure sale of his real property (property) to Bank of America, N.A. On appeal, Szanto asserts he is entitled to the surplus proceeds. He argues: (1) the foreclosure sale was void because it violated an automatic stay imposed by the initiation of a bankruptcy proceeding; (2) the court abrogated its duty to investigate the facts of this case, failed to consider evidence the property was not sold to a bona fide purchaser, and failed to order an accounting of the money collected and disbursed from the foreclosure sale; (3) the court erred by striking his cross-complaint and by finding the case involved a special, rather than ordinary, proceeding; and (4) the foreclosure sale violated a “[p]robate stay.” We find Szanto forfeited his appellate claims and therefore affirm.1 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Szanto and his spouse, since deceased, owned the property as tenants in common. Szanto executed a first deed of trust, which secured an indebtedness to a bank. He later executed a second deed of trust, which secured an indebtedness to another bank, Bank of America. Szanto defaulted under the terms of the first deed of trust. Because of the default, the trustee under the first deed of trust, Quality Loan Service Corporation (trustee), held a nonjudicial foreclosure sale and sold the property to the highest bidder, a third party, in August 2022. After payments to the foreclosing beneficiary bank’s unpaid debt, trustee, and attorney, surplus proceeds from the sale remained in the amount of $632,816.86. The