R.E.F.S., Inc. v. Williams CA2/4

Filed 7/15/15 R.E.F.S., Inc. v. Williams CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

R.E.F.S., INC., B256426

Plaintiff, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BS084615) v.

G. GREGORY WILLIAMS et al.,

Defendants and Appellants,

ELI LEVI,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from orders of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Mark A. Borenstein, Judge. Dismissed. G. Gregory Williams and Plernpit Polpantu, in pro. per., for Defendants and Appellants. Christie Gaumer for Defendant and Respondent. ______________________________

Appellants G. Gregory Williams and Plernpit Polpantu purport to appeal from an April 29, 2014 order releasing funds deposited with the court to respondent Eli Levi and a May 8, 2014 order denying appellants’ ex-parte application to vacate the April 29, 2014 order. We dismiss the appeal as premature because the May 8, 2014 order granted appellants the relief they sought: it stayed release of the funds until further court order and provided for a noticed hearing on appellants’ motion to vacate the April 29, 2014 order, thus turning the earlier order into a nonappealable interlocutory order.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY This appeal is the most recent installment in a long-lasting dispute arising from the foreclosure sale of appellants’ condominium. The dispute has engendered many federal and state court proceedings. We borrow the relevant portions of its history from our opinion in Levi v. Williams (June 25, 2009, No. B207734 [nonpub. opn.]). “Williams, who purchased the condominium in 1995, transferred title to his fiancée, P. Toi Polpantu, by a deed recorded on April 21, 1999. However, by a quitclaim deed that was also dated April 21, 1999, but was not recorded, Polpantu transferred title back to Williams. “Williams and Polpantu were living in the condominium when the condominium association served notice of an April 3, 2003 foreclosure sale for Polpantu’s nonpayment of approximately $11,000 in association fees. Two days before the foreclosure sale, Williams filed his April 1, 2003 bankruptcy petition, but the petition did not disclose his interest in the condominium. When the April 3, 2003 foreclosure sale was held, Polpantu, not Williams, was the owner of record title. Levi purchased the condominium at the foreclosure sale for $215,000. One day after the foreclosure sale, Williams recorded the previously unrecorded April 21, 1999 quitclaim deed from Polpantu.” Afterwards, the bankruptcy court “retroactively annulled the automatic stay to the date of Williams’s . . . April 1, 2003 bankruptcy petition, thereby precluding Williams from attacking the April 3, 2003 foreclosure sale on the ground that the sale was conducted in violation of the automatic stay.” The bankruptcy court’s ruling was