Alta Standard One v. Gonzalez CA2/1

Filed 10/22/15 Alta Standard One v. Gonzalez CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 ONE

ALTA STANDARD ONE, LLC, B261337

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. Nos. 13R00769, 13U00769) v.

JAIME DEJESUS GONZALEZ et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Harry Jay Ford III, Judge. Affirmed. Long Beach Legal and John Feely for Defendants and Appellants. Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, Stephen E. Foster and Nahla B. Rajan for Plaintiff and Respondent. ——————————

Jaime DeJesus Gonzalez and Linda Mansdorf appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to Alta Standard One (Alta) in an unlawful detainer action. We briefly summarize the facts in this exhaustively litigated property dispute as relevant to this appeal. After Janice M. McClanahan (McClanahan) obtained a $12,000,000 judgment against Harold Mansdorf (hereafter Mansdorf) and Mildred Mansdorf, jointly and severally, she placed a lien on Mansdorf’s residence on Alta Drive in Beverly Hills (the property) on April 18, 2008. Although Mansdorf objected that the property could not be sold because it was owned not by Mansdorf but by the Mansdorf Family Trust, on August 10, 2012 the court ordered the property sold. Mansdorf died on August 27, 2012. On October 30, 2012, Gonzalez as co-executor of the estate filed an application to stay the sale arguing that the property was held solely by the family trust. The court denied the application, and the next day the property sold to Alta for $4,581,500 at a sheriff’s sale. The deed was recorded on December 7, 2012. Alta served a 60-day notice to quit to Gonzalez and Linda Mansdorf (as an occupant of the property) but they did not vacate, so Alta filed the underlying unlawful detainer action on February 22, 2013 (stating that the amount demanded did not exceed $10,000). In response, Gonzalez alleged that on July 3, 2008, Mansdorf executed a grant deed transferring title to the property from the family trust to himself and Gonzalez as joint tenants, and upon Mansdorf’s death Gonzalez became the sole owner of the property. The grant deed was recorded on November 13, 2012, after the sheriff’s sale of the property. Alta filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that the McClanahan judgment lien attached on April 18, 2008 and therefore Gonzalez’s subsequent joint tenancy deed had no effect on the sheriff’s sale or on Alta’s title. Gonzalez filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that the title to the property was vested in Gonzalez. The trial court granted Alta’s motion for summary judgment, denied Gonzalez’s motion, and entered judgment on June 14, 2013. The court found McClanahan’s abstract of judgment was senior to Gonzalez’s joint tenancy grant deed, so that Gonzalez took, if at all, subject to