Medellin v. One West Bank CA2/4

Filed 7/21/16 Medellin v. One West Bank CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

MARIA DEL CARMEN MEDELLIN et al., B263215

Plaintiffs and Appellants, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC505660) v.

ONE WEST BANK, FSB,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Suzanne G. Bruguera and Elizabeth R. Feffer, Judges. Affirmed. Law Offices of Robert A. Brown, Robert A. Brown, for Plaintiffs and Appellants. Wright Finlay & Zak, Jonathan D. Fink and Jennifer A. Brady, for Defendant and Respondent. ______________________________

Maria Del Carmen Medellin and Ramon Lua appeal from a summary judgment in favor of One West Bank, FSB. Appellants, a married couple, challenge the foreclosure proceedings against their family home in Fontana on several grounds, all of which are premised on the theory that the deed of trust is invalid because it was not signed by both spouses. We find no triable issue of material fact and affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY In 2007, Lua purchased the real property at issue with a $350,000 loan from IndyMac Bank, FSB, and secured the loan with a deed of trust on the property. The property was deeded to Lua as “A Married Man as his Sole and Separate Property.” That also is how he was identified on the deed of trust, which he alone signed. An interspousal transfer deed purporting to bear Medellin’s signature transferred her interest in the property to Lua as of September 10, 2007. The deed of trust and the interspousal transfer deed were witnessed by the same notary public on August 10, 2007. The grant deed from the sellers, dated August 20, 2007, was notarized on August 29, 2007. All documents were recorded on September 13, 2007. The deed of trust was later assigned to respondent. After Lua defaulted on the loan, notices of default and sale were recorded in 2009. In 2010, Lua received a loan modification from IndyMac Mortgage Services, a division of respondent, and the notice of default was rescinded. He defaulted once again, and a new notice of default was recorded in August 2012, followed by a notice of sale in December of the same year. On all these documents, the property was identified as Lua’s separate property. In August 2013, appellants sued to quiet title to the property, asserting several related claims based on the absence of Medellin’s signature from loan documents.1 The