Summers v. Superior Court

California Court of Appeal Jun 27, 2018 No. A151128MPublished

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Holding. The court held that under California partition statutes, a trial court lacks the authority to order the sale of property in a partition action before it has determined the respective ownership interests of the parties.

Issues

Whether a trial court may order the sale of property in a partition action before determining the parties' respective ownership interests.

Disposition. reversed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“the partition statutes do not allow a court to order the manner of a property’s partition, such as the sale here, before it determines the ownership interests in the property.”

“the manner of partition—i.e., a physical division or sale of the property—is to be decided when or after the parties’ ownership interests are determined, but not before.”

Filed 6/27/18 (unmodified opn. attached) CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

RICARDO IAN SUMMERS et al., Petitioners, A151128 v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF SAN (San Francisco FRANCISCO COUNTY, Super. Ct. No. CGC-16-550626) Respondent; ORDER MODIFYING OPINION WAN FEN TAN, Real Party in Interest. [NO CHANGE IN JUDGMENT]

BY THE COURT:

It is ordered that the opinion filed herein on June 1, 2018, be modified as follows: On page 6, the two sentences in the section titled Disposition shall be deleted and replaced with the following: Let a peremptory writ of mandate issue directing respondent superior court in Tan v. Summers et al. (Super. Ct. San Francisco County, No. CGC-16- 550626) to vacate its order of January 24, 2017, and to enter a new and different order consistent with this opinion. Summers and Gomez are awarded their costs.

There is no change in judgment.

Dated:

_________________________ Humes, P.J.

Summers et al. v. Superior Court A151128

Filed 6/1/18 (unmodified version) CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

RICARDO IAN SUMMERS et al., Petitioners, A151128 v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF SAN (San Francisco FRANCISCO COUNTY, Super. Ct. No. CGC-16-550626) Respondent; WAN FEN TAN, Real Party in Interest.

Ricardo Summers and Alejandro Gomez own investment real estate with Wan Fen Tan, but the parties disagree on the amount of their respective ownership interests. The trial court ordered the property to be partitioned and sold, with the parties’ ownership interests to be determined at a later date. Summers and Gomez appealed. Although we question whether the order was appealable, we construe the appeal as a petition for a writ of mandate. On the merits, we hold that the partition statutes do not allow a court to order the manner of a property’s partition, such as the sale here, before it determines the ownership interests in the property. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s order. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Our understanding of the background of this case is limited due to the slim appellate record. We know, however, that in early 2016 Tan sued Summers and Gomez to resolve a dispute about a piece of investment real estate they jointly own in San Francisco. The dispute centered around the amount of each party’s ownership interest in

Summers v. Superior Court

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IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

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