Chance v. Superior Court

373 P.2d 849, 58 Cal. 2d 275, 23 Cal. Rptr. 761, 1962 Cal. LEXIS 261
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 2, 1962
DocketL. A. 26756
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 373 P.2d 849 (Chance v. Superior Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chance v. Superior Court, 373 P.2d 849, 58 Cal. 2d 275, 23 Cal. Rptr. 761, 1962 Cal. LEXIS 261 (Cal. 1962).

Opinion

*278 WHITE, J.

By this proceeding in prohibition and mandate petitioners challenge the jurisdiction of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County to proceed further with a representative action instituted to recover upon notes by foreclosing numerous separate deeds of trust securing those promissory notes and held upon allegedly separate but contiguous lots situated within the same tract of land. Alternative writs of prohibition and mandate were issued.

The basic action was filed by plaintiffs and real .parties in interest Joseph F. King, Teodor Iovan, Nick Katuna, Sylvia Katuna, and Scott Haselton, owners of notes in default secured by trust deeds upon parcels of land within the instantly involved tract, on behalf of themselves and all the other owners of trust deeds upon the alleged lots within this tract. Petitioners Peter E. Chance and Howard W. Clarke, as two owners of such trust deeds upon parcels within this tract, and thus among the class plaintiffs seek to represent, intervened in the basic action objecting to the representative nature of the suit, and attempted to prevent prosecution of the basic action except as to the therein individually named plaintiffs. Interveners’ objections to the prosecution of a class action were overruled by the trial court. 1 In addition to filing answers, real parties in interest also have demurred to the instant petition.

The litigation with which we are here concerned arises out of the unfortunate aftermath of the “10 Percenter” financial bubble, wherein thousands of individuals and many tracts of land in this state are involved. David Farrell, who appears to have been the principal force behind an institution designated Los Angeles Trust Deed and Mortgage Exchange (hereinafter referred to as Exchange), was conducting a lucrative investment scheme whereby individuals were induced to deposit money with Exchange and thereby purchase notes secured by deeds of trust on real property, obtaining a promised and “secured” overall return of 10 per cent per annum *279 upon one’s investment. 2 The mode of creation of the instant notes and trust deeds which involve the Newhall tract was apparently typical of the method of operation of Exchange and its cooperating companies.

As alleged in plaintiffs’ complaint, on or about September 10, 1959, Los Angeles Home Company granted the undeveloped land in this tract to Villa Nipoma, Inc., who as part of the same transaction then granted the property to CountyWide Improvement Company and six other land development companies. County-Wide and the other six companies then executed and delivered to Villa Nipoma, Inc. a total of 2,139 promissory notes maturing in September 1964. The face amounts of the notes varied from $500 to $1,400, comprising a total face amount of $1,987,750. Except for the face values, the terms and conditions of each of the 2,139 notes were exactly the same. To secure payment of the latter notes, the seven development companies, as trustors, also executed and delivered 2,139 corresponding deeds of trust. Villa Nipoma, Inc. was the beneficiary of the deeds of trust, and Title Insurance and Trust Company the trustee. The development companies also conveyed title to the involved real property to Title Insurance and Trust Company to hold as trustee. All of the above companies and institutions appear to be defendants in the basic representative suit.

The owner of the beneficial interest in these trust deeds, Villa Nipoma, Inc., then transferred all of its interest in the 2,139 notes and trust deeds to Los Angeles Trust Deed and Mortgage Exchange. Plaintiffs have alleged, without contradiction from petitioners, that all of the above-described acts and transfers “were part of the same transaction; that all of the grants of land, execution of promissory notes and creation of trust deeds . . . were performed and designed by said defendants for the ultimate sale and transfer of said two thousand, one hundred and thirty-nine Notes and Deeds of Trust to the Los Angeles Trust Deed and Mortgage Exchange.”

It further appears that in all probability Exchange furnished, from funds in its possession, the purchase price for the entire Newhall tract. Apparently this tract consists of *280 three major divisions of land: (1) that portion, allegedly divided into house lots, which secures the instant 2,139 separate trust deeds; (2) areas set aside for roadways and other off-site improvements for the benefit and development of the 2,139 alleged lots; and (3) portions of land retained by County-Wide Improvement Company and the other defendant development companies (stated to be 200 acres) which may, for present purposes,' be considered as unencumbered, but which may have been purchased with funds supplied by investors in Exchange. AYhile the face amounts of the notes and trust deeds appear to have been, at the time of purchase by Exchange, considerably in excess of the actual value of the land securing the notes, land values apparently have risen so that the worth of that security now represents a major percentage of the face amounts of the notes and trust deeds.

The land securing the notes is yet “raw” land, as the off-site improvements appear not to have been undertaken by the defendant development companies. Also, the instant trust deeds provide for their subordination to construction loans, but since no construction was commenced on the New-hall tract, these remain “first” deeds of trust. While the petitioners and real parties herein appear to agree that the instant 2,139 parcels of land may be individually located and foreclosed by power of sale, it is nowhere alleged that the present subdivision plan for the Newhall tract, in a final form, has been approved by proper authorities. Concerning the separateness of these alleged lots, it is perhaps significant that the title insurance apparently is in the form of a blanket policy covering the entire land area containing the 2,139 “lots.” Attorneys for real parties have stated that the instant trust deeds “are secured by parcels of land usually no more than 25 x 56 feet which are only 1/8 or 1/16 of regular lots making up an old subdivision.”

The sale of this group of trust deeds by Exchange was commenced September 17, 1959, and continued until June 7, 1960. It would seem reasonable to assume that the ownership of every note and trust deed was obtained by the investors as a result of a separate transaction with Exchange. All of the 2,139 notes are in default.

Exchange was placed in receivership on June 7, 1960, by reason of numerous, continuous, and willful violations of federal securities acts in selling trust deed notes. On the latter date Exchange had in its “warehouse” account 17 unsold notes secured by trust deeds out of the instant issue *281 of 2,139. Those 17 notes, in face amounts between $500 and $1,400, were subsequently purchased by one Howard for $150 each. 3

Exchange was adjudicated a bankrupt on November 28, 1960. As of the date when Exchange ceased to obtain money from investors, approximately one third of the notes secured by trust deeds and allocated to investors’ accounts were not fully paid for by the investors.

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Bluebook (online)
373 P.2d 849, 58 Cal. 2d 275, 23 Cal. Rptr. 761, 1962 Cal. LEXIS 261, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chance-v-superior-court-cal-1962.