Kelly v. National Attorneys Title Assurance Fund

955 N.E.2d 224, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1722, 2011 WL 4047443
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 13, 2011
Docket69A04-1104-CT-215
StatusPublished

This text of 955 N.E.2d 224 (Kelly v. National Attorneys Title Assurance Fund) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kelly v. National Attorneys Title Assurance Fund, 955 N.E.2d 224, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1722, 2011 WL 4047443 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

NAJAM, Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Charles David Kelly appeals the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of National Attorneys Title Assurance Fund (“National”). Kelly raises two issues for our review, but we address only the following dispositive issue: whether Kelly breached his seller’s warranty when he conveyed title to real property that was encumbered by a federal tax lien. We hold that the undisputed facts support the entry of summary judgment for National and, as such, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The following facts are undisputed. In 1990, Kelly sold his 98% ownership interest in Kelly Oil Company (“Kelly Oil”) to his children, Crystal Getty and Christopher Kelly, for $1.5 million. On November 11, 2002, the IRS made assessments against Kelly Oil for unpaid taxes over various tax periods. On February 19, 2004, Kelly Oil issued a corporate warranty deed to Kelly for six parcels of real property, including the property at issue in this appeal. The corporate warranty deed was recorded on February 24.

On September 17, 2004, the federal tax liens were recorded in Ripley and Dear-born counties and encumbered the six parcels of real property conveyed from Kelly Oil to Kelly. On February 6, 2006, the United States sought an order to foreclose on its liens. Thereafter, on February 23, the United States filed a notice of lis pen-dens in the Ripley Superior Court.

On April 18, eighteen days after the notice of lis pendens, Kelly conveyed the subject real property to Ronald and Linda Gray by way of a warranty deed. The deed did not disclose a federal lien that encumbered the property. Attached to the warranty deed was a seller’s affidavit, in which Kelly stated as follows:

3. Sellers and their predecessors in title have been in actual, open, notorious, exclusive, adverse, undisputed, and continuous possession of this real estate for a[t] least ten years.
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10. This real estate, including the improvements, crops, and fixtures thereon, is not now subject to any mortgage, judgment, or other encumbrance, fixture lien, real estate lien, financing statement, conditional sales contract, agricultural, mineral or other lease, or other security instrument, except as disclosed in the proposed deed, or except such as will be paid in full as part of this sale of real estate.
* ⅜ *
19. There are no judgments, orders, decrees, attachments, or suits pending in any State or federal Court against Sellers, or any State or Federal tax lien or claim against the[m], which are or may become liens against the land; ... and the proposed deed is not made for the purpose of hindering, delaying or defrauding any creditor.

Appellant’s App. at 20-22. On April 17, National issued its policy of title insurance to the Grays. In its title search, National did not find the lis pendens notice or the recorded federal tax lien.

Thereafter, the Grays learned of the United States’ action to foreclose on the real property. They agreed to pay the United States $11,667, in exchange for *226 which the United States released its lien on their property. National then reimbursed the Grays for that amount and filed suit, as subrogee of the Grays, against Kelly for breach of warranty. On June 17, 2009, National moved for summary judgment, which the trial court granted. This appeal ensued.

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

Our standard of review for summary judgment is the same as that used in the trial court: summary judgment is appropriate only where the evidence shows there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Ind. Trial Rule 56(C); Tom-Wat, Inc. v. Fink, 741 N.E.2d 343, 346 (Ind.2001). All facts and reasonable inferences drawn from those facts are construed in favor of the non-moving party. T om-Wat Inc., 741 N.E.2d at 346. Also, review of a summary judgment motion is limited to those materials designated to the trial court. Mangold v. Ind. Dep't of Natural Res., 756 N.E.2d 970, 973 (Ind.2001).

National has brought suit against Kelly on a claim of breach of warranty. As our supreme court has long recognized:

When a purchaser obtains title by deed without covenants, he of course takes it subject to all defects and incumbrances it may be under at the time of the conveyance. But if he insist[s] upon and obtain[s] covenants for title, he has the right, when obtained, to rely upon them and enforce their performance, or recover damages for their breach. The vendor is not compelled to make covenants when he sells land, but having done so, he must keep them, or respond in damages for injury sustained by their breach.

Hughes v. Fifer, 218 Ind. 198, 204, 31 N.E.2d 634, 636 (1941) (quotation omitted). Among the covenants conveyed by a seller’s warranty are the following:

A conveyance in fee simple ... includes a covenant from the grantor for the grantor and the grantor’s heirs and personal representatives that the grantor:
(1) is lawfully seized of the premises;
(2) has good right to convey the premises;
(3) guarantees the quiet possession of the premises;
(4) guarantees that the premises are free from all encumbrances; and
(5) will warrant and defend the title to the premises against all lawful claims.

Ind.Code § 32-17-l-2(b) (emphasis added). “Each one of these covenants is contained in the general warranty, the same as if they had been separately written in the deed.” Dehority v. Wright, 101 Ind. 382, 384 (1885).

Thus, to establish a claim for breach of warranty on these facts, National needed to show: (1) a seller’s warranty from Kelly to the Grays; (2) the amount paid by the Grays to extinguish an encumbrance; and (3) the existence of that encumbrance on the real estate closing date. 1 See Ticor Title Ins. Co. v. Graham, 576 N.E.2d 1332, 1335 (Ind.Ct.App.1991), trans. denied. Kelly does not dispute that he issued a seller’s warranty to the Grays or that the Grays paid $11,667 to extinguish the federal tax lien.

*227 Rather, Kelly’s only argument on appeal focuses on whether the real estate was encumbered by the tax lien as of the closing date with the Grays.

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United States v. Bess
357 U.S. 51 (Supreme Court, 1958)
United States v. Estate of Romani
523 U.S. 517 (Supreme Court, 1998)
United States v. Big Value Supermarkets, Inc.
898 F.2d 493 (Sixth Circuit, 1990)
Mangold Ex Rel. Mangold v. Indiana Department of Natural Resources
756 N.E.2d 970 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2001)
Tom-Wat, Inc. v. Fink
741 N.E.2d 343 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2001)
Ticor Title Insurance Co. of California v. Graham
576 N.E.2d 1332 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1991)
Hughes v. Fifer
31 N.E.2d 634 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1941)
Dehority v. Wright
101 Ind. 382 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1885)

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Bluebook (online)
955 N.E.2d 224, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1722, 2011 WL 4047443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kelly-v-national-attorneys-title-assurance-fund-indctapp-2011.