Deed Altered, Omitting Plaintiff’s Name, But She Still Loses Quiet Title Action.

In her quiet title action, plaintiff alleges she pooled her $150,000 with two entities in partnership for the purchase of a residential property at a foreclosure auction for the purchase price of $250,000. In the original version of the trustee’s deed, it stated that one of the entities had a 75 percent and the other a 25 percent ownership interest in the property, but it also named plaintiff as a grantee without any stated percentage interest in the property. The trustee’s deed that was executed and recorded omitted plaintiff’s name. Without plaintiff’s knowledge, one of the entities quitclaimed the property to the other, who then sold the property. The buyer of the property is the defendant in the present quiet title action. The trial judge sustained defendant’s demurrer without leave to amend. In affirming, the appellate court held “the alteration of the deed to omit [plaintiff’s] name was not material because the original version of the deed showed she had no interest in the property.” (Lin v. Coronado (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 5; December 18, 2014) 232 Cal.App.4th 696, [181 Cal.Rptr.3d 674].)