Filed: Jul. 31, 2020
Latest Update: Jul. 31, 2020
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 31 2020 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT SELENE FINANCE, LP, No. 19-16277 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 2:16-cv-02618-JAD-NJK v. WESTON HILLS HOMEOWNERS' MEMORANDUM* ASSOCIATION, Defendant, and SATICOY BAY LLC SERIES 1168 ASPEN CLIFF, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada Jennifer A. Dorsey, District Judge, Presiding Submitted July 14, 2020** San Fra
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 31 2020 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT SELENE FINANCE, LP, No. 19-16277 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 2:16-cv-02618-JAD-NJK v. WESTON HILLS HOMEOWNERS' MEMORANDUM* ASSOCIATION, Defendant, and SATICOY BAY LLC SERIES 1168 ASPEN CLIFF, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada Jennifer A. Dorsey, District Judge, Presiding Submitted July 14, 2020** San Fran..
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NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 31 2020
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
SELENE FINANCE, LP, No. 19-16277
Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No.
2:16-cv-02618-JAD-NJK
v.
WESTON HILLS HOMEOWNERS' MEMORANDUM*
ASSOCIATION,
Defendant,
and
SATICOY BAY LLC SERIES 1168
ASPEN CLIFF,
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Nevada
Jennifer A. Dorsey, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted July 14, 2020**
San Francisco, California
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
Before: IKUTA and HURWITZ, Circuit Judges, and TAGLE,*** District Judge.
In 2008, two individuals purchased a Nevada residence with a loan secured
by a deed of trust. Bank of America acquired the deed of trust. After the homeowners
failed to pay assessments to the Weston Hills Homeowners’ Association (“HOA”),
the HOA recorded a Notice of Delinquent Assessment Lien on July 8, 2010 and
recorded a Notice of Default and Election to Sell against the property on July 22,
2013. Bank of America’s attorneys obtained the HOA account ledger identifying the
assessments due and tendered a cashier’s check for nine months of HOA dues. The
HOA’s attorneys accepted the tender. Bank of America later assigned the deed of
trust to Selene Finance, LP (“Selene”).
The HOA foreclosed and a trustee’s deed upon sale to the property was
recorded for Saticoy Bay, LLC (“Saticoy Bay”). Selene brought this quiet title action
against the HOA and Saticoy Bay alleging the deed of trust still encumbered the
property. The district court entered summary judgment for Selene. We have
jurisdiction over Saticoy Bay’s appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.
1. Selene had standing to bring a quiet title action because it was assigned the
deed of trust. See Edelstein v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon,
286 P.3d 249, 260 (Nev. 2012).
A quiet title action is simply a judicial determination of the claimed interests in real
***
The Honorable Hilda G. Tagle, United States District Judge for the
Southern District of Texas, sitting by designation.
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property. See Chapman v. Deutsche Bank Nat’l Tr. Co.,
302 P.3d 1103, 1106–07
(Nev. 2013) (citing Nev. Rev. Stat. § 40.010). A deed of trust establishes the holder’s
interest in the property even if separate from the promissory note.
Edelstein, 286
P.3d at 259–60; see also In re Montierth,
354 P.3d 648, 650–51 (Nev. 2015). The
holder of a deed of trust can preserve its interest by tendering the superpriority
portion of the HOA’s lien which is made up of nine months of unpaid HOA dues
and any unpaid charges for maintenance and nuisance abatement. See Bank of Am.,
N.A. v. Arlington W. Twilight Homeowners Ass’n,
920 F.3d 620, 623 (9th Cir. 2019)
(per curiam).
2. Bank of America’s tender satisfied the superpriority portion of the HOA
lien and preserved the interest in the property now held by Selene. See
id. The HOA’s
ledger did not list any charges for maintenance or nuisance abatement, so the tender
of nine months of HOA dues covered the entire superpriority amount. See
id.
3. The lack of recording of the tender and Saticoy Bay’s purported bona fide
purchaser (“BFP”) status did not alter the legal effect of the tender. See Bank of Am.,
N.A. v. SFR Invs. Pool 1, LLC,
427 P.3d 113, 119, 121 (Nev. 2018) (en banc). “A
party’s status as a BFP is irrelevant when a defect in the foreclosure proceeding
renders the sale void.”
Id. at 121. “Tendering the superpriority portion of an HOA
lien does not create, alienate, assign, or surrender an interest in land. Rather, it
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preserves a pre-existing interest, which does not require recording.”
Id. at 119. “A
foreclosure sale on a mortgage lien after valid tender satisfies that lien is void, as the
lien is no longer in default.”
Id. at 121.
AFFIRMED.
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