Justia Real Estate & Property Law Opinion Summaries

Catherine Rodriguez defaulted on her loan and elected for foreclosure mediation. At a third, unsuccessful mediation between Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, as the agent of the Bank of New York Mellon (BONY), and Rodriguez, Nationstar presented an uncertified, inaccurate copy of the promissory note. Thereafter, BONY filed a complaint for judicial foreclosure. Upon learning that the note presented at the third mediation was inaccurate, Rodriguez filed a petition for judicial review of the mediation against Nationstar and BONY (collectively, Nationstar). The district court excused the untimeliness of the petition based on good cause and found that the note’s certification was false and that Nationstar knew of the falsity. The court sanctioned Nationstar $100,000. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the district court lacked jurisdiction to consider the petition for judicial review because the filing of such a petition is not permitted beyond the thirty-day time period provided in Nevada’s Foreclosure Mediation Rule 21(2), even when a party discovers fraud months after the mediation. View "Nationstar Mortgage v. Rodriguez" on Justia Law

Hawley McIntosh purchased a home located within a common-interest community. McIntosh’s first mortgage lender subsequently foreclosed on McIntosh’s home. Scott Ludwig purchased the property and subsequently transferred the property by quitclaim deed to Ikon Holdings, LLC. Ikon acknowledged that it acquired the property subject to the homeowner association’s (Horizons) superpriority lien but disagreed that the lien included nine months, rather than six months, of unpaid assessments or the collection fees and foreclosure costs Horizon was seeking to recoup. Thereafter, Ikon filed the underlying declaratory relief action. The district court granted partial declaratory relief, concluding that Horizons’ covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) limited its superpriority lien to an amount equal to six months of assessments, which did not offend Nev. Rev. Stat. 116.3116(2)’s superpriority provision providing for nine months of assessments. The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part, holding (1) a superpriority lien for common expense assessments pursuant to section 116.3116(2) does not include collection fees and foreclosure costs incurred by an HOA; and (2) an HOA’s CC&Rs that purport to create a superpriority lien covering certain fees and costs over six months preceding foreclosure are superseded by the terms of the superpriority lien created by section 116.3116(2). View "Horizons at Seven Hills Homeowners Ass’n v. Ikon Holdings, LLC" on Justia Law

On December 4, 2009, Plaintiff filed a verified complaint asserting claims to quiet title and for adverse possession. On August 11, 2011, Defendant moved to dismiss Plaintiff’s action with prejudice for want of prosecution. Plaintiff opposed the motion, arguing that dismissal was premature because the two-year time period in Nev. R. Civ. P. 41(e) had not passed. The district court granted Defendant’s motion to dismiss and granted Defendant’s motion for attorney fees and costs in full. Plaintiff appealed the dismissal and the award of attorney fees. The two appeals were subsequently consolidated. The Supreme Court reversed and vacated the subsequent order awarding attorney fees and costs, holding that the district court’s findings of fact, on which it based its conclusions of law and decision to dismiss the action with prejudice, were unsupported by the evidence in the record and that there was no evidence presented that supported a finding that dismissal with prejudice was warranted. View "Hunter v. Gang" on Justia Law

Appellants in this case were a homeowners’ association (HOA) and a foreclosure sale buyer. On summary judgment, the district court set aside a trustee’s deed following the HOA’s assessment lien foreclosure sale, holding (1) Nev. Rev. Stat. 116.3116(2) limited the HOA lien to nine months of common expense assessments, and the HOA acted unfairly and oppressively in insisting on more than that amount to cancel the sale; (2) the bid price was grossly inadequate as a matter of law; and (3) the buyer did not qualify as a bona fide purchaser. The Supreme Court vacated the district court’s judgment, holding (1) Nev. Rev. Stat. 116.31166’s enactment, in an appropriate case, did not eliminate a court’s authority to grant equitable relief from a defective HOA lien foreclosure sale; but (2) the district court in this case erred in limiting the HOA lien amount to nine months of common expense assessments and in resolving on summary judgment the issues of fact regarding the parties’ conduct, the foreclosure sale buyer’s status, the HOA lien amount, and the competing equities. Remanded. View "Shadow Wood Homeowners Ass’n, Inc. v. N.Y. Cmty. Bancorp, Inc." on Justia Law

Under Nev. Rev. Stat. 116.3116(4), if two or more homeowners’ associations (HOAs) have liens for assessments created at any time on the same property, those liens have “equal priority.” The property at issue in this dispute was part of two HOAs - Appellant and a nonparty. The nonparty foreclosed on the property, and Respondent purchased it. Appellant subsequently recorded a lien against the property for unpaid association dues pre-dating the foreclosure sale. When the lien went unpaid, Appellant set a foreclosure sale date. Respondent sought to preliminarily enjoin the foreclosure sale, arguing that section 116.3116(4) gives equal priority to multiple HOA liens, and therefore, the nonparty’s foreclosure sale extinguished Appellant’s lien. The district court granted the preliminary injunction. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that, under section 116.3116(4), the nonparty’s foreclosure sale extinguished Appellant’s lien, but Appellant remained entitled to its proper share of the sale proceeds. View "Southern Highlands Cmty. Ass’n v. San Florentine Ave. Trust" on Justia Law