Orr v. Byers
Court of Appeal of California, Fourth District
244 Cal. Rptr. 13 (1988)
- Written by Dennis Chong, JD
Facts
In 1978, James Orr (plaintiff) secured a legal judgment against William Elliott in the amount of $50,000. The recorded judgment misspelled Elliott’s name as alternately “Elliot” and “Eliot.” Elliott subsequently sold a piece of property to Rick Byers (defendant) in 1979, which sale should have triggered Orr’s judgment lien, but because his name was misspelled, the lien was not identified and the sale was perfected without satisfying the debt to Orr. Orr brought suit against Byers, Elliott, and Byers's banks to enforce his judgment lien, arguing that the misspellings of Elliott’s name were so similar to the proper spelling that subsequent purchasers of Elliott’s land had constructive knowledge of the judgment lien against him. The trial judge disagreed and entered judgment against Orr. Orr appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Sonenshine, J.)
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