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92 the investor funds more than met the pleading the standard, according to Law360. e plaintiffs, including BlackRock Inc., Pacific Investment Management Co, Prudential Financial Inc, and TIAA- CREF, can pursue breach of contract and conflict of interest claims related to 53 trusts, said U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla. e investors will be able to pursue claims alleging breaches of fiduciary duty and due care. Fallia's 80-page decision covers five law- suits, and as a trustee of residential mortgage- backed securities, the bank failed to meet its contractual duty, and its risky mortgage securities contributed to heavy losses during the financial crisis in 2008. e funds allege that Wells Fargo caused investors to lose billions, stemming from a to- tal of 53 residential mortgage-backed security trusts at issues. Judge Fallia disagreed with the bank's movement to dismiss the breach of contract claims, saying the funds pled only generalized allegations. "Here, plaintiffs have more than met this [pleading requirement] standard," wrote Fallia. "Plaintiffs have alleged defendant's knowledge of [representations and warranties] breaches on the basis of defendant's internal documents." Investors have accused Wells Fargo of tak- ing little to no action to require lenders to buy back or fix defaulted or poorly underwritten loans that backed their securities. "It is plain- tiffs' contention that such allegations go far beyond many other RMBS trustee complaints, which themselves have been found sufficient to state a claim," Fallia wrote. "e court agrees." Additionally, e National Credit Union Administration could pursue claims against Wells Fargo's failure as the trustee on 27 residential mortgage back securities, which contributed to the collapse of five credit unions, which had purchased $2.4 billion of the securities. The Nation's Hottest Markets are in California March saw record high residential real es- tate prices, according to data on inventory and demand from Realtor.com. e site also found that sales continued to expand this month, as homes tended to move 10 percent faster than last year, despite the rise in prices. Realtor.com's Hotness Index, a measure of the fastest moving markets of the month, found the nationwide median age of proper- ties for sale on the site to be around 69 days, former owner and occupant of the property. McLitus argued U.S. Financial had failed to perfect title to the property prior to serving the Notice to Quit and thus had failed to meet the prerequisites of bringing an unlawful detainer action under CCP § 1161a. e Trial Court entered judgment in favor of U.S. Financial stating that it had perfected the sale and title upon recording the Trustee's Deed with the County Recorder. McLitus appealed. e Appellate Division of the Superior Court found that although U.S. Financial perfected the sale it had failed to timely perfect title prior to serving the Notice to Quit. e Appellate Division explained that perfecting the sale and title are two separate and distinct requirements and in order for a purchaser to avail itself to the rights and privileges of sum- mary unlawful detainer proceedings the sale and title must first be duly perfected. e Appellate Court in Dr. Leevil, LLC v. Westlake Health Care Center, (2017) 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 192, did not agree with the Appellate Division's interpretation of the re- quirements of Code of Civil Procedure § 1161a and distinguished the ruling of the McLitus Court. Under a similar post-foreclosure fact pattern the Appellate Court in Westlake clarified that "[t]he statute [California Code of Civil Procedure § 1161a] does not require that title be perfected (i.e., that the trustee's deed be recorded) before service of the three-day notice. It requires that title be perfected before a tenant 'may be removed' from the property." Westlake at *7. e Appellate Court further explained that adding the requirement that title be perfected prior to service of the Notice to Quit would impose an extra obligation that Code of Civil Procedure § 1161a does not demand, which the courts are not permitted to do. Although the Court of Appeals' ruling in Westlake can and should be cited to attempt to distinguish the ruling by the Appellate Division of the Superior Court in McLitus, purchasers at foreclosure sales would be well advised to take immediate steps to perfect the sale and title after a trustee's sale. If bringing an eviction action on other grounds, speak to an attorney to ensure all prerequisites are met prior to serving an eviction notice. Wells Fargo Litigation Moves Forward On ursday, a New York federal judge said that Wells Fargo must face litigation seek- ing to hold the bank accountable for billions of dollars in claimed investor losses as trustee of residential mortgage-backed securities, saying California Hilary Marks Woman Owned Business BRE# 01730451 www.WESALECA.com 909-529-3707 HILARYREO@yahoo.com CALIFORNIA Conflicting California Decisions Call Into Question When the Purchaser at a Foreclosure Sale Can Start its Eviction By: Michael Asatourian and T. Robert Finlay, Wright, Finlay & Zak, LLP It is understandable that a purchaser of a property at a trustee's sale is anxious to im- mediately begin eviction proceedings in order to take possession of and market the property. However, two recent published decisions draw into question the practice of serving the prop- erties' occupants with a Notice to Quit before perfecting title. As more fully discussed in this article, after the Appeals Division of the Superior Court in McLitus ruled that both sale and title to be perfected prior to even service of the Notice to Quit, the Court of Appeals in Westlake clari- fied that California Code of Civil Procedure § 1161a held that title must be perfected prior to the tenant being removed from the property, not prior to service of the Notice to Quit. In U.S. Financial, L.P. v. McLitus, 6 Cal. App. 5th Supp. 1, 2016 Cal. App. LEXIS 1057 (Cal. Super. Ct. 2016), U.S. Financial purchased the subject property at a trustee's sale held pursuant to Civil Code § 2924. As many foreclosure purchasers do, it immediately served a Notice to Quit prior to recording the Trustee's Deed Upon Sale with the County Recorder's Office. Upon expiration of the Notice to Quit, U.S. Financial filed a post- foreclosure unlawful detainer action under CCP § 1161a against Michael McLitus, the