## Facts

- A default judgment for $86,000 plus costs and interest was entered against O. John Kornbluth and others in 1975.
- In 1976, five abstracts of judgment were recorded naming Kornbluth as a judgment debtor; the principal amounts across the abstracts collectively equaled $86,000.
- At recording, Kornbluth owned multiple parcels, including two later purchased by the Bruins and the Contrerases.
- While enforcement was delayed during an appeal, Kornbluth conveyed his parcels to third parties.
- The judgment was assigned to Commonwealth Land Title Company, which sought to enforce the judgment lien against parcels Kornbluth owned when the abstracts were recorded.
- Commonwealth applied for a writ of execution and an order authorizing sale of the Bruins’ and Contrerases’ homes to satisfy the judgment.
- The trial court granted the application without determining the sequence and circumstances of Kornbluth’s transfers of all encumbered parcels (including value, sufficiency, and notice considerations).
- The Bruins and Contrerases appealed as third-party claimants.

## Issues

1. Whether a judgment creditor may execute on selected parcels held by subsequent purchasers when a single judgment lien attached to multiple parcels later conveyed by the debtor.
2. Whether the trial court must determine the order and circumstances of the debtor’s conveyances and apply the inverse order of alienation doctrine before authorizing execution against later-grantee parcels.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal reversed the order authorizing a writ of execution and sale and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held that equitable principles, including the inverse order of alienation doctrine, govern enforcement when a common lien burdens multiple parcels successively conveyed.
- The trial court erred by permitting execution against the Bruins’ and Contrerases’ properties without findings on the order of transfers and related equitable facts necessary to allocate the burden among parcels.

## Legal Principles

- A recorded abstract of judgment creates a general judgment lien on the judgment debtor’s real property interests in the county at the time of recording.
- When a single encumbrance covers multiple parcels that are later conveyed to different grantees at different times, equity generally requires the parcels be subjected to enforcement in the inverse order of alienation (last conveyed, first sold), absent contrary agreement or special circumstances.
- Before authorizing execution against parcels in the hands of subsequent grantees, the court must make factual determinations needed to apply equitable ordering, including the chronology of conveyances and whether other encumbered parcels may satisfy the judgment without reaching earlier-transferred parcels.

## Conclusion

The court required a structured equitable and factual inquiry before selling parcels owned by later grantees under a common judgment lien, reversing an execution order that allowed the creditor to proceed against selected homes without applying the inverse order of alienation doctrine.


Commonwealth Land Title Co. v. Kornbluth, 175 Cal. App. 3d 518 (Cal. Ct. App. 1985)