## Facts

- Randolph Shipley bought a residence in Palos Verdes in 1990 for about $3.2 million and later attempted to sell it, initially seeking higher prices but encountering market and financing problems.
- Robert F. Lewis and Josephine N. Lewis agreed in early 1992 to buy the property for $2.3 million, supported by contemporaneous appraisals indicating that price was within a fair market range.
- Before the Lewises closed escrow and took title, a creditor in litigation against Shipley recorded a federal lis pendens alleging the sale was a fraudulent transfer.
- The county recorder did not index the lis pendens until after title had passed to the Lewises; the title insurer also did not locate it before closing.
- After taking title and without notice of the lis pendens, the Lewises paid obligations associated with the purchase and invested substantial sums improving the property.
- The Lewises first learned of the lis pendens when they were served with the creditor’s complaint in September 1993.
- In the fraudulent-transfer action, the superior court denied the Lewises’ motion for summary judgment and denied their motion to expunge the lis pendens.
- The Lewises sought a peremptory writ of mandate directing the superior court to grant summary judgment and expunge the lis pendens.

## Issues

1. Whether a lis pendens that was recorded before closing but not indexed until after the purchasers took title provided constructive notice sufficient to defeat bona fide purchaser status.
2. Whether, given the lack of constructive notice and the purchase for value, the purchasers were entitled to summary judgment and expungement of the lis pendens.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal granted the petition for writ relief.
- The court held the lis pendens did not provide constructive notice to the Lewises at the time they took title because it was not indexed until after title vested.
- The court concluded the Lewises were subsequent bona fide purchasers for value without notice.
- The court directed issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate compelling the superior court to vacate its orders and enter new orders granting summary judgment for the Lewises and expunging the lis pendens.

## Legal Principles

- Constructive notice from a recorded instrument depends on recordation in a form that is discoverable through the public recording system; an unindexed lis pendens does not impart constructive notice to subsequent purchasers.
- A purchaser who takes title for value without actual or constructive notice of a prior claim is protected as a bona fide purchaser and takes free of claims that require notice through recordation.
- When undisputed facts show bona fide purchaser status as a matter of law, summary judgment is proper and a lis pendens based on an unenforceable claim against the purchaser’s title must be expunged.

## Conclusion

Because the lis pendens was not indexed until after the Lewises acquired title, it did not charge them with constructive notice at closing; the Lewises therefore qualified as bona fide purchasers for value and were entitled to summary judgment and expungement of the lis pendens.


Lewis v. Superior Court, 30 Cal. App. 4th 1850 (Cal. Ct. App. 1994)