In Fontana Land Co. v. Laughlin (1926) 199 Cal. 625, the Supreme Court stated that "the rule in this state is that where a privity of relation exists the mortgagor cannot quiet title without paying his debt. But this rule cannot be applied to one who acquired the mortgaged land by purchase for a consideration after the lapse of time within which an action to foreclose the mortgage could have been brought and at a time when the records, as in this case, showed the mortgage had become extinguished." ( Id. at p. 639.) The Fontana Land Co. court determined that the owner of the property was a bona fide purchaser, but did not state that this was required. It did state, however, that the fact that the plaintiff purchased the property at an estate sale "absolutely severed all privity" between the plaintiff and the mortgagor.