In re Marriage of Cloney

In In re Marriage of Cloney (2001) 91 Cal.App.4th 429, the issue was whether a purchaser of real property took subject to a judgment lien of record when the judgment identified the seller by his full, real name, and the escrow documents identified the seller by a nickname. More particularly, the issue concerned whether the knowledge of the escrow agent, who was aware that the seller and the individual identified in the judgment lien were one and the same, was imputed to the purchaser, so that the purchaser had constructive notice of the judgment lien. (Id. at pp. 432, 444.) Cloney addressed the type of notice arising as a matter of law from recorded liens on real property. There, a purchaser obtained real property from a seller who held title as "Mike Cloney." A judgment had been recorded against "James Michael Cloney," creating a lien against all real property he owned in the county. (See Code Civ. Proc., 697.320, subd. (a)(1).) Since the escrow agent's actual knowledge of Cloney's full name was imputed to the purchaser, by operation of law the purchaser had constructive notice of the judgment lien recorded against the seller, and took title subject to the lien. (Cloney, supra, at p. 442.) Specifically, the appellate court held "that an undisputedly valid judgment lien against a judgment debtor under one name does impart constructive notice of the lien to a subsequent purchaser to whom the same judgment debtor sells real property under a different name, where while acting within the course and scope or his or her agency the purchaser's escrow agent gains actual knowledge of both of the names used by the seller." (Id. at pp. 444.)