Posted by John Merchant on September 07, 2007 at 11:53:48:
If you buy without any provable notice or knowledge of the J by you, you’d then be what the law calls a Bona Fide Purchaser (or BFP), and with title insured by a title policy, then no, you’d then own it armored against attack by that J holder…and your T Co would have to defend you if the J holder were to sue you.
This raises the question of what the J holder might have done to protect himself…and the answer is he could/should have “abstracted” (recorded) his J in deed records, which would have liened the property and the world would have been put on notice.
If he didn’t abstract his J until after that Seller (who has the J against him)sells to you, then it’s too late for the J holder to lien the RE.
If that J holder were to jump on you after you buy it, if he really can’t prove you had notice of the J beforehand, you could then tell him* that he might have an action against his own lawyer for failing to abstract that J in the deed records as any prudent lawyer would have done.
i.e. he can probably collect his J from his own negligent lawyer.
*I’m always preaching that if you’re called by anybody claiming to have any action against you, you should NOT personally even talk to that person, but have your lawyer respond as he/she might see fit.
Lots of weak claims have been strengthened by the callee saying too much, etc., when that callee could have shut his mouth and said nothing except “I’ll pass this on to my lawyer. Thanks and Goodbye”