Howard Savings Bank v. Brunson
New Jersey Superior Court
582 A.2d 1305 (1990)
Howard Savings Bank (plaintiff) recorded its mortgage on Brunson's (defendant) property immediately after lending him $50,000, but the mortgage wasn't properly indexed until nearly two years later; in the interim, Brunson sold the property to the Ijalbas (defendants), who took out a mortgage from Chrysler First Financial (defendant) after Chrysler conducted a thorough title search and obtained title insurance based on the property appearing clear in the indices. Howard later sued to foreclose, claiming its mortgage held priority over both the Ijalbas' deed and Chrysler's mortgage.
Whether a mortgage must be both properly recorded and properly indexed to have priority over other claims to the same property.