Land Associates, Inc. v. Becker
Supreme Court of Oregon
656 P.2d 927 (1982)
Land Associates, Inc. (plaintiff) sold property to Becker (defendant), which was subject to junior liens, and later commenced a foreclosure action against Becker seeking a judicial sale, naming the then-existing junior lienholders as defendants. After the suit was filed, three new junior liens were recorded, but those new pendente lite creditors never joined the foreclosure action; the trial court ordered a judicial sale foreclosing the named defendants' interests, and Land Associates bought the property at that sale. The pendente lite creditors later transferred their interests to Bautista, who tried to exercise a statutory right of redemption, but the sheriff refused without a court order; Bautista intervened seeking an order compelling that redemption right, which the trial court denied and the court of appeals affirmed.
Whether the doctrine of lis pendens binds a creditor to a foreclosure action when that creditor obtains its property interest after the foreclosure action has already commenced.