McDonald v. Plumb

Stanley Scott Singley forged Elizabeth Esterline's signature on a deed purporting to transfer her Los Angeles property to Frank Debbas, and Glen Plumb (defendant) notarized the forged signature without verifying it was genuinely Esterline's. Debbas then deeded the property back to Singley without consideration, and Singley transferred it to Jack and Patricia McDonald (plaintiffs). When the McDonalds discovered the fraud, they sued both Singley and Plumb; the trial court ruled the property still belonged to Esterline free of any claims, ordered Singley to pay the McDonalds damages, but denied relief against Plumb, ruling his false acknowledgement was not an actionable cause of their harm. The McDonalds appealed.