Miscione v. Barton Development Company
Court of Appeal of California for the Fourth Appellate District
52 Cal. App. 4th 1320 (1997)
Barton Development Company (Barton) (defendant) leased shopping-center space subject to subordination, nondisturbance, and attornment (SNDA) provisions requiring Barton to recognize any post-foreclosure successor landlord. Barton had separately given Coast Federal Savings (Coast) a trust deed on the property to secure a $7.6 million loan requiring Coast's approval of any new lease; after Barton defaulted on the lease, Coast foreclosed the trust deed and later sold the property to Miscione (plaintiff), who as successor landlord sued Barton for breach and fraud. Barton won summary judgment at trial by arguing the lease was subordinate to, and thus extinguished by, the earlier foreclosed trust deed, and Miscione appealed.
Whether the foreclosure of a deed of trust on a property extinguishes a lease signed by the property's prior owner.