Osin v. Johnson
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
243 F.2d 653 (1957)
Osin (plaintiff) deeded real property to Johnson (defendant) in exchange for a promissory note, relying on Johnson's promise to record a securing deed of trust, which Johnson never did; Johnson instead took out loans from two lenders secured by properly recorded deeds of trust on the same property, and several of Johnson's other creditors obtained judgment liens against it. When the lenders sued to foreclose and Osin sued for rescission and other equitable relief, the trial court ruled the lenders' recorded deeds of trust and the judgment creditors' liens both took priority over Osin's unrecorded claim, and Osin appealed.
Whether an unrecorded prior equitable interest in real property, arising from a grantee's fraudulent promise to record a securing instrument, is defeated by later recorded lenders' deeds of trust and by judgment creditors' liens against the same property.