Rosenberg v. Smidt

The Smidts (plaintiffs) bought property in 1973 subject to a deed of trust naming Alaska Title as trustee, and later executed a second deed of trust in favor of the sellers for the remaining balance, again naming Alaska Title as trustee. When the sellers defaulted on the first deed of trust in 1980, Alaska Title mailed notice to the Smidts at the address on file from seven years earlier; the mail came back unclaimed, and Alaska Title only additionally published notice in a newspaper. The Rosenbergs (defendants) bought the property at the resulting foreclosure sale, and the Smidts -- who never received actual notice and kept paying under their own deed of trust until they learned of the sale -- sued to set it aside. The trial court sided with the Smidts, and the Rosenbergs appealed.