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Published by the Indiana Office of Court Services

Lunsford v. Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas, No. 30A01-1302-MF-63, __ N.E.2d __ (Ind. Ct. App., Sept. 20, 2013).

September 27, 2013 Filed Under: Civil Tagged With: Appeals, J. Baker

Baker, J.
In this case, we find the old adage “first in time is first in right,” to be as instructive as it has been throughout 200 hundred years of property and debt collection jurisprudence. [Footnote omitted.] Appellant-defendant Walter E. Lunsford entered into a land contract with Elizabeth Cottler; however, it was not recorded until almost six years later. In the meantime, Cottler executed a promissory note secured by a mortgage to a financial institution, which promptly recorded its security interest before Lunsford’s interest was recorded.
Cottler defaulted on the loan, and the financial institution, appellee-plaintiff Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas as Trustee (Deutsche Bank), which had been assigned the promissory note and the mortgage, initiated foreclosure proceedings against Cottler. Lunsford was joined as a defendant to assert any interest he might have by reason of his land contract.
Deutsche Bank filed a motion for summary judgment, which was granted following a hearing. The trial court entered a decree of foreclosure, thereby foreclosing Lunsford’s land contract and ordered a sheriff’s sale.
Lunsford appeals pro se, raising numerous arguments, including that Deutsche Bank does not exist, that it refused Lunsford’s attempts to tender payment, that it failed to join an indispensable party, namely, the trust, and that Deutsche Bank failed to produce the original loan documents. Finding no merit in Lunsford’s arguments and that Deutsche Bank was the holder of the promissory note and mortgage and had the authority to enforce these documents, we affirm the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Deutsche Bank.
….
FRIEDLANDER, J., and VAIDIK, J., concur.
 

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