Lakewood Bank & Trust Co. v. Superior Court

Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 418.10, subdivision (c) petitioner seeks a writ of mandate to compel the superior court to enter its order quashing service of summons on petitioner.

Petitioner Lakewood Bank and Trust Company is a Texas state bank which is named as a cross-defendant in a cross-complaint.

The Second Amended Complaint

According to the second amended complaint filed in this action some time prior to November 1978, defendant S. Bruce Smith and his sole proprietorship, defendant S.B.S. Investments, purchased an apartment complex in Dallas, Texas, known as Oak Hill Villas. Smith and S.B.S.’s acquisition of the apartments was financed by usurious loans obtained from defendant David A. Morgensen, a real estate agent employed by defendant Real Estate Network Realty One, and other lenders organized by him. The loans, repayable in 90 days at 50 percent interest, and not reported in Smith’s financial statements, were secured by unrecorded liens on the apartments. In addition, Morgensen also received a finder’s fee of 10 percent of the amount of each loan he obtained for Smith for the purchase of the apartments.

Defendants John C. Bergman, Jr. (Bergman)…