Zaklama

Jerry Palmer and Mark Yarber (Palmer and Yarber) bought a house in January of 1993 at a sheriffs sale in Bakersfield. The house was sold to satisfy a $9,000 judgment against the previous owners, Esmat and Selvia Zaklama (the Zaklamas), who by then were living in New Jersey. Pending an appeal from the judgment, the Zaklamas recorded a “Notice of Pending Action,” or lis pendens, against the property. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 405.2.) Shortly afterward, they filed suit against Palmer and Yarber in federal district court in Fresno seeking to set aside the sale, and a petition for chapter 11 bankruptcy back in New Jersey. They recorded lis pendens in connection with these two actions as well. And the Zaklamas sued Palmer and Yarber twice more, but they did not record lis pendens in those cases since in neither one of them were they attempting, directly, to regain title to or possession of the house.

Palmer and Yarber had planned to repair and resell the house, but were not able to given the cloud on their title created by the three lis pendens. They likewise were unable to refinance the loan at a lower interest rate while the lis pendens remained in effect. And they incurred…